spaccatelli, leek, habanada, radicchio, lemon, Castelmagno

water_buffalo_spaccatelli

For whatever reason, I was in a hurry and this dish was almost thrown together. It only worked out well because, since I cook almost every night, there are always some useful makings around, fresh or otherwise.

  • one very small leek from Norwich Meadows Farm, softened in a tablespoon or so of olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pan over medium heat, after which the flame was turned off and one finely-chopped heatless orange Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm (my last fresh example) added and stirred in, the pan set aside until 8 ounces of Sfoglini Riverine Ranch Water Buffalo Milk Pasta (Spaccatelli), picked up recently at the buffalo farmer’s stall in the Union Square Greenmarket, cooked al dente (which took only 5-6 minutes!), had been added, mixed in, and emulsified with a little of the reserved pasta cooking water, then a large handful of green radicchio from Tamarack Hollow Farm, shredded, a little peppermint from Alex’s Tomato Farm, Carlisle, NY, at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, and one or two  tablespoons of freshly-squeezed lemon, the pasta served in shallow bowls, topped with a little crumbled Castelmagno D’alpeggio DOP Guffanti from Eataly
  • the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) white, Stefano Massone Masera Gavi 2015
  • the music was Alfred Schnittke’s profound homage to Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 2 for Choir and Symphony Orchestra, which he subtitled ‘St. Florian’ and ‘Invisible Mass), the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting