Month: December 2015

swordfish with mixed peppercorns; potato with chive; salad

swordfish_potatoes_salad2

Swordfish.  Awesome.

Because of what goes on in my kitchen generally, I think of swordfish as very Italian, in fact perhaps Sicilian more than anything else, but this time I prepared it there was butter involved in two of the three elements of the meal, so it would be awkward to describe this as a southern Italian entrée.

The wine however really was Italian; actually it was Sicilian, and as such it was likely to be very familiar with swordfish.

 

  • one 11-ounce swordfish steak from Pura Vida Fisheries, cut into two pieces, dried, sprinkled with salt and a mix of 6 different peppercorns, coarsely ground, browned in a little olive oil on one side (about 3 minutes) inside an enameled cast iron pan, then turned over and transferred to a 400º oven for about 7 or 8 minutes, or until barely cooked, placed on warm plates while a seasoned butter (composed of  2 tablespoons of softened butter, a quarter teaspoon or more of the same peppercorn mix, half of a teaspoon of lemon zest, a bit of salt, one minced rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, and chopped parsley from Phillips Farm) was added to the pan and scraped together over medium heat along with the cooking juices, to collect the brown bits from the bottom, before the sauce was poured over the steaks
  • eight red potatoes from Stokes Farm, boiled in salted water, drained and dried in the still-warm glass pot, rolled in a little butter, and sprinkled with slices from 5 or so whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm, a little very beautiful and very luscious red watercress from Max Fish Hatchery, one thinly-sliced baby fennel and its fronds from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with a good Umbrian olive oil (Luciana Cerbini Casa Gola), a squeeze of organic lemon juice, freshly-ground telicherry pepper and Maldon salt
  • a salad of a mixture of small ‘wild’ dandelion leaves (delicate looking, but spicy) from Lani’s Farm,
  • the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Colle del Mandorlo bianco Terre Siciliane 2013 from Feudo Montini, purchased from Appellation Wine and Spirits 
  • the music was that of the early 20th-century South African composer, Gideon Fagan, from an album which includes three other South Africans,  Theo Wendt, Henry Lissant-Collins, and Michael Moerane

John Dory, leek, capers, saffron; collards, garlic, lemon zest

John_Dory_leeks_collards

I try not to use the same recipe over and over again, even if my cooking style is to stay pretty minimal. But when we’re both hungry, I’m not really able to investigate a new approach, I end up repeating myself more often than I would want to.

On Wednesday I brought home 4 beautiful John Dory fillets from the Greenmarket, and, knowing I had a little more time than usual, I latched onto an entirely new recipe, or at least it was new to me. It tuned out absolutely delicious. but I’m not sure I will be using it any time soon, only because it was, well.., a little too ‘saucy”.

  • four shiny 3-ounce John Dory fillets from Blue Moon FIsh Company, seared for about 4 minutes in a mixture of olive oil and butter, flipped, and cooked for about another minute, then spooned with a sauce which was a part of a recipe from David Pasternak’s ‘The Young Man and the Sea’.  It started with one smashed rocambole garlic head from Keith’s Farm and one bay leaf from Westside Market, which were cooked together until the garlic had softened, then some saffron threads from Spain [via I-have-no-idea-where, but purchased long ago] added and stirred in for a moment before the addition of some salt-packed capers from Buon Italia, previously rinsed and chopped, and the equivalent of one large leek from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, washed and sliced into 1/2-inch sections, the entire sauce mix cooked slowly for about 20 minutes while covered closely below a circle of parchment paper, after which a couple of tablespoons of chopped parsley from Phillips Farm were added
  • collard greens from Tamarack Hollow Farm, cut as a rough chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which one halved rocambole garlic head from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat in some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and grated zest from an organic lemon
  • the wine was a California (Napa) white, Matthew Iaconis Napa Valley Chardonnay 2014 (a Burgundy style, it’s Matt’s wine, and comes to us via Naked Wines
  • the music was Hans Rott, his Symphony in E major, composed when he was 20, four years before his tragic death; we listened to a performance by Leif Segerstam and the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra;  may I go on?  Kyle Gann has written, about the relationship between Gustav Mahler and Hans Rott, “This is the great classical music movie waiting to be made.”

spaghetti with cabbage, garlic, anchovy, chili, bay, parsley

spaghetti_with_savoy_cabbage

The immediate source of this recipe is Mark Bittman, but, like most good recipes, especially the simpler ones, it probably had a life of its own long before it was codified.

