Note to self:  This was surprisingly good, especially for a meal that was heavily improvised.

Except for the fresh mint, which I picked up when I stopped by the Eataly Wine Shop to pick up a bottle of Varnelli this afternoon, this dinner was assembled entirely from ingredients I already had in the kitchen.  The idea was to not go out for anything, but to use what I already had on hand (I defrosted the crab cakes the night before), largely items I preferred not to hang onto any longer.  There was another self-imposed stipulation:  Because of our decision to watch the last two hours of ‘Die Meistersinger’ beforehand, the meal be put on the table as quickly as reasonably possible.  I managed to be successful in incorporating my existing stock, and  but I think I went a little overtime in preparing it.

• crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (ingredients: crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, parsley), heated in a heavy iron pan, four minutes to each side, then topped with a little salsa verde, assembled with parsley and mint from Eataly, rinsed and filleted salted anchovies, rinsed salted capers, chopped garlic from Samascott Orchards, dijon mustard, olive oil, and good red wine vinegar
• a small amount of radicchio from from S.&S.O. Produce Farms and chopped parsley from Eataly, dressed with good olive oil and the same red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper
• a compote composed of a fennel bulb I had brought home from Eataly a little while back but which had nevertheless totally maintained its freshness, with good canned plum tomatoes from Eataly, Kalamata olives, unpitted, from Buon Italia, thyme from Manhattan Fruit Exchange, Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, more capers, and parsley from Eataly, the dish finished with chopped fennel fronds and more chopped parsley
• the wine was a Portuguese white, Quinta do Alqueve Fernão Peres 2010
• the music was Mahler’s Fourth, with Haitink conducting the Berlin Philharmonic

Note to self:  This was really, really good.

Once again the weather had shut out the Union Square Greenmarket fish sellers today. I had no other plan for dinner; not having defrosted anything the night before. I was very much conscious of the continuing cold weather, so I decided that we might be excused if we enjoyed a meat entrée two days in a row.  I was going to be near Eataly today anyway, so I popped in and picked up a small-ish Pat La Frieda duck breast, one of our favorite game-like meats.

We had a bit of the speck and pear lasagna left over from Valentine’s Day;  it made a delicious primi to introduce the rich duck.  I also had some white polenta remaining from a meal of Venetian lambs liver last Wednesday.  A dozen or so what I was told were finally the very last Brussels sprouts of the season became the contorno.

• one three-quarter pound Pat La Frieda duck breast from Eataly, brushed with salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar, allowed to rest for half an hour before pan-fried, allowed to sit again for a few minutes, cut into two pieces, and finished with a squeeze of lemon, some chopped rosemary from John D, Maderna Farm, one sliced baby leek from Rogowski Farm, a squeeze of lemon and a dribble of olive oil (in the picture above, the small piece at the edge of the breast itself is half of the tenderloin)
• Brussels sprouts form John D. Maderna Farm, tossed with salt, pepper, and some olive oil, and roasted in a 400º oven for about half an hour
• polenta left from an earlier meal, heated and refreshed with the addition of a bit of water, and the addition of a couple knobs of butter
• the wine was a California red, Akiyoshi Merlot, Clarksburg 2013,  from Naked Wines
• the music was Bruckner, Symphony No. 4, performed by Eugen Jochum and the Dresden Staatskapelle

•  the primi was a serving of a leftover lasagna of speck, pear, Bechamel sauce,mozzarella di bufala, and cayenne pepper, reheated for about twelve minutes at 350º

This was a pretty conventional, or at least straightforward, meal, with the possible exception of the appearance of a baby leek, and the treatment of parsley root as pommes frites.  I chose the cress and the tomato almost as much for the color and freshness which they could add to a mid-winter meal as for their taste and their qualities as compliments to the meat and ‘potato’.

