Search for habanada - 394 results found

grilled lamb chops, habanada/thyme parsnips, cabbage

So perfect, and so delicious, and it’s also so very easy to arrange both.

  • four lamb loin chops (1.21 lbs) from Shannon Brook Farm, dried thoroughly, cooked on a very hot enameled cast iron grill pan for about 5 or 6 minutes on each side, seasoned with salt and pepper after they were first turned over, finished with a squeeze of juice from an organic California Whole Foods Market lemon, scattered with chopped rosemary from Philipps Farms
  • two parsnips from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, trimmed, cut roughly into 3 inch lengths, half inch widths, tossed with olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper, a little crushed dried habanada pepper, and branches of thyme from West Side Market (Uncle Vinny’s), spread in a single layer onto an unglazed ceramic oven pan, roasted at 400º until done (20 to 25 minutes)
  • one small Savoy cabbage from Tamarack Hollow Farm, washed, quartered, cored, sliced into one-half-inch ribbons, sautéed in a scant tablespoon of olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pot until wilted but still crunchy, stirring occasionally, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, a teaspoon and a half of just-toasted cumin seed mixed in, finished by stirring half of a teaspoon of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, then cooked for another couple of minutes
  • the wine was a French (Rhône/Ardèche) red, Michel Savel (Herve Souhaut) Marecos Red 2016, from Copake Wine Works
  • the music was an album of Shostakovich piano concertos, Anna Vinnitskaya accompanied by the Kremerata Baltica

pasta, celery, olive, habanada, lovage, pinoli, micro scallion

We weren’t interested in a big deal meal, so I thought I’d put together a pasta.

Barry said he would like one with which we could enjoy a red wine, so I gathered some ingredients that would please that choice. It was far more interesting, and delicious, than we had expected, and a second helping was even better, which is always the case with a good pasta.

  • a little chopped garlic and chopped shallot heated until fragrant inside a large antique tin-lined copper pot, some small chopped sections of very small celery stems added and also heated briefly before the introduction of a few small pieces of dried habanada, a handful of pitted black oil-cured olives and a small amount of chopped celery leaves, then 9 ounces of Setaro Torre Annunziata Napoli Penne Rigatoni from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, cooked al dente, mixed in, and almost a cup of the reserved cooking water added and stirred until the liquid had emulsified, the sauced pasta placed in shallow bowls, sprinkled with lovage, finished with a sprinkling of pine nuts (accidentally toasted beyond the stage I had  intended, but the carbonization seemed perfect for this dish), garnished with c from Two Guys from Woodbridge, with a bit of olive oil drizzled around the edges
  • the wine was an Italian (Pedmont/Alba) red, Barbera d’Alba, Produttori di Govone 2016, from Astor Wines
  • the music was Mendelssohn’s, his 1837 Piano Concerto No. 2  and the 1824 Symphony No. 1, Kristian Bezuidenhout on fortepiano, and the Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Cas directing

prosciutto, arugula; pasta, alliums, habanada, micro kale

There was a somewhat meaty first course and a vegan main, although since the flavors were so rich,  Barry had to ask me whether meat had any part in the latter. It did not, so I think the suggestion of it came from the savoriness of the habanada pepper, the smokiness of the toasted pine nuts, and/or the earthiness of the micro kale finish.

The antipasto, or the appetizer course, was more southern Italian than the next one.

  • slices from a 2-ounce package of la Quercia ‘Prosciutto Americano’ from Chelsea Whole Foods Market arranged beside some leaves of arugula from Jersey Farm Produce Inc. in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market, that had been drizzled with olive oil (Renieris Estate ‘Divina’ (Koroneiki varietal), Hania, Crete, from Whole Foods Market, seasoned with local Long Island sea salt from P.E. & D.D. Seafood and freshly-ground black pepper, then one sliced ripe medium red heirloom tomato, its one overripe section first severed from the rest and discarded, placed on top of the arugula, also drizzled with a little of the oil, sprinkled with scissored chives from Space at Ryder Farm, and seasoned with salt and pepper too [the rosemary cracker in the picture to the right of the arugula is an errant part of the accompaniment to our drinks before dinner]
  • slices of ‘Whole wheat Redeemer Bread’ (wheat, water, salt) from Lost Bread Co. (not in the picture)

The primi, or main, in this case, to the extent that it echoed Italy at all, was the more northern Italian of the two.