  • three rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, plus three salted anchovies, rinsed and filleted, from Buon Italia, one whole dried peperoncino, also from Buon Italia, and three fresh bay leaves from Union Market, cooked together over medium heat in 3 tablespoons of olive oil inside a deep enameled cast iron pan until the garlic began to color, after which about a pound of shredded Savoy cabbage (the inner, lighter-green layers) from Hoeffner Farm was added, the heat raised to high and the mix cooked, stirred occasionally, until the cabbage browned a bit, then three quarters of a cup of vegetable stock introduced and cooked with the cabbage for about 5 or 10 more minutes, until the cabbage was cooked but not mushy, finally combined and stirred with about 12 ounces of Setaro ‘spaghetti chitarra’ which had been cooked al dente, some of the pasta cooking liquid poured in to moisten the mixture, seasoned with salt and pepper, and garnished with chopped parsley from Phillps Farm

  • the wine was an excellent Italian (Marche) white, Pievalta Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC Classico Superiore 2014

  • the music was, initially, Einar Englund’s String Quartet, and then an incredibly adventurous 1975 piece which I had bought as an LP the year it was recorded (I believe it was released in 1977), Ilhan Mimaroğlu’s ‘Session’, composed for the remarkable pianist, Idil Biret

scallops with cayenne pepper, oregano; lacinato with garlic

scallops_cavalo_nero

very simple, and very fast

 

The Long Island scallops available in the Union Square Greenmarket lately have been smaller than expected, or desired, and that probably explains why I decided to try embellishing the preparation of the mollusks with both a spice and an herb this time, although it’s not my usual style.

pork chop with lemon; cabbage with balsamic; tomato

pork_chop_savoy_cabbage_tomato

“And part of it was luck in not knowing how pigs were raised in this country, so we just did what made sense.” – Mike Yezzi

 

Mike Yezzi & Jen Small raise gorgeous heritage pigs on their farm in the Battenkill River Valley, and they produce the most delicious pork around these parts, maybe around anywhere. I think I can describe its virtues with some confidence: My cooking style generally means using a minimum of additional flavorings and a minimum of process, so there’s nowhere for the goodness to hide.

I bought these particular chops, frozen, in the Union Square Greenmarket last week from Mike himself, who is often seen presiding over the stall there, almost as often greeting his many fans.

This is a beautiful video made by Handpicked Nation on a visit to the couple’s farm in Shushan.

Everything about this pretty straightforward meal was superb (including the company of course, but also the wine, the music, and the unseasonably-mild evening).  All of that’s a very good thing, for sure, but it’s also weirdly interesting, since I had actually prepared every element of it in the same way at least once before, sometimes more than once, and mostly using ingredients from the same sources each time.  Nevertheless we both thought that each of the elements of this meal tasted better than ever before.

Even if I were to try, I couldn’t really reproduce any meal, especially while using good fresh local ingredients.

 

  • two 9-ounce loin pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt and pepper, seared quickly in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan before half of an organic lemon was squeezed over them, the lemon left in the pan, then roasted in a 400º oven for about 14-16 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again), removed from the oven, the pan juices spooned over the top
  • several cloves of Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic heated in olive oil until golden, then three quarters of a pound of finely-shredded leaves of a savoy cabbage from Hoeffner Farm added and tossed with salt, pepper, four flattened juniper berries, and a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, sautéed for a minute or two, stirring, until the cabbage was hot and tender
  • four halved Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground black pepper, heated in a small tin-lined copper pan, turning once, served sprinkled with fresh oregano leaves, chopped, from Stokes Farm
  • the wine was an Austrian (WagramOberstockstall) white, Fritsch Grünerveltliner Steinberg 2014
  • the music was several by our latest obsession, Josef Haydn’s younger brother, Johann Michael, and specifically, his string quartets