I love corn, in almost any form. While that goes for corn on the cob as well, I hate the messy process involved in eating it (I put it in the same category as boiled lobster: best consumed while sitting on sand, preferably rocks, on the ocean, preferably Aquidneck Island).

And then there’s corn where the entire cob can be eaten at the table with a knife and fork, since it’s only about 4 inches long, and completely tender.

But before we got to that treat last night I sautéed a different green vegetable, which also, incidentally, from the same young farmers as the corn.

• two large handfuls of shishito peppers from Alewife Farm, washed, drained, dried, then sautéed over medium high heat in a broad 13″ cast iron pan for a few minutes, stirring and turning, seasoned with Phil Karlin’s P.E. & D.D. Seafood Long Island Sound local sea salt, arranged on plates, with more salt added to taste
• slices of a She Wolf Bakery ‘miche’

I was able to do most of the preparation for the main course before we sat down to the peppers.

• after the oven had been heated to 400º (while it was a warm humid night, I would only have to use it for 5 minutes, and our new AC system is able to cope with that), exactly one pound of very fresh cleaned squid from Pura Vida Seafood Company, bodies and tentacles, rinsed and very carefully dried, were quickly arranged inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until hot, the cooking surface brushed with olive oil, and once the oil itself had become quite hot, the mollusks were immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, a small crushed section of a small ‘Diavvoletti Rossi‘ Calabresi peperoncino secchia from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, and a pinch of the now powdered remains of some light-colored home-dried habanada pepper I had purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm back in 2017 (and it’s still awesome), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by 3 full tablespoons of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market Mexican lemon and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside the hot oven and the squid roasted for just 5 minutes, by which time their bodies had ballooned somewhat, after which they were removed and arranged on 2 plates and ladled with the cooking juices from a footed glass sauce boat
• some micro ‘Hong Vit‘ Asian radish greens from Windfall Farms arranged next to the squid

• ten ears of baby bicolor corn from Alewife Farm, shucked (taking more time to do so then with the big ones, since these ears were so small and delicate), and retaining as much of their stems as possible, since everything was tender, sautéed briefly inside a heavy medium size antique copper pan in which a little butter and a little less olive oil had been heated until fairly hot, sprinkled inside the pan with salt and black pepper and finished with fresh chopped epazote from TransGenerational Farm, which has become my latest favorite herb
• the wine was a Spanish (Galicia/Rias Baixas) white, Martin Codax Rías Baixas Albariño 2017, from Philippe Wines
• the music was Vivaldi’s 1717 opera, ‘L’incoronazione di Dario’, Ottavio Dantone conducting Accademia Bizantina

 

• the music after dinner was chamber music by Conradin Kreutzer, an early nineteenth-century (okay, ‘Biedermeier‘) composer and conductor, whose work is relatively obscure today

The squid was delicious, as it always is with this very familiar recipe (and with virtually any other), as was the kale, a particularly tasty redbor (brassica oleraceae ‘redbor’), whose appearance could more accurately be described as ‘frilly purple and green kale’.

The big deal for us however was the farm where the vegetable was grown, especially since we’re now in the month of June, and this one happens to be the 50th June since Stonewall. The the farm is TransGenerational Farm, and farmer’s name is Jayne. Here’s a bit about the farm and the farmer, from Grow New York, the group responsible for New York’s Greenmarket Farmers Markets, and many other initiatives.

• after the oven had been heated to 400º (it was a warm humid night, but not to worry, they only had to be in there for 5 minutes, and our new AC system is up to the challenge), just over a pound of very fresh squid, bodies and tentacles, from American Seafood Company, rinsed and very carefully dried, were quickly arranged inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until hot and its the cooking surface brushed with olive oil once the oil itself had become quite hot, then immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, a good section of a peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and a pinch of the now powdered remains of some light-colored home-dried habanada pepper (purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm back in 2017, and still awesome), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by 3 full tablespoons of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside the hot oven and the squid roasted for just 5 minutes, by which time their bodies had ballooned somewhat, then removed and the bodies and tentacles arranged on 2 plates and ladled with the cooking juices that had been transferred to a footed glass sauce boat

• one bunch of redbor kale, finely-curled and a striking dark purple-red in color, from TransGenerational Farm, wilted with olive oil in which one thinly-sliced fresh garlic clove from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, NJ had been allowed to heat until pungent, seasoned with salt, black pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil
• thin slices(one falling off the plate in the picture at the top) from a quarter section of a miche from Bread Alone, purchased in the Union Square Greenmarket
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Corvo Bianco 2017, from Philippe Wines
• the music was an album of 2 septets by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, performed by Consortium Classicum, with soloists Dieter Klöcker, clarinet, and Florian Uhlig, keyboard

 

[the image of Jayne is from the GrowNYC Blog]

I must have appeared flummoxed.

