steak, bronze fennel; potatoes, habanada, herbs; collards

steak_potatoes_collards

Steak and potatoes. And greens. But not just steak and potatoes. And the greens were also very, very good. The thick heavily-marbled pastured and grass-fed ‘Delmonico cut’ beef was from an Amish family’s farm in Pennsylvania, the small juicy fingerlings from a friend’s garden just north of New York, and the sweet collards from the northern Vermont farm of a couple who have become Greenmarket friends

I didn’t have to travel more than a mile from home to harvest all of it.

  • a one-pound Delmonico steak from Millport Dairy Farm, dried, pan-grilled to medium rare, divided into 2 pieces, drizzled on the plates with a squeeze of lemon and a little olive oil, finished with a sprinkling of bronze micro fennel from Windfall Farm
  • fingerling potatoes from a friend’s garden, ‘Lower Hayfields’, in Garrison, New York, most of them halved, tossed with at little olive oil, some finely-chopped no-heat Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, crumbled dried sage and chopped fresh rosemary, both from Stokes Farm, salt, and pepper, spread, cut side down, onto a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at 375º for about 25 minutes, or until both tender and slightly browned
  • collard greens from Tamarack Hollow Farm, cut as a very rough chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which crushed ‘German Hardneck’ garlic from Race Farm had been allowed to sweat with some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
  • the wine was a California (Calveras) red, F. Stephen Millier Black Label Red Angel Red Blend Calaveras County 2014, from Naked Wines
  • the music was an album of electronically manipulated musical, spoken, and natural sounds by Roger Reynolds