They were the largest and plumpest quail we have ever enjoyed. They turned out to be the tastiest as well, so we didn’t complain about the usual delicate carving operation required with tiny whole birds.

I could have flattened and pan-grilled them of course, saving some labor at the table and also avoiding a hot oven on a warm summer evening, but I was looking forward to seeing the little roasts arranged on the plates, and by using the air conditioning in the ‘breakfast room’, we were able to keep the dining table area cool.

We normally share 4 smaller quail between us for a main course, but these two approximated the weight of 4 of those raised in Georgia, so last night a single bird was enough for one serving.

The recipe had to be right, so I went looking for something suitable for roasting what I expected would be a special bird. I found this one on Simply Recipes, and, except for a few adjustments, I pretty much ran with it.

• after turning on the oven, and while waiting for it to heat to 400°F, two whole unboned (8+ ounce) pasture-raised certified organic quail from Abra Morawiec’s Feisty Acres Farm in Jamesport, Long Island, were washed and dried inside and out before each cavity was stuffed with a quarter of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and half of the following mix: 4 garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm, peeled and bruised a little, the leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh thyme sprigs from Stokes Farm, the leaves of one sprig of fresh rosemary from Keith’s Farm, and one and a half tablespoons of Sicilian olive oil from Whole Foods Market, the quail then rubbed with olive oil and sea salt, trussed with string (holding legs together and wings against the breasts), the birds set aside and allowed to come to room temperature (allowing at least 20 minutes from the refrigerator), at which time they were quickly browned on all sides inside a small heavy enameled cast iron oval pan and, using sections of fennel stems to keep the birds breast-upright while they roasted (or celery stalks, or whatever suitable vegetable might be available), for about 20 minutes, but most importantly, until an instant-read thermometer registered 150º (the meat should also feel slightly firm, and the juices run pale pink when the bird is punctured with a skewer), adding half way through almost half a cup of white wine, Miriam Alexandra Chenin Blanc California 2016 (a very good chicken stock would be an alternative), the birds removed from the pan when done and set aside on a wooden plank or warm plate to rest for about 10 minutes, loosely tented with foil, while the sauce was assembled, beginning with discarding the fennel stems and placing the roasting pan on a burner above medium heat, adding a little chicken stock or wine (I used a sherry, Lustau, ‘Papirusa’ Light Manzanilla Sherry, from Sherry Lehmann), deglazing the pan by scraping any browned bits off the bottom, bringing the liquid to a simmer, pouring it into a small pot or sauté pan with about half a cup of a (hopefully inexpensive) balsamic vinegar, increasing the heat to high and boiling the liquid down to a syrup, or until it is able to coat the back of a spoon, the quail served on the plates with the sauce drizzled over everything and the birds garnished with micro nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• one small fennel bulb from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, sliced in half, then into wedges, sautéed in olive oil , along with some of the more tender stems, along with a little chopped garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, served garnished with chopped fennel fronds

• red Swiss chard from Willow Wisp Farm, wilted in a little olive oil in which 2 halved garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm had been heated, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine was a California (Amador) red, using 2 Portuguese grapes (Touriga and Tempranillo), from Naked Wines
• the music was Jean-Philippe Rameau’s 1749-1756 opera, ‘Zoroastre’, the last of the composer’s tragédies en musique to be performed in his lifetime, William Christie conducting Les Arts Florissants ‎

It was a symbiotic relationship: The squid had to marinate for about half an hour, and the zucchini, which would take almost that long to prepare and grill, could be served warm or room temperature.

• twelve ounces of cleaned squid, bodies and tentacles, from Blue Moon Seafood, marinated for about half an hour (half of that time in the refrigerator) in a bowl containing a mixture of the zest and juice of most of one lemon, minced garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, Sicilian olive oil, super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, sea salt, and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, removed from the marinade, drained, pan-grilled briefly over high heat, arranged on 2 plates, sprinkled with fresh organic lemon juice from Whole Foods Market, scattered with chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm, finished with a drizzle of olive oil

• two round zucchini (10 or 11 ounces) from Willow Wisp Farm, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, brushed with a little olive mixed with minced garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, salt and Tellicherry pepper, pan grilled over a medium high flame, turning three times, partly in order to encourage some grill marks from the pan process on top of the range, arranged on a platter, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, drizzled with olive oil and torn mint from Norwich Meadows Farm, transferred to the plates when the squid had been cooked
• the wine was a Spanish (Rias Baixas) white, Martin Codax Albarino 2016, from Philippe Liquors and Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Barockes Welttheater: Schmelzer Sonatas and Ballets‘, featuring the music of Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, from the later 17th-century Habsburg courts, performed by the Freiburger Barockconsort

The pork chop recipe is a classic, but I may never have worked with cuts this thin before. It meant that it was more difficult to get the kind of juiciness characteristic of this cooking treatment, but by cutting the original recipe’s oven time almost in half (the recipe is described here), I came pretty close to the ideal.

