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cod roasted with potatoes, smoked pepper; radish greens

Warm comfort, on a December evening, drawn from a cold earth and a still colder sea.

  • one 16-ounce cod fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company in the Union Square greenmarket, washed and rinsed, carefully halved, placed in a platter on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the pieces were completely covered, then set aside while a bed of potatoes was prepared for them by slicing lengthwise (to a thickness of roughly 1/4″) a pound of potatoes, a mix of red thumb and la ratte from Norwich Meadows Farm, 6 ounces each, plus 4 ounces of purple Peruvian from Tamarack Hollow Farm, tossing them inside a bowl with a little olive oil, sea salt, a freshly-ground mix of black pepper, and a pinch of smoked serrano pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, arranging the potatoes, overlapping, inside a well-seasoned 9″ x 12″ La Tienda rectangular terra cotta cazuela, or glazed ceramic oven pan, cooking them for 25 minutes or so in a 400º oven, or until they were tender when pierced, but not quite fully cooked, then the cod fillets, having already been removed from the platter and their salt covering, thoroughly immersed in many fresh changes of water to bring down the saltiness, drained and dried (the soaking process somehow gives the fish more solidity, which can be easily felt while it’s being handled it at this point; it’s also weird how this Marc Bittman recipe totally turns inside out the ancient tradition of salting cod, which is an ancient response to the desire to preserve seafood over long periods and great distances), placed inside the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with black pepper, the pan then returned to the oven for about 8 or 9 minutes (the exact time depends on the thickness of the fillets), or, again, until just cooked through, the fish carefully removed with a spatula (or, better, 2 spatulas), along with as much of the potatoes as can be brought along with each piece, everything arranged as intact as possible on the plates, including any potatoes remaining onthe pan, the servings garnished with micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge
  • the greens cut from one bunch of breakfast radishes from Eckerton Hill Farm wilted in olive oil in which one  large halved rocambole garlic clove fromKeith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat in a little olive oil for a bit, seasoned with salt, pepper and a bit more olive oil
  • the wine was an Italin (Piedmont) white, Gavi ‘Vecchie Vigne’ Francesco Rinaldi 2018, from Astor Wines
  • the music was Mozart’s ‘La FInta Giardiniera’, René Jacobs conducting the Freiburgh Baroque Orchestra

cod, smoked chili potatoes, tomato; eggplant, garlic, mint

When I texted Barry from the Greenmarket asking whether he wanted me to pick up swordfish, flounder. cod, sole, hake, bluefish, mako shark, or clams, he replied that cod sounded good, especially since the evening would be cool enough for the terrific hot oven recipe. I had been thinking clams, but he was absolutely right, and fortunately the meal turned out absolutely right.

I bought clams the next day, this time from the market in the next block, and with his full agreement. I had already been thinking clams, but I texted anyway:

me: swordfish or clams?

Barry: clams and pasta

But first there was cod, and before the cod itself, potatoes.

And eventually tomatoes as well.

  • a one 14-and-a-half-ounce cod fillet from Pura Vida Seafood Company in the Union Square greenmarket, washed, rinsed, sliced down the center to make 2 long sections, of exactly the same weight, as it turned out (not always so easy), placed inside a platter on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the cod was completely covered, and set aside while a ‘bed’ was prepared for them composed of 12 ounces of yellow-flesh, floury cooking Augusta potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm sliced to a thickness of roughly 1/4″ and tossed into a bowl with olive oil, salt, black pepper, and a pinch of a dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet peppers from Eckerton Hill Farm, the potatoes arranged overlapping inside a rectangular glazed ceramic oven pan and cooked for 25 minutes or so in a 400º oven, or until they were tender when pierced but not fully cooked, then, while near the end to that time the cod pieces were rinsed of the salt and thoroughly immersed in many fresh changes of water to bring down the saltiness, drained, dried, and placed inside the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with black pepper, blanketed with thin slices of heirloom tomatoes from both Race Farm and Rise & Root Farm, the tomatoes seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, and the pan returned to the oven for about 8 or 9 minutes (the exact time always depends on the thickness of the fillets, but this was perfect for these), when the cod was removed with the help of 2 spatulas, along with as much of the tomatoes and potatoes as could be brought along with each piece, and everything arranged on the plates as intact as possible before it was garnished with chopped chives from Stokes Farm

baked cod and smoked chili potatoes; flowering white kale

It was cold and raining while I stood in front of the fish stall in the Greenmarket; I slacked the partner, who was at work, sending him a pic of the menu board, and asked for a suggestion; the answer came back almost immediately, “given the weather, one of the fish and potatoes [recipes]”.

Here it is.

