breakfast with a few herbs and spices, and Luigi Rossi

What we enjoy early on Sundays (well, not really so early, and not every Sunday) is basically an American kitchen table or diner counter breakfast, except that the ingredients are always very fresh and very local, and the extras would be at least a little exotic on most plates.

  • today there were eggs from pastured Pennsylvania chickens and thick slices of bacon, both from Millport Dairy Farm; Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, one section of a dried orange habanada, chopped tarragon from Keith’s Farm, dried fenugreek from Nirmala Gupta’s ‘Bombay Emerald Chutney Company‘ at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market; a very few chopped garlic flowers from Windfall Farms; some rather small nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and toast from 2 different breads, an Orwashers ‘Chardonnay Miche’, from the 23rd Street greenmarket, a Bien Cuit ‘Campagne’ traditional sour dough from Foragers Market, and a little Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ on the side

A note on butter: Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ contains 12 grams of fat per 14 grams (or each tablespoon) of butter, while virtually every other American butter has only 11 grams. What might seem to be almost a negligible distinction actually is not: The increased amount of fat makes a surprising difference in both the taste and the texture of the butter.  For some time I’ve been using Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, because it was the only butter I could find that had 12 grams, but since coming across the Organic Valley product I’ve been using it instead (when I can find it inside my wonky local Whole Foods Market). When the quality is comparable, I will always prefer using a local product, to support local (albeit a relative term) farmers, for the likelihood of a fresher product, and because of the smaller carbon footprint. Besides, my local Whole Foods Market management no longer stocks the Kerrygold package shape that fits in my refrigerator.