This is one of the most satisfying meals in my modest portfolio; I owe it all to Mrs. Soccodato, whom I unfortunately never met, the non-Italian wife of my erstwhile Italian, West Village barber, Nic Soccodato.

• Setaro Penne Rigatoni, from Buon Italia, about 12 ounces, served with three quarters of the simple tomato sauce described in this post, in which I used 3 garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm, one 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes, and 3 large whole leaves of Gotham Greens Rooftop basil purchased last summer at Whole Foods (which I had wisely dried and frozen between small squares of waxed paper and stacked inside a soft plastic sealed container)
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) red, Tenuta Rapitlà Nero d’Avola Campo Reale 2013
• the music was Q2 streaming, most notably including Uuno Klami’s ‘Northern Lights’

This pretty simple recipe, which I first came across only three months ago, has quickly become my favorite way to enjoy fresh cod.

Last night Barry’s mother Earline joined us, and the number of my muses immediately doubled.  This cod en persillade was absolutely the very best tasting – and looking – and touching – to date.

• two 8-ounce fillets of fresh cod from American Pride Seafood, brought to room temperature, seasoned with salt on both sides, then only the top side (former skin side) brushed with a little French dijon mustard which had been mixed with a very small amount of water to make it easier to spread, the two pieces dipped into a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs mixed with some finely-chopped parsley from Whole Foods, browned briefly, but only on the side coated with the mustard and breadcrumb mix, in a little olive oil inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish began to flake (about 15 minutes this time, because the pieces were thick), sprinkled with scissored slices from half a dozen whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm [the recipe is based on Thomas Keller’s ‘Wild Cod en Persillade‘
• late-season small-leaf cavolo nero, or black kale, from Tamarack Hollow Farm, briefly wilted with olive oil and two halved garlic cloves from from Berried Treasures Farm, after the garlic had first been heated in the oil, and finished with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of a sweet Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island,
• two baby fennel ‘bulbs’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, and their stems, sliced roughly and slowly braised for a few minutes in olive oil and a large, slightly-squished garlic clove from Berried Treasures, most of a red cayenne pepper from Oak Grove Plantation and 6 halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from While Foods added and cooked until softened, the mix seasoned with salt and pepper and finished with a squeeze of sweet lemon and chopped fennel fronds
• the wine was a Spanish (Galicia) white, Benito Santos Igrexario de Saiar Albariño 2014
• the music was Yle Klassinen, streaming

very happy with this meal

 

Holidays and weekends shouldn’t be the only occasions for special meals, and besides, what’s ‘special’ when you’re trying to do your best all the time?  Still, I have to admit that this was pretty special, and while I served it on an ‘ordinary’ Monday, that wasn’t my original intention.  It was supposed to be Sunday dinner.  The fact is, earlier last week I had gone back and forth in my head about whether to marinate these venison chops 24 hours ahead of time, and in the end decided to play them quite straight (no marinade).  So I missed my cue for removing them from the refrigerator, and did not realize it until almost 10:30 Sunday night.

The new plan for that night was to put together a dish of rich pasta, and make the venison wait 24 hours.

Fortunately nothing suffered from the delay, and certainly not ourselves (the cacio e pepe was delicious).

I had interrupted the sauce preparation just in time, and it might even have profited from the overnight rest.  At least I can avow that it tasted wonderful and even more rich than it looks above.  My interest is normally in minimal, quickly-assembled meals, but I understand the passion for intense spicy sauces (usually thought of a cold weather thing in northern Europe, but a warm time thing around the Mediterranean and in south Asia); last night it was very cold outside, and we were delighted to have the oven working to heat both ourselves and this rich meal.

This venison talk inspires at least one more thought: I understand why a medieval or renaissance-era lord – and lady – would prefer the robust taste of game to so-called, ‘butcher’s meat’, especially after being out riding all day, hunting animals (or men).  Moves tells me I only walked 1.6 miles the day we sat down to this meal, so a single chop for each of us was plenty.

The inspiration for the meal began with an accidental sighting of a sign at the Quattro’s Game Farm stand in the Union Square Greenmarket, ‘Fresh Venison’.  Before this I hadn’t seen them advertising game more robust than pheasant, so I investigated further and, after a conversation with, I think, a member of the family, I ended up purchasing 2 chops from her.  At the time I thought I might have been too stingy bout the amount, but on the day I cooked them I was certain I had gotten it right.

I had very recently purchased David Waltuck’s beautiful big volume, ‘Chanterelle: The Story and Recipes of a Restaurant Classic’, and it was my inspiration for preparing them (the picture on the page facing the recipe is awesome); earlier I had seen a Mike Robinson video (I’d never heard of him until I googled ‘cooking venison shops’) which had already persuaded me to cook them as simply as possible.

I didn’t have any venison bones, so I had to try to reproduce the ‘venison stock’ called for in Waltuck’s recipe;  I think I did pretty well, and even the color looked right.