  • one sliced red spring onion from Norwich Meadows Farm and one chopped clove of ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm heated until both were fragrant in a couple tablespoons of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil inside a large antique copper pot, followed by one thinly sliced habanada pepper from Alewife Farm stirred in, and then, as soon as it had finished cooking to an al dente state, 9 ounces from a one-pound box of Sfoglini Einkorn Macaroni, together with a cup of the cooking water, tossed in, the heat under the pan pushed to high and the mix cooked, stirring, until the liquid had emulsified, arranged in shallow bowls with a little olive oil drizzled around the edges, garnished with some micro kale from Norwich Meadows Farm 

 

bauernwurst; tomato; garlic and habanada-roasted squash

The meal included elements of at least three different food traditions, but it wasn’t dominated by any one of them, so naturally we decided to serve a South African wine.

  • four links of Schaller & Weber‘s wonderful Bauernwurst, a coarse, smokey, very traditional German country style sausage, placed next to each other inside a medium Pyrex blue Flameware pot which was then filled with cold water, just enough to cover, heated over a medium-high flame until the water had reached a gentle simmer (by which time they were fully cooked), removed, drained, dried on a paper towel, and placed above a high flame inside a seasoned cast iron pan, after its surface had been brushed with a thin layer of olive oil, seared, turning frequently, until colored on all sides, arranged on the plates with dabs of a rich shallot, garlic, paprika and turmeric mustard from Hudson Valley Charcuterie, and a second mustard, Löwensenf Hönig-Dill
  • one heirloom tomato from Race Farm, halved horizontally, seasoned with local sea salt from P.E. & D.D. Seafood and freshly ground black pepper, softened on both sides in a little olive oil inside a small copper skillet, arranged on the plates on a bed of olive oil-drizzled baby arugula from Campo Rosso Farm, the  tomatoes sprinkled with a bit of chopped chive garlic seed from Space on Ryder Farm, themselves drizzled with a touch more oil

mustard/habanada-fried blowfish; long beans, tomato, mint

We both chose the blowfish on our own, without any visual stimulus, and unanimously (Barry by responding to the photo I had sent him of the fish board that day, via Slack), but the vegetable seemed to have invited itself, once I had spotted two bunches of long beans that remained on the farmer’s table at the Greenmarket on Monday.

Today many of us think that Italians traditionally tend to overcook their vegetables, but author of the recipe on which I based my preparation of these (very un-Italian beans) has a different take:

If you ask me, people don’t overcook their vegetables often enough. The truth is, vegetables can sometimes be absolutely delicious when cooked until there isn’t a trace of crispness left. In fact, some vegetables practically require long cooking—like these long beans braised in tomatoes, which are best only after you’ve cooked them to death.

I can understand the concept, at least in this case.

  • eight local blowfish tails (exactly one pound together) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, dredged in about 2 ounces of a local Union Square Greenmarket-purchased whole wheat flour (from the Blew family of Oak Grove Mills Mills) that had been seasoned with plenty of local P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, about half a teaspoon of Colman’s ground mustard seed, and a pinch or more of some home-dried darker golden habanada pepper, pan-fried in olive oil about an eighth to a quarter of an inch deep inside a very large well seasoned heavy cast iron pan, turning them over once (cooking about 2 to 2½ minutes on each side), by which time they had turned beautifully golden), drizzled with juice of an organic California lemon from Whole Foods Market, and garnished with micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge

  • twelve ounces of purple Asian long beans (the color remains after cooking) from Lani’s Farm, washed, trimmed, cut into 4 or 5-inch lengths, placed inside a large antique high-sided copper pan/pot in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in which 2 medium cloves of ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm and a bit of dried Itria-Sirissi chili, pepperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia had first been heated over a medium flame, stirring, until the garlic had begun to color, the heat raised to high and cooked, again, stirring, until the beans had become bright purple and begun to sear, 3 to 4 minutes, seasoned with salt and pepper, then most of one can of San Marzano (Italian San Marzano, Italian San Marzano D.O.C.) tomatoes and their juices, the tomatoes themselves first crushed by hand, added to the pan, along with a third of a cup of water that had first been swished around the empty tomato can, the mix brought to a simmer and the heat lowered just enough to maintain that simmer, cooked uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans were very tender and the tomato had reduced to a thick sauce, or about 30 minutes, at which point 2 tablespoons of packed fresh peppermint leaves, also from Lani’s Farm, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil were mixed in [NOTE: this dish could also be served at room temperature, or refrigerated and rewarmed before serving.]
  • the wine was a Spanish (Catalonia/Tarragona/Monsant) white, Franck Massard Herbis Verdejo 2018, from Naked Wines
  • the music was a recording of two symphonies by Karl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787), Michael Alexander Willens conducting the Cologne Academy