pedigree: San Marzano, Italian San Marzano, Italian San Marzano D.O.C.

 

Gorgeous.

I love tomatoes, in any form, and I think I know what to do with them, in any form, but what do I know about the competing claims of the many serious (read, ‘high-end’) producers of tomatoes canned for cooking? I’m beginning to think that I may really only be able to say what tastes good.

I used to think I knew what was the very best canned tomato, based on my discussions with Nic Soccodato long ago, and my experience with the cans he sold out of the back of his barber shop. It was the San Marzano, and only the San Marzano which originated in and grew in his own paese, the Valle del Sarno.  After he retired however I may have inadvertently strayed from what he would have considered the genuine San Marzano, and recently I became aware that one of the brands I had been using for some time, and had always found very good, while described as San Marzano tomatoes, did not actually include fruit from Italy. Apostasy, or victory for locavores?

The problem has been further complicated by the fact that products of the same producers are not found in all markets, and the name, ‘San Marzano’, might not be found on any label in a given market, on a given day.

The can of peeled tomatoes shown in the image above, produced by Agrigenus, is what I used last Wednesday, in my last tomato sauce outing; it had all of the credentials. On Friday however, when I was at Eataly for another reason, and remembered I should replace it, the one brand I found was Mutti.  The label asserted, ‘Only Italian tomatoes. GMO Free’, but, while I looked everywhere, the words ‘San Marzano’ were nowhere to be found. I’ve really liked this brand in the past, often picking it up when my first choice was not available. Its exclusive presence in the store seemed to carry the recommendation of Batali and the Bastianich family, so I bought one.

I now don’t know what my experience means to the claims for San Marzano tomatoes from the Agro Nocerino, but I’ll probably continue to seek out the original.

• the meal was paccheri and Mrs. Nick’s simple San Marzano tomato sauce, whose recipe is outlined here
• the wine was an Italian (Veneto) red, Cantine Buglioni Il Ruffiano Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2011
• the music was Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony No. 1, the composer conducting the BBC Philharmonic, followed by his ‘Taverner: Points and Dances’, conducting the Fires of London on the same album

almost over the top, at least by my measure

 

I rarely include a cream sauce in any of my cooking, and in fact the finishing touch on these scallops was not actually a cream sauce, but a ‘composed butter’ which included fish juices, herbs and wild garlic, a small remainder from this earlier meal, kept frozen in a ramekin until now.

The picture above is very unlike the usual images of pan-grilled scallops found on this blog (this one is my favorite), which are frankly more to my taste, but I couldn’t resist pursuing the experiment this time.

I’ve had the small ramekin on my mind for two weeks, hoping to arrange a perfect [second] marriage for it.  I’m more familiar with composed butters as a final touch for grilled steaks, a device I’ve only encountered in Julia Childs books; I was afraid that matching this one up with shellfish might be too much of a stretch, but the result was delicious.

The plans for virtually every element of this meal came together only at the last moment – in fact only while I was actually already cooking – and that included the treatment of the scallops.

Mildly-aromatic ‘wild garlic’ came into play twice during the preparation of this dinner, as a finish for the tomatoes, and as an important element in the herb butter spread on top of the scallops. I’ll think of this tiny (actually, at least partially domesticated) plant as my first 2016 ‘find’ in the Greenmarket.  It’s tasty, attractive, pretty versatile, and keeps pretty well. It’s also the harbinger of a growing season which is actually heralded by the first appearance of ramps, which, while definitely wild, have become a fixture, a tradition, for both the farmers and their happy city customers.

• ten sea scallops from P.E. & D. D. Seafood, washed, rinsed and dried very thoroughly, generously seasoned with salt and pepper, pan grilled a minute or so on each side, finished on the plates with a squeeze of juice from a local lemon grown by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, drizzled with a little olive oil, and spread with a preserved butter which included tilefish juices combined wild garlic from Lani’s Farm, fresh parsley (Eataly), thyme (Forager’s), lovage (Two Guys from Woodbridge), sage (Eataly), and oregano (Stoke’s Farm)
• eight Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, halved, sautéed in a little olive oil until beginning to soften, seasoned with salt and pepper, removed and placed on a bed of tiny, only slightly-peppery cress, “a basal rosette of baby-arugula-like winter cress”, according to the grower/seller, Lani’s Farm (and in fact also basically ‘wild’?), then 8 or 10 finely-chopped wild garlic plants, also from Lani’s Farm (including bulbs, white and green stems) immediately tossed into the still-warm pan in which the tomatoes had cooked, stirred a few seconds, the garlic and tomato juices poured on top of the tomatoes themselves
• red mustard greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted in a little oil which had already warmed 1 halved clove of bruised garlic from John D. Madura Farm, seasoned with salt and pepper, finished with a drizzle of oil
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Akiyoshi Reserve Chardonnay Clarksburg 2014
• the music was a number of works by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, beginning with his ‘Mavis in Las Vegas‘, and the other entertaining pieces on this recording, and ending with his very serious last symphony, Symphony No. 10 (“Alla ricerca di Borromini”), which includes a sonnet to and text of by Francesco Borromini, and poetry by Giacomo Leopardi

Sweet.

