A simple expedient if the larder is nearly empty or if there is little time for assembling a meal from scratch (and especially if confronted with both situations), a package of store-bought filled pasta lying in the freezer is a boon, and it doesn’t have to be routine.  In this case I was lucky to have saved a bit of the juices from yesterday’s braised fennel and tomato.  I also had a ripe and singularly-beautiful green heirloom tomato, some Thai peppers in four colors, and good basil.  Spinach and ricotta-filled ravioli has rarely had it so good.

• Rana spinach and ricotta-filled ravioli from Eataly, sauced with just the right amount of chopped hot yellow Thai pepper heated in some olive oil and joined by the juices remaining from a vegetable braise which had been a part of the previous evening’s meal (the ingredients were fennel, yellow and red heirloom tomatoes, garlic, chiles, lemon juice, and chopped fennel fronds), a sliced green heirloom tomato from Berried Treasures, then all of it finished with torn basil from Gotham Greens at Whole Foods
• the wine was an Italian white, Santa Cristina Umbria 2013

This entrée was a triumph of fresh local, natural food sources.  Absolutely everything which was not actually fresh (like oil, salt, pepper, vinegar, flour) – other than the lemon juice and the wine – was brought home from the Union Square Greenmarket in the last few days.

• flounder fillets from PE & DD, washed, dried, brushed with a bit of good white wine vinegar and salt, floured, browned in olive oil, then removed to the plates, the pan wiped with paper towels, then butter, lemon juice and parsley from Paffenrath Farms added quickly and briefly heated, the resulting sauce poured over the fillets,  which were finished with chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• bulb fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm, slowly braised with sliced garlic from from Berried treasures, roughly-chopped heirloom tomatoes (also from Berried Treasures), crushed hot chiles (dried Santaka Peppers from Keith’s Farm), then finished with lemon juice, and chopped fennel fronds
• radish greens from John D. Madura Farms, wilted in oil seasoned by heating a small garlic clove from Lani’s Farm which had been sliced in two
• the wine was a French Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, Château des Eyssards Bergerac 2012

• loin lamb chops from Ottomanelli’s, spice-and-herb-rubbed (cumin, dried thyme, coriander, pimento picante, black pepper), sautéed, finished with oil and chopped parsley
• yellow heirloom plum tomatoes from Berried Treasures, sliced in half, seasoned, then pan-grilled, finished with oil and balsamic vinegar
• yellow summer squash from Berried Treasures, sliced into disks, and slivered tiny red bell peppers, both caramelized, finished with toasted pine nuts and lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• a Spanish red, Salbide Rioja 2012 

 

Most of the prep for this meal is involved in cleaning the mussels, but it’s worth every minute.  It’s a terrific, sophisticated combination of flavors.  I may be a sucker for anything lovage, but I may not be the only one tempted to forget every other formula for steaming mussels.  The simple recipe created by Jerry Traunfeld, was described by Sarah Dickerman in the New York Times in 2006.

• two pounds of scrubbed mussels purchased from Pura Vida in the Union Square Greenmarket, combined in a large heavy enameled pot with two cups of a variety of halved heirloom cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, half a cup of good white wine, a few tablespoons of chopped shallot from Eataly, three tablespoons of butter, a good amount of freshly-ground black pepper, and some coarsely-chopped lovage, also from Berried Treasures, everything steamed over high heat for a few minutes, then served with thick slices of Trucio from Sullivan Street Bakery (a superb rustic sourdough country bread with a dark crust)
• the wine was a Loire, a perfect compliment to the mussels, Domaine de La Fruitière Vignes Blanches 2012

Perfection.

Everything was really, really good.  I think it was largely because of the fresh, local and unadulterated ingredients.  Also, as with the sea bass fillet in the last post, this entrée could be described as a “a good date dinner”, if for a slightly different reason.  Here it was because the simple steps in its preparation demand very little attention.

I’ve prepared this dish twice, and Barry and I both want to savor it more often.   Aside from serving as a platform and seasoning for the monkfish, I can imagine the braised couscous and vegetables working with other fish or crustaceans (maybe lobster tails?), or as a side to fish or meat quickly (or slowly, lazily) prepared separately.

Couscous is Italian? Yes, and very traditional in Sicily, where, like so much else we love about its food, it began with the Saracens.

• a monkfish tail from Pura Vida, cooked in what I can only describe as a couscous casserole, a recipe from David Pasternak;  its ingredients included olive oil, sliced garlic from Berried Treasures, some superb Mutti baby Roma tomatoes from Eataly, cracked Sicilian-like olives from Whole Foods, and one crushed dried chile
• yellow flat beans, otherwise known as pole beans, or Romano beans, from Berried Treasures, which were parboiled and then finished with chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• a Sardinian white, La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna 2013

Note: After I tripped the shutter (do digital cameras actually have a ‘shutter’?) for the image above, I scattered some more chopped lovage onto the beans, so imagine there’s more green in that area of the picture.