• 2 venison fallow deer loin chops, less than half a pound each, from Quattro’s Farm, seared quickly on top of the stove, then placed inside a 425º oven for only about 4 minutes (they should be pink and not rare), then placed on top of a very rich pepper sauce which had been prepared earlier
• the sauce poivrade started with a large unpeeled, coarsely-chopped carrot, a medium onion, unpeeled, quartered, one unpeeled garlic head, sliced horizontally, one large celery stalk, cut into 1-inch sections, all placed in hot olive oil inside a large, enameled, cast iron pan, the heat reduced to medium and the vegetables cooked until brown and soft (about 10-15 minutes; half a cup of white wine and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar poured in, the contents cooked, stirring, and scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan, brought to a boil until the liquid is almost evaporated (about 5 minutes), four cups of stock [venison stock is specified, but I used a combination of various stocks I had in the freezer, mushroom, lamb tongue, veal tongue, plus some very good low-sodium commercial beef and chicken stock], brought back to a boil and cooked until reduced by half (around 25-30 minutes); the sauce now strained through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium saucepan, the vegetables pressed, in order to squeeze as much of the juices into the pan as possible, 1 teaspoon of telicherry pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of sichuan peppercorns added, the liquid simmered over medium heat until the sauce was reduced to 1/2 cup (about 20 minutes); 1/2 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 tablespoon of whole wheat flour kneaded together to form a paste, then whisked into the saucepan, breaking up any lumps, the heat raised to bring it to boiling, then immediately reduced to medium, or low, simmering just long enough to eliminate any flour taste (about 5 minutes), then strained, again through a fine-mesh strainer, into a small saucepan, where it can be kept warm (or carefully re-heated) until ready to be placed on the plate
• brussels sprouts from van Houtem Farms, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread onto a large, very well seasoned Pampered Chef oven pan in a 400º oven and cooked until tender and slightly carbonized (the time will depend on size, but these took barely 15 minutes)
• very small white carrots from Rogowski Farm, also tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper, and cooked in a Pampered Chef medium-sized pan at 400º until tender (again, the time will depend on size; these took about 15 minutes), but here finished with a combination of chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm, chopped parsley from Whole Foods, and scissored whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm

white carrots in the just-beginning-to-be-seasoned medium-sized ceramic pan

 

• the fabulous wine was an Italian (Sicily) red, Etna Rosso Calabretta Azienda Vinicola 2001 from Flatiron wines  [we had originally purchased this wine for a meal of hare, celebrating New Year’s Day 2015, and fortunately we had bought two at the time]
• the music was Pierre Boulez, ‘Pli Selon Pli’, in a performance with the composer conducting the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Christine Schäfer the soloist; it’s amazing how well this stuff ‘holds up’, and in fact now seems sorta hummable, after all these years

the venison was aborted

 

It was Sunday, and I was going to prepare a meal which would have included two beautiful fallow deer chops, from the Union Square Greenmarket, and two late-season vegetables.  I had a great time putting together a rich sauce, with a complex faux-venison stock, but 2 or 3 hours in, all wheels stopped when I reached for the venison in the refrigerator and realized I hadn’t taken them out of the freezer.

I dotted the sauce with butter, put it into the refrigerator, returned the vegetables there, and Barry carefully re-corked the luscious Sicilian wine we had anticipated revisiting, and placed it in the icebox as well.  Yes, I also transferred the chops from the freezer and set them near the wine.

It was now late in the evening and I had to come up with an alternative, ideally as satisfying as the meal originally planned, and one which required very little preparation time.

My answer this time was cacio e pepe, to which I was introduced almost exactly 14 years ago, by Amander Hesser, and the former Mr. Latte, and which I have cherished ever since.

It was as sturdy as a venison dinner, and no less delicious.  We had the venison the following day, so I suppose I could also call this a primi.

• the simple recipe is in the link, “I was introduced”, above, and the ingredients this time included 10 ounces of Setaro spaghetti chitarra from Buon Italia (I didn’t have bavette, or linguini fini, but we’re not religious about shapes in this house), Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino Romano cheeses, also from Buon Italia, and unsalted ‘Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter‘
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Saladini Pilastri Falerio 2014, from Phillippe Wines
• the music was Pier Francesco Cavalli’s ‘Xerxes’, with Rene Jacobs both conducting and singing the title role, as countertenor

Yes.  And colorful.

 

• two 8-ounce pollock fillets from American Pride Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in a buttered baking dish, spread with a mixture of soft butter, zest from what may have been a Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and scissored whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm, baked 12 to 15 minutes at 350º, removed to plates and spread with the cooking juices and sprinkled with a small number of salted capers which had been rinsed, drained, dried, before being briefly heated in a little hot olive oil
• a handful of golden radishes from Lani’s Farm, roasted at 400º for about 20 minutes on a small ceramic oven pan with branches of thyme from Stokes Farm, then sprinkled with more thyme, now chopped
• two quite small purple (lilac?) cauliflower heads from from Van Houtem Farms, cored, the florets separated from each other, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread on another ceramic pan and roasted in the same hot oven, for barely 15 minutes, since they were so tender, then finished with chopped parsley from Whole Foods

• the wine was a California white, David Akiyoshi Chardonnay Clarksburg 2014, from Naked Wines
• the music was, early in the meal, Schubert’s ‘Trout Quintette’, streaming from Yle Klassinen as, Schubert: Forellikvintetto (Emanuel Ax, piano, Guarneri-kvartetti, sekä Julius Levine, kontrabasso), followed by a Moscow Studio Archives recording of Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Concerto Grosso No. 1 / Cello Concerto No. 1’