On Monday we bought some Chilean sea bass from Costco. It is a departure from our usual frozen pieces. It, being fish, needed to be eaten by at least the next day. John roasted the sea bass for about 20 minutes at 400F. It came out perfectly, succulent and sweet.

I was as usual on vegetable detail. Trader Joe’s had changed its usual butternut squash chunks into butternut squash crinkle fries. I decided to roast them in the oven at the same temperature as the fish. I also gave them a brief visit under the broiler at the end. Personally I like the chunks better and I hope that TJ’s will switch back. There just was not enough butternut squash in each bite.

Finishing up an easy vegetable job, I steamed the green beans for about 10 minutes. Since these were haricot vert the time in the steam bath was a little much and the beans were a little limper than I would have liked. My dinner companions said they were fine, especially with a small pat of butter on top.

All in all it was quite a nice, almost special occasion on a non-occasion day, dinner. It would have been even nicer with a chilled bottle of white burgundy but we are trying to be good this week.