It’s very hard for me to imagine anyone dreaming up this recipe for the first time.  It wouldn’t seem to be a natural approach for preparing any fish, but its author, Mark Bittman, says, “The recipe can be finished with almost any firm fish fillet.”   Here we have a piece, or pieces, of a familiar, undramatic white fish fillet, and slices of white potato, paired with tons of bay leaves and almost a cup of the strongest, most bitter black olives around. The whole idea seems so counter-intuitive, and yet, except for approaches that are even more simple, like this one, I consider it one of the best fish recipes I’ve ever come across.  It’s also one of the easiest, and nearly the most foolproof.

• Three monkfish fillets from Blue Moon Fish Company, weighing just under a total of a pound, and almost a cup of pitted black oil-cured olives, roasted on top of a bed of thinly-sliced and seasoned German Carola potatoes (yellow-fleshed, buttery) from Berried Treasures Farm which had already been roasted in the same pan, until slightly crispy, with a generous amount of olive oil and 15 or so bay leaves from Westside Market, the monkfish finished with a sprinkling of chopped bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm
• a small salad of wild arugula from Lani’s Farm, dressed with good olive oil, a small squeeze of organic lemon, salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, topped with one tiny heirloom tomato, segmented, from Berried Treasures
• the wine was a French (Rhone) white, Côtes du Rhône Samorëns Ferraton Père & Fils 2013
• the music was Sibelius, Symphony No. 2, with Paavo Berglund conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, which premiered it in 1899, when it was conducted by the composer

Yes, it seem that this meal was genuinely vegan, but we only realized it after we had sat down to it (which tell us all something about our usual dining habits).  In any event, it was really, really good, and also an excellent companion to a good bottle of wine, something I would worry about if I were ever to give up all animal products.

The recipe was my own invention, representing both what I had on hand and my almost insatiable appetite for excellent artisanal pasta, also always on hand.

• two finely-sliced garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm sautéed in olive oil in a deep enameled pot large enough to hold the pasta once it was cooked, followed by a tablespoon or so of dry fennel seed, heated until pungent, 2 thinly-sliced medium red onions, also from Norwich Meadows Farm, added and stirred until almost fully soft, 2 handfuls of very small ‘lunchbox’ peppers from Norwich Meadows Farm, plus 3 late-season (and therefore pretty mild) thin Cayenne red peppers from Oak Grove Plantation, each seeded, deveined, and halved or quartered and also sautéed until tender, the completed mix seasoned with salt and freshly-ground black pepper, combined in the sauce pot with cooked and drained Setaro penne rigatoni from Buon Italia (about fourteen ounces of a larger package), including some of the reserved pasta water, which was emulsified over low heat, the whole tossed with fresh chopped oregano from Rise & Root Farm
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany) white, Villa Antinori Toscana 2013
• the music was Sibelius, Symphony No. 1, with Paavo Berglund conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, which premiered it in 1899, conducted by the composer

The preparation of the skate is familiar to both of us, but it was one of the best ever, the fish cooked just right, the polenta coating perfectly crispy, and the bronze fennel innovation gave a favorite a subtle twist.

Note that the biggest challenge in preparing this dish is the delicacy of the skate: It’s always difficult to keep the pieces in tact, but don’t worry, as the sauce can work wonders in disguising any aesthetic inadequacies.

• small skate ‘wings’ from P.E & D.D. Seafood, dredged in coarse polenta from Citarella which had been seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper, fried very briefly (3-4 minutes on the first side, a bit less on the other) in a bit of olive oil until golden brown, removed from the pan and (ideally) placed on warm plates, the heat below the pan turned down, knobs of butter, some chopped shallots and finely-minced garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm added, the allium stirred and cooked (‘sweated’) briefly, the flame then turned off entirely, and lemon juice, chopped bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm and a bit of chopped parsley from Tamarack Hollow Farm added to the pan along with a little more butter, all of it stirred once again until the butter melted, the sauce then scattered/poured over the fish
• golden or orange cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, halved, then dressed with a good olive oil, salt, freshly-ground black pepper, drops of white balsamic vinegar, and chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, Matthew Iaconis Napa Valley Chardonnay 2014 (a Burgundy style, it’s Matt’s wine, and comes to us via Naked Wines)
• the music was an entire album of flute concertoes and symphonies by Friedrich II Hohenzollern

I had some eggs which I did not want to forget to use, so I decided I’d make a frittata for dinner.  We love frittatas. We are also big fans of most any vegetable, not least romanesca broccoli, as I’ve shown recently.   The next day in the Greenmarket I spotted a beautiful head of this art deco treasure which appeared to be exactly the right size for the purpose.

• one large thinly-sliced garlic clove from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed in heated olive oil in a seasoned 10″ cast iron pan for about 30 seconds, small flowerettes of romanesca broccoli from Hoeffner Farms, and chopped fresh hot red pepper from Oak Grove Plantation added and cooked for another minute, some of the torn green pointed leaves which enclose the head introduced just before the end, seasoned with salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons of water added, a pyrex glass cover placed over the pan, its contents cooked over moderate heat until the vegetable was crisp-tender, removed from the pan and set aside to cool a little before it was stirred into a bowl in which 8 eggs from Millport Dairy which had been beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper, the contents of the bowl poured into the original pan, which had been returned to the burner where it had heated a tablespoon of oil, the eggs and romanesca cooked over moderately low heat until the edges had set, sprinkled with a half cup of grated parmesan cheese and transferred to a pre-heated 350º oven for about 12 minutes  [the dish can be served warm, but not hot, or at room temperature]
• the wine was an Italian (Veneto) sparkling, Di Maria Prosecco DOC Famiglia Botter
• the music was Carl Heinrich Graun’s opera, ‘Montezuma‘ 

 

While these are baby squid, perhaps they are not baby squid (which might be only 3 to 6 centimeters long, including their heads).  They are however small, tender, and very tasty. I serve this dish often; the size of the cephalopods varies according to local market availability, but they are always delicious, and always very easy to prepare.

The recipe is included in Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ ‘Italian Easy: Recipes from the London River Cafe‘.  The book is a treasure.

• three quarters of a pound of baby squid, bodies and tentacles, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, rinsed, dried, quickly arranged in an enameled cast iron pan after its cooking surface had been brushed with olive oil and heated on top of the range until very hot, then sprinkled with some super-pungent dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia and one crushed dried pepperoncino, also from Buon Italia, then a good squeeze of lemon juice and some olive oil drizzled over the top, and placed in a pre-heated 400º oven, roasted for four or five minutes
• one baby fennel bulb from Norwich Meadows Farm, rolled in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, pan-grilled until tender and slightly carbonized, then tossed with chopped fennel fronds [note: since I forgot to add some finely-minced garlic this time, we missed out on the zing otherwise expected]
• redbor kale (or winterbor kale), finely-curled and a striking dark purple-red in color, from Tamarack Hollow Farm, wilted with olive oil in which thinly-sliced garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm had been allowed to heat until pungent, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil [in the picture the kale is inside a low black non-vintage, and non-radioactive Fiestaware bowl]
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Fuori Strada Grillo 2014 (whose gorgeous soft packaging, incidentally, is safe for the water bottle holder on you bike)
• the music was the Calder Quartet playing the Thomas Adès string quartet, ‘Arcadiana’