smoked scallops, greens; roast veal chops; potato; greens

I had put them together in this meal for other reasons, but the smoked scallops and the roasted veal seemed to somehow share a real affinity, something that was barely apparent to me until I was sitting down to the second of those courses last night.

  • six smoked scallops (a total of 8 ounces) from Pura Vida Seafood Company arranged on a shallow bed of greens (mesclun from Windfall Farms, along with red dandelion from Wilow Wisp Farm, and Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco from Campo Rosso Farm) dressed with a good olive oil, a bit of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, local P.E. & D.D. Seafood sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper
  • slices of an enkir (aka einkorn, or farro piccolo) baguette from Eataly Flatiron (it’s an ancient grain that first appeared in the Middle East 12,000 years ago, here using Mulino Marino Organic Artisan Enkir Farro Flour)
  • the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Miriam Alexandra California Chenin Blanc 2018, from Naked Wines

I wanted to keep the main course more abbreviated, but, mostly for aesthetic reasons, I couldn’t resist including the 2 remaining red potatoes potatoes I had in the larder

  • two veal rib chops (12 ounces each) from Consider Bardwell Farm, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, placed inside a ceramic oven pan to marinate for about a half hour in a mixture of one tablespoon of olive oil, the zest from more than one organic Whole Foods Market California lemon, one small chopped fresh habanada pepper from Alewife Farm, and one tablespoon of thyme leaves, removed from the oven pan then seared in a combination of 2 or 3 tablespoons of melted butter and one tablespoon of olive oil inside an oval enameled cast iron pan over a high flame until darkened, the chops removed, the fat discarded and the pan wiped with paper towels, the veal returned to the pan, another tablespoon, or a little  more, of butter over them, seasoned well, the pan placed inside a400º oven for 15 minutes or possibly a little more, until done, served with a salsa verde (whose assembly is described in the same volume, but I used parsley, winter savory, oregano, olive oil, garlic, capers, anchovy, Dijon mustard, and red wine vinegar)
  • two medium red potatoes from Willow Wisp Farm scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm small vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, halved, mixed with a little Trader Joe’s house Portuguese olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and tossed with scissored fresh chives from Phillips Farms
  • some greens from an unidentified variety of turnip (they had been torn off and left on the farmers’ table by a customer) from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed in several changes of water, wilted in olive oil along with 4 small ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm which had been lightly-browned in the oil just before, seasoned, and drizzled with olive oil
  • the wine was an Italian (Campania) red, Mastro Aglianico Campania IGT Mastroberardino 2017, from Philippe Wines