Warren said I should have the squid.

The fisherman was right. We love squid [58 results show up on this blog], it had been a while since I’d served it, it was definitely very fresh. preparing it as I do is a pretty low key operation, and it was delicious.

• once the oven had been heated to 400º, just over a pound of very fresh squid, bodies and tentacles, from American Seafood Company, rinsed and very carefully dried, quickly arranged inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until hot and its the cooking surface brushed with olive oil once the oil itself had become quite hot, immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, a good section of a peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and a section of light-colored home-dried habanada pepper (purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm last season), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a full 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods lemon and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside the hot oven and the squid roasted for just 5 minutes, by which time their bodies had ballooned somewhat, the squid removed and arranged on 2 plates and ladled with the cooking juices that had been transferred to a footed glass sauce boat
• just under a pound of amazingly sweet Natasha potatoes from Phillips Farms, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with a little Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and tossed with scissored fresh chives, also from Phillips Farms
• one bouquet of cavolo nero (aka lacinato, Tuscan kale, or black kale, and other names as well) from Eckerton Hill Farm, the leaves stripped from their stems (which is difficult when the cabbage leaves are as then as these were) wilted briefly inside a large heavy antique tin-lined copper pot in a tablespoon or so of olive oil after several halved cloves of garlic, also from Norwich Meadows, had first been heated there until fragrant and softened, the greens seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with a little more oil

• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany/Maremma) white, Santa Margherita Vermentino 2017, from Philippe Wines

• the music was a live recording of a tribute concert entitled ‘Glenn Gould – Remodels’, which was a part of a series of exhibitions and concerts dedicated to and marking the 2017 85th birthday of Glenn Gould, curated by Ryuichi Sakamoto, with Alva Noto+Nilo, Christian Fennesz, and Francesco Tristano

[the image of their Maremma vineyard is from the Tenuta Sassoregale site; the ‘Glenn Gould Gathering’ album cover is from Leticia García (twitter @Ms_Golightly)]

The antipasto was ‘prepared food’ (prepared by the wife of our local fisherman), with the addition of a bit of greens, and the locally-made pasta that followed only needed a little working, and that too included a bit of greenery, as local as that which had accompanied the sseafood salad.

• eight ounces of a squid and conch salad (including olive oil, parsley, red pepper, lemon juice) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, made by Dolores Karlin, the wife of Phil Karlin, the fisherman himself, arranged on a thin bed of arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, the seasoning of the salad adjusted, including a drizzle of juice from a Chelsea While Foods Market organic lemon
• leaves of peppery arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with a good olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle lemon juice, arranged as a bed for the salad
• slices of a superb 100% whole wheat bread from the bakery at Runner & Stone

Because both courses were so easily assembled, the water for the pasta could be heated while we were still enjoying the seafood salad, meaning there was no serious interruption before moving on the pasta.

• a few handfuls of roughly cut purple mustard greens from Lani’s Farm, stirred into a little olive oil inside a large vintage copper pot in which 2 small cloves of sliced ‘music garlic’ from Windfall Farms had been allowed to sweat, seasoned with salt and pepper, and set aside while 8 ounces of a very good Agricola del Sole orecciette di grana arso from Flatiron Eataly had been cooked al dente, the pasta then drained, transferred into the pot with the garlic and greens, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a pinch of an Eckerton Hill Farm crushed dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper, some of the pasta cooking water added and the mix stirred over a high lame until the liquid had emulsified, then arranged inside shallow bowls and served tossed with some grated Sini Fulvi Pecorino Romano D.O.C. from the Chelsea Whole Foods Market, finishing with a drizzle of olive oil around the edges

 

• the wine throughout the meal was an Italian (Sicily) white, Corvo Bianco 2017, from Philippe Wines
• the music throughout was a recording of Berlioz’s 1846 légende dramatique, ‘La Damnation De Faust’, Kent Nagano conducting the Lyon Opera Orchestra and the Lyon Opera Chorus, with Thomas Moser, Susan Graham, Frédéric Caton, and José van Dam