 

• two not very thick 8-ounce pork chops from the Schaller & Weber store, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and a generous amount of freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, seared quickly on both sides inside a very hot, heavy oval enameled cast-iron pan, half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market squeezed over each, after which the lemon was left on the surface between the chops, the pan placed in a 425º oven for only about 5 minutes, flipped over, a crushed fragment of an orange-gold habanada pepper sprinkled on top and the lemon squeezed over the top once again, and replaced in the pan, which was returned to the oven for another 5 minutes, the finished chops then arranged on 2 plates, some of the pan juices poured over the top of each, the remainder poured into a sauce boat for use at the table [I had intended to garnish the chops with some purple micro radish but then forgot to do so, so they look a bit more simple than they do sometimes]
• red dandelion leaves from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with some good olive oil, Alce Nero DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto’ from Eataly, juice from an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper
• There was also a salad, arranged inside a low bowl next to the plates (barely visible in the picture), consisting of layers of 3 differently-colored heirloom tomatoes and one small red onion, all from Norwich Meadows Farm, topped with chopped bush basil and torn mint leaves, the herbs also from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with white balsamic vinegar, Maldon salt, and Tellicherry pepper, and mixed together by each of us at the table.

 

There was a cheese course. A dab of an Italian quince compote was added to the plate after the photograph below was taken (a very welcome guest).

 

• the cheeses, all from Consider Bardwell Farm, were, from left to right, ‘Manchester’ a goat cheese, ‘Pawlet’ cow cheese, and a still-unnamed blue goat cheese,
• there were garnishes on the plates, of freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper and chopped dill flowers from Eckerton Hill Farm
• toasts made from slices of a She Wolf Bakery multigrain baguette (unbleached wheat flour, whole wheat dark rye, white starter, honey, sugar grain mix {millet, sunflower, coarse rye, oats, flax seed, sesame)

 

• the wine throughout the meal was a California (Lodi) white, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve Chardonnay Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines 
• the music throughout was Man Bartlett’s ‘Meditation for a morning commute‘, vocals and ambient sound recorded live on a downtown A train using only an iPhone (apeDelay, Echo Pitch, Reverb, Audiobus and AudioShare iOS apps), which he had composed today, followed by his 2016 album, ‘Space on Earth‘, described by the artist as “..the first album from a body of work I’ve been hearing in my head since 2012. Around that time I was becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the nonstop onslaught of New York, so I started thinking about sound as a meditative and transformational medium; basically as a way to calm my eyeballs and counter-stimulate my brain.”

I’ve now prepared this dish twice, and last night it was at least as delicious as the first time. There is a lot going on in it, but I’ve become convinced that bluefish was made to be richly accompanied: It’s not like this strong fish is likely to be easily overwhelmed by anything, even this combination of tomato, onion, wine vinegar, dark olives, lemon, a spicy pepper, and a couple of herbs.

The okra looked very good inside the farmers’ tent in Union Square, and I picked it to accompany the fish, because, as something of a Hellenic staple, it would pair well with a fish preparation described as Greek.

I would usually add a bit of pepperoncino to the okra, but since I was using some with the fish, I decided to substitute a bit of dark dried habanada; the results were subtle, adding a complexity to what is normally a pretty straight-forward green vegetable.

• two two bluefish fillets (a total of 14.5 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, rubbed I with olive oil a little Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, placed inside an oval tin-lined copper au gratin pan, sprinkled liberally with a very pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, a bit of dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi, also from Buon Italia, covered with some thinly-sliced red onion from Norwich Meadows Farm, one very ripe thinly-sliced red heirloom tomato, also from Norwich Meadows Farm, some chopped fresh oregano from, again, Norwich Meadows Farm, 8 pitted and halved Kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, and more than half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods, again, sliced thinly, the fish baked at 425º for 15 minutes, served sprinkled with buds of fresh oregano from Norwich Meadows Farm, and fresh dill flowers from Eckerton Hill Farm
• a couple handfuls of okra from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed over a high flame in a very large cast iron pan with a little olive oil and a good part of one dark dried habanada pepper, seasoned with sea salt
• the wine was a California (Lodi) rosé, Karen Birmingham Rosé Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Alexander Goehr: Marching to Carcassonne / When Adam Fell / Pastorals’, with Peter Serkin, the BBC Symphony, the London Sinfonietta, and the conductor Oliver Knussen

The little tumbleweeds on the top of the eggs are dill flowers, still attached to the top of their stems.

Although it was a very late breakfast, it had to be a substantial one, since we would only be eating one other meal yesterday.  It was our 25th anniversary, and we had reserved an 8:30 table at Faro, our favorite restaurant.

In addition to the dill, there was also bacon, and eggs, and toast, plus spring shallot, Maldon salt, Tellicherry pepper, harissa, basil, and nasturtium.

As for the Calabrian peppers barely visible at the top of the picture, to be honest, neither of us touched them during the meal; I think I had put them there only for the color.

• The sources for the breakfast were bacon and eggs from Millport Dairy; lightly-toasted slices of a multigrain baguette from the 23rd Street Saturday greenmarket stall of She Wolf Bakery (unbleached wheat flour, whole wheat dark rye, white starter, honey, sugar, and a grain mix of millet, sunflower, coarse rye, oats, flax seed, and sesame; a portion of one spring shallot from Alewife Farm, gently warmed in olive oil; torn basil, also from Alewife Farm; a dab of sun-dried chilli-pepper harissa from NYShuk Pantry; and dill flowers from Eckerton Hill Farm
• the music was the album, ‘Mouton: 1515 – Sacred Works‘, music of the French renaissance composer Jean Mouton