I hadn’t expected to make it to either of my Greenmarket choices on Saturday, but when our plans changed, and I realized I’d be able to cook dinner that night, I rushed down the block to one of my favorite fishmongers.

When I saw the mussels, I couldn’t see anything else in the case.

• a little more than two pounds of wild mussels (and I was told they had not grown on ropes, or the equivalent), purchased from American Seafood Company early that afternoon in the 23rd Street Market at Saturday’s Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, one block away from us, scrubbed and de-bearded where necessary, combined in a large heavy enameled pot (a larger round Le Creuset Doufeu ‘dutch oven’ I’ve had for almost 50 years) with over two cups of halved red cherry tomatoes (one pint basket) from Alex’s Tomato Farm, a little more than half a cup of a good white wine, Miriam Alexandra California Chenin Blanc 2018, a few tablespoons of a chopped ‘camelot’ Dutch red shallot from Quarton Farm, 4 tablespoons Vermont Creamery Butter, about a quarter of a teaspoon of crushed Calabresi peperoncino secchia from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, a generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper, and a few tablespoons of some coarsely-chopped lovage from Quarton Farm, the pot then covered and its contents simply steamed over high heat for a few minutes, arranged in shallow bowls, along with the wonderful pot liquor, and sprinkled with a little more lovage
• one red fife baguette(Red Fife whole wheat flour, starter, and salt) from Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse
• the wine was a French (Loire) rosé, Patrice Grasset Loire Valley Rosé of Pinot Noir 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music was an extremely early opera (1608) by Marco Da Gagliano, ‘La Dafne’, from the Ensemble Vocale Dello Studio Di Music Antica Antonio Il Verso

Thinking about what might be the best way to use the extra, cardoons I had prepared but not used in this meal on Monday, the answer seemed simple: Pasta!

I was concerned about the bitterness of the [thistle stems], as I mentioned in the post describing that meal; I suspected the pasta would dilute most, if not all of it, and it did. And it was good.

• eight slices (4 ounces) of duck bacon from Hudson Valley Duck Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, cut into 1/4 inch segments, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large, heavy, high-sided, tin-lined copper pot until the fat began to render, removed, set aside, and replaced in the pot by 2 thick scallions from Alex’s Tomato Farm, in the 23rd Street Saturday farmers market, and a section of a dried orange/gold habanada pepper, heated until the onion had softened, followed by a couple handfuls of cardoons that had been boiled and drained on Monday and placed in the refrigerator, the cardoons sautéed until beginning to caramelize, at which time 9 ounces of Sfoglini red fife blend zucca, cooked al dente, was tossed into the pot, with some of the reserved pasta cooking water, stirred over medium heat until the sauce had been emulsified, chopped peppermint from from Phillips Farms added and mixed into the pasta, which was then arranged inside low bowls, sprinkled with a little more chopped mint, drizzled with olive oil, and finished with a generous amount of freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Vache Rosse from Eataly
• the wine was a California (grapes from 3 regions, North Coast, Lodi and Clarksburg) rosé, Evangelos Bagias California Rosé 2016, from Naked Wines

There was also a cheese course.

• three cheeses from Consider Bardwell Farm: a blue goat; ‘Manchester’, also goat; and ‘Pawlet’, a cow cheese
• thin toasts from 2 different several-days-old breads, a small Pugliese roll and a classic French baguette, both from Whole Foods Market
• the wine with the cheese was a California (Lodi) white, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve Pinot Grigio Lodi 2016, also from Naked Wines

 

• the music throughout the meal was from the Deutsche Grammophon/DGG album, ‘haydn, “sturm” und “drang”, paris & london symphonies’, the pieces performed by the  Orchestra Of The Age Of the Enlightenment, and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Frans Brüggen conducting both; the symphonies we listened to were Nos. 47, 46, and 26

I was just cleaning out the refrigerator to put together a meal before we leave for Portugal, and also trying to avoid wasting anything, and somehow we still managed to enjoy a pretty good dish of pasta, also a pretty dish of pasta.

