The storm on Tuesday meant that our local fishermen did not go out, which meant there was no fish in the Greenmarket on Wednesday. But we had a guest for dinner once again. I wanted it to be at least a little special, but we had enjoyed goat chops the day before and I didn’t want to serve a meat entrée 2 days in a row.

Although I could have devised an interesting pasta dish, I didn’t really have any what I would call starring vegetables on hand, so that didn’t inspire me. While I knew our friend had said he was not a fan of salmon, I decided to take a chance with the wild Coho fillet available at Whole Foods. While it’s a treat I can ‘reel in’ almost any day of the week, and sometimes it’s not even been frozen, I still think of it as special. It’s not local but it it’s wild, not farmed salmon, probably not the species or form of this fish generally available in Germany.

I had what I thought would be some excellent vegetable accompaniments for the recipe I had in mind, so I really looked forward to putting this meal together.

• one 22-ounce wild sockeye salmon fillet from Whole Foods, rinsed dried, coated on both sides with a mix of some light brown vanilla bean-infused turbinado sugar, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, freshly ground allspice, freshly ground nutmeg, the zest of half of a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and some olive oil to make it a paste of sorts, allowed to marinate in the refrigerator in a covered dish for about 3 hours, the fish then rinsed, patted dry, brought to room temperature, oiled generously, and cooked on an enameled grill pan, flesh side down, for a few minutes, then turned over, removed when the inside was not quite pink, the outside slightly crisp and smoky, divided into 3 pieces, arranged on plates, drizzled with a little olive oil and a little juice from the lemon mentioned earlier, and served with lemon wedges [the recipe is little altered from this one from Melissa Clark]
• four different root vegetables already on hand, about 24 ounces total, some peeled, cut into approximately 3/4″ pieces (they were: carola potatoes from Lucky Dog Organic Farm; celeriac from Tamarack Hollow Farm; parsley root from Norwich Meadows Farm; and carrots from Norwich Meadows Farm), plus several halved shallots from Norwich Meadows Farm, all tossed together in a bowl with two tablespoons of olive oil; salt; freshly-ground pepper; one crushed piece of a mahogany-colored home-dried dark, dried heatless Habanada pepper acquired last summer fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm; and the leaves from several sprigs of rosemary from Eataly, everything arranged, not touching each other, on 2 large, well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pans and roasted in a 400º oven for about 35 minutes, then sprinkled with 2 sliced garlic cloves from John D. Madura Farm, and some small fresh sage leaves from Eataly, stirred around a bit, removed and divided onto 3 plates
• one large leek from Phillips Farm, cleaned, halved lengthwise, chopped not too finely, cooked in a little heated olive oil until wilted, then some Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, each divided into 4 slices, slipped into the pan and barely heated, a generous amount of chopped red thyme from Phillips Farm and a bit of (vanilla bean-infused) turbinado sugar stirred into the vegetables, some of the leek’s green parts, chopped stirred in, the mix served in small oval bowls on the side of the plates, because it was fairly liquid
• the wine was an Oregon (Umpqua Valley) red, Scott Kelley Pinot Noir Oregon 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was our conversation

Goat chops. An unfamiliar treat on most tables, and, even if we’ve been enjoying them for years (beginning long before this blog), not familiar enough on ours. This is especially how we both feel after this meal.

The chops and the vegetables were local, the goat from west central Vermont, the Japanese sweet potatoes from northwest New Jersey’s Kittatinny Valley, and the kale from the Catskills, northwest of us.

• four loin goat chops, each weighing less than 4 ounces, from Consider Bardwell Farm, first marinated for about half an hour in olive oil, 2 small sliced cloves of garlic from Trader Joe’s, black pepper, juniper berries, rosemary from Eataly, one medium crushed fresh bay leaf from Westside Market, and a little zest from a local sweet lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, then pan-grilled for a few minutes, turning 3 times, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper after the first time, finished with oil, juice from the same lemon, and lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• two Japanese sweet potatoes from Race Farm, scrubbed, cut, unpeeled, into half-inch discs, tossed with a little olive oil inside a bowl with salt, pepper, 2 thickly-sliced small garlic cloves from John D. Madura Farm, some small fresh sage leaves from Eataly, and a piece of crushed home-dried dark Habanada pepper, then arranged on a medium well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan, placing each of the garlic pieces on the top of a potato slice (to avoid burning), roasted for about 35 minutes, finished with some cut chives from Phillips Farm
• winter kale from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, washed, drained, briefly sautéed in olive oil in which 2 bruised and halved garlic cloves from John D. Madura Farm had first been allowed to sweat and begin to color, the greens seasoned with salt, pepper, a very small amount of crushed dried Itria-Sirissi chili (peperoncino di Sardegna intero) from Buon Italia, and and a little more olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lodi) red, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve Shiraz 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Schumann’s ‘Scenes from Goethe’s Faust’, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tölz Boys Choir conducted by Claudio Abbado, with Bryn Terfel, Karita Mattila, Jan-Hendrik Rootering, Barbara Bonney, Endrik Wottrich, Brigitte Poschner-Klebel, Susan Graham, Harry Peeters, Iris Vermillion, and Hans-Peter Blochwitz

Dinner was leftover salumi and an emergency pasta ration, but it was much more than that.

The primi was featured the remainder of the package of coppa we had enjoyed the night before, since I had bought more than enough for that meal.

• about 3 ounces of local New York sweet coppa, from Georgio’s Salami, purchased at Eataly, served with upland cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge, both drizzled with a good olive oil from Campania: Syrenum D.O.P. Peninsula Sorrentina 
• pieces of bread broken from an Eric Kayser ‘baguette monge’

The mushroom-filled pasta had been in the freezer for a few weeks, and, because I had several interesting alliums – and some lovage! – I decided this was its chance to shine. It also meant we could enjoy a Pinot Noir we had been anticipating.

• Rana Portobello mushroom-and ricotta-filled ravioli from Eataly, quickly boiled, drained and shoveled around in a broad enameled cast iron pan in which sliced spring garlic from John D. Madura Farm, Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper had been very briefly heated in olive oil, a bit of pasta water added, the liquids emulsified, chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge added, the contents of the pan placed in shallow bowls, a little roughly-grated Parmesan cheese dusted on top before the pasta was garnished with cut chives from Phillips Farm

• the wine through both courses was a California (Lodi) red, Sharon Weeks Cattoo Lodi Pinot Noir 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, ‘Jupiter’, Marc Minkowski directing Les Musiciens du Louvre

I’ve been serving these early-day (Sunday and holiday) meals for so long and posting about them for almost as long, that I don’t think I really have to describe how they are put together. I mean, it’s just bacon and eggs! Also, each of these breakfasts normally relates pretty closely to the other, their ingredients don’t really vary that much, and exactly where each of them appears on the plate may as often be by chance as design, so I’m just going to list them:

• six eggs and 4 slices of thick bacon from Millport Dairy Farm; 4 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods; olive oil,Tellicherry pepper; sea salt; a dusting of Pollen Ranch Dill Pollen; fresh lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge; chopped spring garlic and Japanese scallion, both from Norwich Meadows Farm; and fresh red thyme from Phillips Farm
• the music was more of our usual Sunday best, Franz Xaver Richter’s late 18th-century Requiem, his Symphony no 29, and his ‘De profundis clamavi’, Roman Válek conducting the Czech Ensemble Baroque