  • one large section (18 ounces) of a very fresh cod fillet ounces total) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square greenmarket, washed and rinsed, carefully halved, placed in a platter on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the pieces were completely covered, then set aside while a bed of potatoes was prepared for them by slicing lengthwise (to a thickness of roughly 1/4″) 12 ounces of ‘red thumb’ (medium size) potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, tossing them inside a bowl with a little olive oil, sea salt, a freshly-ground mix of black pepper and other things that had gotten together accidentally when I was preparing a dry marinade for a meal a while back and then decided to hold onto for future use (black pepper, fennel seeds cumin seeds, coriander seeds, star anise, white peppercorns, and whole clove), and a pinch of smoked serrano pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, arranging the potatoes, only slightly overlapping, since they were relatively few this time, inside a well-seasoned 9″ x 12″ La Tienda rectangular terra cotta cazuela, or glazed ceramic oven pan, cooking them for 25 minutes or so in a 400º oven, or until they were tender when pierced, but not quite fully cooked, then the cod fillets, having already been removed from the platter and their salt covering, thoroughly immersed in many fresh changes of water to bring down the saltiness (the soaking process somehow gives the fish more solidity, which can be easily felt while it’s being handled it at this point; it’s kinda sexy; it’s also weird how this Marc Bittman recipe totally turns inside out the ancient tradition of salting cod, which is an ancient response to preserve seafood over time and great distance), drained and dried, were placed inside the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with black pepper, the pan returned to the oven for about 8 or 9 minutes (the exact time depends on the thickness of the fillets), or until just cooked through, removing the fish with a spatula (or, better, 2 spatulas), along with as much of the potatoes as can be brought along with each piece, arranging everything as intact as possible on the plates, returning to the pan for the remainder of the potatoes, the servings garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge

I forgot to snap a picture of the kale while I was at the Greenmarket, so here it is on the kitchen counter (it reduced dramatically while wilting in the pot), with the salted cod on the upper right.

 

coppa, arugula; baked cod, potatoes tomato; frizzy mustard

Like many nights, dinner at home was also a night at the opera.

A note on the subject of our dinner music: During our evening meals we often listen to a recording of an entire opera (or a large section of one, continuing it later that night or the next day). I could call it our version of the little-mourned 1970s ‘dinner theater’ vogue, a cringeworthy form of entertainment that is now fortunately just about defunct, but I’m not going to.

Yet I do think our arrangements of dinner with classical music theater, even without the visuals, beats any other way of enjoying the operatic art form, except for the right seats at a good live performance. I have to point out that one thing in its favor not available to audience members at a live performance is the pleasure of exchanging reactions to the work, either silent or spoken, while sitting across from the perfect dinner (and opera) companion. Also, being able to talk freely during the performance, and and to call for – and get – an “encore” of a particularly good aria or section from the piece. Oh, also, always some good wine at your seat.

Still, the food is always the evening’s raison d’être. Last night, while we listened to [most of] a great recording of Vivaldi’s ‘Il Farnace’, we were also enjoying a very good dinner.

The first course, although dominated by a meat, was uncharacteristically lighter than the main course of fish (noting that, had the order been the other way around, a heavy seafood dish followed by a light one of meat, it would not have been nearly as satisfactory).

  • a little more than 2 ounces of Giorgio’s coppa dolce from Flatiron Eataly, drizzled with a bit of Trader Joe’s unfiltered Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil
  • a small spray of arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, also drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with Malden salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • slices of the excellent ‘table bread’ (half organic bread flour, half fresh milled whole grain
    wheat, spelt, rye, malted barley, plus water and salt) of Philadelphia’s Lost Bread Co.

The main course was commissioned by Barry, who requested an entrée of a firm white fish roasted on the top of sliced baked potatoes, for a cold February evening.

For what it’s worth, there were 11 potatoes left in the farmers’ basket on Monday. I bought them all. They weighted exactly one pound. Every one of them was perfect. Nice.

  • two 7-and-a-half-ounce cod fillets from American Seafood Company in the Union Square greenmarket, cooked using at least the basics of a recipe from Mark Bittman which I had come across many years ago, the cod washed and rinsed, placed in a platter on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the pieces were completely covered, then set aside while a bed was prepared for them composed of a pound of la ratte potatoes from Phillips Farms, each sliced lengthwise by hand into 4 or 5  sections to a thickness of roughly 1/4″, then tossing them in a large bowl with olive oil, salt, black pepper, and a pinch of a dried smoked Scotch bonnet pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, arranging the potatoes, overlapping, inside a rectangular glazed ceramic oven pan and cooking them for 25 minutes or so in a 400º oven, or until they were tender when pierced but not fully cooked, and then, the cod having already been thoroughly immersed in many fresh changes of water to bring down the saltiness, the fillets drained, dried, and placed inside the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with black pepper, blanketed with thin slices of 3 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, the tomatoes seasoned, lightly, with salt and pepper, the pan returned to the oven for about 8 or 9 minutes (the exact time depends on the thickness of the fillets), the cod removed with a spatula (or, better, 2 spatulas), along with as much of the potatoes as can be brought along with each piece, arranging everything as intact if possible onto the plates, returning to the pan for the remainder of the vegetables

[the image at the top, a still from the 1935 Marx Brothers comedy, ‘A night at the Opera‘, is from Film Forum, but the link is not loading right now]

cod and tomatoes baked on a bed of purple potatoes; rabe

The aura of New England cod.