• two lamb chops form 3-Corner Field Farm, marinated for about half an hour in olive oil, smashed garlic from Lucky Dog Organic, roughly-chopped thyme from Manhattan Fruit Exchange, then cooked on a very hot grill pan, finished with a squeeze of lemon, sliced baby leek from Rogowski Farm, and a drizzle of olive oil
• Maine Backyard Farms cocktail tomatoes from Eataly, slow roasted with olive oil, dried Italian oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper
• Upland Cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge, squeezed with a bit of lemon and drizzled with a little olive oil
• medium size parsley roots from S.&S.O. Produce Farms, scraped, cut as for French fries, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary leaves from John D. Maderna Farm, roasted in a ceramic pan for about 35 minutes at 400º
• the wine was a very good Spanish red, Nocedal Rioja Reserva, Bodgas Fuenmajor 2001
• the music was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 3

Valentine’s day.  I was thinking that the occasion naturally suggested a pink sparkling wine, so I immediately moved on to the most obvious pairing, a luscious lasagne which features speck and pears.  Actually, it was the other way around.  I first came across this wonderful recipe years ago, on the Italian Food sight hosted at the time by Kyle Phillips.  Tragically, our guide died several years ago, and I’m certain that we are not the only ones who feel the loss, almost daily.  Many of my favorite recipes and boldest forays into Italian  cuisine I owe to Kyle.

The somewhat lasagna recipe which incorporates speck and pears has become an annual tradition, the centerpiece for every Valentine’s day, mostly because Kyle had suggested it long ago.  The pink sparkling wine is usually also a part of the tradition.  The Nigerian cayenne only arrived in the mix this year.

I can highly recommend the dish, on a number of counts.  Yes, it’s absolutely delicious, and it’s feel light (perhaps deceptively so), but the clincher for a special evening, may be the fact that all the preparation materials can be washed and put away before the baking dish is placed in the oven, giving two (or more) randy valentines, including the cook, at least a full half hour to play together before it has to be put on the table.

• the recipe can be found here, so I don’t have to repeat it, but my own ingredients included fresh Rana pasta sheets, Südtiroler Speck from Eataly, two red Anjou pears from Eataly, eight ounces of Luigi Guffanti mozzarella di bufala from Eataly, and far more Nigerian cayenne (purchased from Balducci’s five years ago!) than I could ever have imagined using in one dish (its enduring flavor and gentle, measured kick were both wonderful, perfect accompaniments to the rest of the ingredients)
• the wine was a Spanish sparkling rosé, Raventós i Blanc Conca del Riu Anoia Barcelona de Nit 2012 from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the Valentine’s Day music was ‘Tristan und Isolde’ (Furtwängler/Flagstad/Ludwig/Suthaus/F-Dieskau 1952)
• the dessert (noting right now that any Dolce is rare for us) was one Linzer cookie, from Baker’s Bounty in the Union Square Greenmarket, split straight down the middle

It certainly wasn’t the best monkfish dinner I can remember, but it looks pretty good in the picture, and it was at least remarkable for including ingredients which should have been almost impossible to find in the middle of a very cold February.

The recipe was a slight adaptation of one in Mark Bittman’s ‘Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking‘, and it turns out I’m not the only reader who found it lacking.

• three five-and-a-half-ounce monkfish fillets from Pura Vida, dredged in flour with salt, pepper, and a mix of lots of different chopped fresh herbs, browned in olive oil, white wine added to the pan and two chopped baby leeks from Rogowki Farm tossed on top before it was placed in a 450º oven for about 25 minutes, the pan juices then reduced and spooned on top of the fish once it was placed on plates, which was then garnished with more leek and more fresh herbs
• radishes from Rogowski Farm (surely hanging out long after their natural span of days), tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil, and branches of thyme from Manhattan Fruit Exchange, roasted in a 450º oven for about 20 minutes
• collard greens (this time apparently the last of the season for sure) from Rogowski Farm, cut in a rough chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which crushed garlic, also from Rogowski Farm, had been allowed to sweat with some heated olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a Shaya old vines, verdejo Rueda 2013
• the music was Dvořák‘s Symphony No. 2, with which neither of us was familiar, but after several rather unexciting movements, the finale sounded very much like Bruckner.  Dvořák‘s symphony was composed in 1865 (although revised in 1887), the same year in which he had completed his first.  Bruckner’s own first, ‘study symphony’, was completed in 1868, although it was not performed until 1924.  Dvořák had certainly not heard any Bruckner symphony at the time he completed his second.  I seriously doubt it, but I would eave it to a musicologist to determine whether the younger composer might have ‘Brucknerized’ his 1887 version.