• six ounces of garlic scapes from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed in a large enameled cast iron pot with and a little crushed dried Sicilian pepperoncino from Buon Italia before the addition of the roots from 2 bunches of chioggia beets which had been trimmed of all but a stump of their green stems, scrubbed, cut into wedges, parboiled until almost softened, the beet roots pushed around inside the pot, then joined by many of the roughly-chopped beet leaves themselves, stirring them into the mix until they had wilted, finally 7 ounces of Sfoglini red fife blend zucca, cooked al dente, added with some of reserved pasta water and moved about over a medium flame until the sauce had emulsified, the finished pasta arranged inside 2 shallow bowls and garnished with a bit of homemade breadcrumbs which had been browned in a little olive oil with a pinch of salt [note: with the second helping we enjoyed grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Vache Rosse from Eataly on top, which was as satisfactory a finish as the breadcrumbs]
• the wine was a California (Lodi) rosé, Karen Birmingham Rose Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was Mozart’s 1771 opera (the boy was but 14 at the time),  ‘Ascanio In Alba’, performed by Jed Wentz conducting Musica ad Rhenum and the Coqu Vocal Ensemble

And it still tastes like musty caramels.

But then there’s much more to say about it, including the subtle variations which different sauces can bring to a good pasta like this Sfoglini red fife blend.

And this particular recipe is very useful for quickly assembling a good meal after coming home late, as we did last night (I think we may even have beaten the time it would have taken a good pizza to arrive).

• eight ounces of Sfoglini ‘organic red fife blend zucca’, purchased at the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project stall in Union Square Greenmarket, cooked al dente, mixed with a sauce made by starting out with 2 large cloves of ‘German Hardneck‘ garlic from Race Farm, sliced, and a little dried red pepper flakes, heating both in a large cast iron enameled pan for about one minute, adding some chopped collard greens from Tamarack Hollow Farm, stirring the mix for 5 minutes, or until tender, pouring in 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and then the zest from most of one lemon, emulsified by stirring the pasta for a minute or 2 over low heat, along with some reserved pasta water, the pasta served in bowls with grated pecorino romano cheese from Buon Italia on top
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) white, The Piedmont Guy Ercole Monferratu DOC Bianco 2015
• the music was that of the fantastic creative and experimental new music champion, Hans Zender, from the album, ‘HANS ZENDER: Cabaret Voltaire’, which includes ‘Cabaret Voltaire’ and ‘Mnemosyne – Hölderlin lesen IV’, performed by Klangforum Wien, Salome Kammer, and Hans Zender; we listened to it on Spotify

“It tastes like musty caramels”, said Henry, who was standing with Reina behind the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project, in reply to my question about the Sfoglini organic red fife blend zucca.

For me that taste morsel was enough of an incentive to purchasing it, and later it would be a sufficient tipoff for deciding on the vegetable I’d combine this artisanal pasta with.

• eight ounces of Sfoglini ‘organic red fife blend zucca’, purchased through the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project stall at the Union Square Greenmarket, cooked al dente, mixed with a sauce in which 2 small-ish pan-grilled Japanese eggplant (sliced 1/2″ thick) from Berried Treasures, then cut into one-inch segments, was combined with one sliced large clove of ‘German Hardneck‘ garlic from Race Farm, which had just been heated in a small separate pan with a small finely-chopped red Calabrian pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, the pasta and sauce emulsified in the emptied pasta pot by stirring with some reserved pasta water, a little lemon juice and zest added just before a generous amount of chopped peppermint from Lani’s Farm was added in, served in the bowls with a garnish of micro purple radish from Windfall Farms

There was a serving of prosciutto and arugula before the pasta, but the dish and the image is now so familiar on this blog that I didn’t want to lead with it, or go into detail once again.

Okay, omitting it altogether also seems wrong, so here it is.

• Applegate prosciutto from Whole Foods, drizzled with a very good olive oil from Campania (Syrenum D.O.P. Peninsula Sorrentina), served with arugula from Alewife Farm, the greens also drizzled with the olive oil, but also with a little lemon juice, and seasoned with salt and pepper, served with slices of ‘Commune’ from Sullivan Street Bakery

• the wine through both courses was an Italian (Piedmont) white, The Piedmont Guy Ercole Monferratu DOC Bianco 2015
• the music was the album, ‘Hard Line’, by h2 quartet