I think I’ve understood its emanation since at least the time I was cramming for a family trip to New England in the early 50’s, so when Glen Bickleman told me that the bucket of cod fillets he was displaying in his fish stall, caught out of eastern Long Island ports, were “whale cod”, my imagination went a little wild. I had thoughts of New England fishermen conjuring some heroic finned giant, a legend with which I was not familiar (since the mid-80’s, when I moved to New York from Rhode Island, I’ve thought of eastern Long Island as very much a part of the culture of New England).

Checking out the name on line once I was back home, I was only slightly disappointed to learn that it referred to a real phenomenon: “Old timers talk of the mythic “whale cod,” huge fish, as long as a man is tall, that [returned] every Thanksgiving for fishermen to load into trailer trucks bound for Fulton Fish Market in New York.”, reads one reference to the phrase.

More evidence of the scale of the giant real cod can be found in the entry on Wikipedia for the sculpture that hangs inside the House of Represen­ta­tives chamber of Boston’s State House‍: “The Sacred Cod is a four-foot eleven-inch carved-wood effigy of an Atlantic codfish, ‘painted to the life’…’ (it’s significance is analogous to that of the wool sack in the House of Lords).

Glen may have been exaggerating a little yesterday, but we should remember that fishermen used to be shorter.

The dinner itself began with some unusual potatoes. They weren’t chosen for their color, but for the fact they were the only ones I had that were of both a suitable size and number.

The potatoes were cooked first, but not quite all of the way; the cod fillet, divided into 2 sections, and the sliced tomatoes were then placed on top and the pan returned to the oven.

These potatoes are pretty spectacular.

Over the years these almost-local Maine tomatoes have become an occasional kitchen mainstay [sorry about that one] for me through the relative dessert of New York winters.

I’ve learned, again, over many years, just how incredibly diverse even some of the vegetables with which we’d grown up assuming they had almost no variety can be. Although I certainly didn’t grow up with it in mid-century Detroit, I’m very fond of broccoli rabe, and I know that it comes in many forms, like so many other edible plants local farmers are bringing to markets these days.

  • one ‘whale cod’ fillet (in this case meaning an almost 19-ounce fillet from a particularly large cod) from American Seafood Company in Wednesday’s Union Square Greenmarket, washed and rinsed, halved crosswise, placed inside a deep platter on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the pieces were completely covered, then set aside while a bed of potatoes was prepared by slicing lengthwise (to a thickness of roughly 1/4″) 12 ounces or so of ‘Magic Molly’ purple fingerlings from Norwich Meadows Farm, tossing them in a large bowl with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a large section of an orange/gold home-dried habanada pepper, arranging the potatoes, slightly overlapping, inside a rectangular glazed ceramic oven pan, and cooking them for roughly 25 minutes in a 400º oven, or until they were tender when pierced, but not quite fully cooked, then, the cod fillets, having already been removed from the platter and their salt covering and thoroughly immersed in many fresh changes of water to bring down the saltiness (the soaking process also somehow gives the fish more solidity, which can be easily felt while it’s being handled it at this point; it’s pretty sexy), drained and dried, were placed inside the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with some freshly-ground black pepper, partly blanketed with thin slices of 3 Backyard Farms Maine ‘Cocktail tomatoes’, the tomato seasoned lightly and the pan returned to the oven for about 15 minutes, or until just cooked through, fillets and tomato removed with a spatula (2 spatulas ae better), along with as much of the potatoes as can be brought along with each piece, everything arranged on the plates as intact as possible, the remainder of the potatoes then added and the servings garnished with micro purple radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge
  • one bunch of broccoli rabe (aka rapini, among other names) from Phillips Farms wilted in a little olive oil inside a large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pot in which several medium rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been heated until slightly softened, the greens seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, divided between the 2 plates and drizzled with a little more olive oil
  • the wine was a great Portuguese (Vinho Verde) white, Vinho Verde Loureiro, Aphros 2016, from Astor Wines
  • the music was Verdi’s 1867/1886 grand opera, ‘Don Carlo’, Claudio Abbado conducting the Milan Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and the Milan Teatro alla Scala Chorus, with a great – and enormous – cast