 

There were two courses, first, a salumi with greens…

• Two ounces of La Quercia Salame Americano, from Eataly, arranged on plates, drizzled with with a little Casa Gola olive oil, accompanied by small leaves of arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, which had been dressed with the same oil, juice from a local hot house Lisbon lemon (Fantastic Gardens of Long Island), salt, and pepper
• slices of a Bien Cuit ‘campagna’ from Forager’s

…followed by a fresh pasta.

• twelve ounces of Fiore di Zucca crescent ravioli from Eataly (a filling of butternut squash, ricotta, grana padano, and breadcrumbs), with a sauce of  6  or 8 fresh sage leaves from Eataly warmed in several tablespoons of ‘Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter‘, with some grated ‘Organic Parmigiana Reggiani Hombre’ from Whole Foods sprinkled on the top of the pasta once it had been placed in bowls

 

• the wine through both courses was an Italian (Marche) white, Le Salse Verdicchio di Matelica 2014
• the music during the first part of the meal was the last movements of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in E minor (‘Song of the Night’), Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony, followed by Leif Segerstam’s Symphony No.12 in One Movement, ‘After the Flood’, from the album, ‘Meet the Composer-Conductor‘

I was a very simple thing, and it welcomed a certain number of ingredients I already had sitting around in the kitchen, but it tasted delicious.  Surprisingly, it also boasted the texture of a soufflé, and who does soufflés any more?

The basic recipe comes from Joyce Goldstein, and is described in detail here, but, just as when I had prepared the dish before, I took some liberties, including changing the half pound of kale she prescribes to the mere handful I had on hand (scattering it all on the top near the end, for visibility). I also added one green serrano pepper to the sausage and onion mix near the end of their cooking, and, after the frittata had come out of the oven, while it was still hot, I sprinkled it with my current favorite herb.

• the ingredients used in the frittata were about 7 ounces of spicy smoked pork chorizo from the Amish folks at Millport Dairy, one large onion from Norwich Meadows Farm, 8 eggs from Millport Dairy, half of a cup of whole milk from Trickling Springs Creamery, less than a tablespoon of coarse stone-ground flour, green- and purple-colored flat-leaf Winterbor kale from Tamarack Hollow Farm, half a teaspoon of Pimentón de la Vera dulce, and chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a French (Rousillon) red, Le Renard AOP Côtes du Rousillion Villages 2014, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Handel’s ‘Orlando’, conducted by René Jacobs

before (Paul displaying his own purchase)..

 

..and after (my display of our dinner)

 

I was introduced to this terrific fish today on one of my regular visits to one of the fish stalls in the Union Square Greenmarket, Pura Vida Seafood.  I’ve learned to pay attention to what Paul tells me, and this is another of the proofs.  I had never cooked white sea perch before, but the taste is superb, and the texture is more firm than that of other perch or similar fish.  The price is modest by today’s standards, and, for those who dwell on such things, the fillets have very few bones.

The recipe I used had the advantage of simplicity and it could be divided into two periods of a cook’s attention, both virtues especially appreciated on a night when I would not be returning to the apartment from a concert until almost 10 o’clock.

I was able to prepare a marinade and arrange six small fillets in it before I left for Avery Fisher Hall and Esa_Pekka Salonen’s performance of Messiaen’s ‘Turangalîla Symphony’.  Soon after arriving home at 10 o’clock I lit the oven and, once it had heated to 500º, place the fish in it, still in the pan with the marinade.  Less than 10 minutes later I was arranging it on the plates.

The recipe is found in Mark Bittman’s “Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking“.

• six white perch fillets from Pura Vida Seafood (about 15 ounces total) arranged in an oven pan with a marinade consisting of 2 tablespoons of chopped herbs (in this case, parsley from Eataly, rosemary from Phillips Farm, thyme from Forager’s, and lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge), salt and pepper, left covered in the refrigerator for 3 hours (although the recipe suggests, alternatively, periods as brief as 15 minutes), then roasted with the marinade in a pre-heated 500º oven for about 8 minutes, and served
• small, young Cavolo Nero (Black, or Tuscan kale) from Bodhitree Farm, briefly wilted with olive oil and two cloves of garlic from John D. Madura Farm which had first been heated in the oil
• slices from a loaf of ‘El Bario Sourdough’ from Hot Bread Kitchen in the Greenmarket
• the wine was a French (Savoie) white, Domaine Demeure-Pinet Jacquère Savoie 2013, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was first that of works by Esa Pekka-Salonen, from the album, ‘Meet the Composer-Conductor‘, and later, the really terrific piece, ‘So it feels… Trumpet Concerto No. 2’, by Leif Segerstam, from the same album