It was the third time I had prepared this pasta dish, but the first time that I had introduced it with an antipasto.

• thinly-sliced Speck from the Südtirol/Alto Adige, via Eataly, drizzled with a fine Puglian olive oil (Alce Nero biologico DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto) from Eataly, served with red dandelion leaves from Norwich Meadows Farm dressed lightly with some of the same oil, plus Maldon salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and a little juice from an organic lemon from Whole Foods, then sprinkled with petals of nasturtium flowers from Windfall Farms
• slices of a multigrain baguette made with unbleached wheat flour, whole wheat dark rye, white starter, honey, sugar, and a grain mix (millet, sunflower, coarse rye, oats, flax seed, sesame), from She Wolf Bakery

I used Mark Bittman’s recipe for the pasta, following it pretty much to the letter, although I reduced its proportions by 50%. I used a very different pasta from the one he indicates, and I finished it with lovage rather than parsley, mostly because my supply of the former was fresher than that of the latter.

• the ingredients for the pasta dish were 8 ounces of emmer reginetti from Sfoglini Pasta Shop in the Union Square Greenmarket; 2 organic garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm; 2 canned salted anchovies, rinsed, from Buon Italia; one and a half small dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia; 2 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia; a 12 ounce Savoy cabbage from Norwich Meadows Farm; and a couple tablespoons of lovage from Keith’s Farm

 

• the wine was an Italian (Südtirol/Alta Adige) white, Alois Lageder Dolomiti Pinot Bianco 2015
• the music was the album, ‘Rhízōma by Anna Thorvaldsdottir’, one of our many recent purchases from Bandcamp

I really did take pictures of this meal, including some great shots of the vegetables inside the pan both before and after they had been sautéed, but when I went to look for the images today, they had all disappeared. Either I had inadvertently deleted them, or they had been stolen by the kitchen goblins.

While each of these 3 older posts shows a swordfish steak prepared pretty much as the one I had prepared, the vegetables then were very different from what we enjoyed last night it, so I couldn’t borrow from any to find a lead image, or images, on this post.

Because it was a really terrific meal, one of the best, and because I can’t stand publishing a food post without some kind of image, I looked for something related to the 2 main attractions, and came up with the vintage representations at the top.

• one 16-ounce swordfish steak from Pure Vida Seafood, divided into 2 pieces at home, marinated for half an hour in a mixture of olive oil, 2 finely-chopped red spring shallots from Alewife Farm, some chopped fresh oregano blossoms from Norwich Meadows Farm, and a very small amount of crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, drained well, coated on both sides with some homemade dried breadcrumbs, and pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, removed to 2 plates, seasoned with Maldon salt, some of the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market squeezed on top, drizzled with a little olive oil [optionally, also a little more chopped spring shallot], and sprinkled with some purple micro radish from Two Guys from Ridgefield

• one Sikkim cucumber from Norwich Meadows Farm (one pound), unpeeled, sliced 2 cm thick [lately I’m finding it easier to describe something in centimeters rather than inches, if a metric measure better fits the dimension I’m describing], arranged inside a large seasoned heavy cast iron pan along with one sliced 4 cm-round spring red onion from N.J. Jersey Farm Produce, Inc. (in Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street), and almost half of a dried golden orange habanada pepper, the vegetables sautéed over a medium-high flame, turning once, sprinkling the cucumbers with sea salt each time, until the cucumbers had begun to carbonize on each side successively [NOTE: the next time I will add the allium some time after beginning to cook the cucumbers, say, after they were turned, because they take far less time to reach the same cooking state], arranged on the plates, sprinkled with chopped dill flowers from Eckerton Hill Farm, and drizzled with olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, David Akiyoshi Reserve Chardonnay 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Kathleen Supove: The Debussy Effect‘, one of our many purchases yesterday from Bandcamp

[the first image is a 19th-century Belgian lithograph which appears on this site; the second a print, dated incorrectly, on this one]

There was pasta, but it was the only element in this dish that had to be cooked; essentially, it was all but a salad.

Interestingly, there was no salt (other than that in the pasta cooking water) or pepper. I’ve written about its simplicity before.

• once the water for boiling 8 ounces of Setaro spaghetti chitarra from Buon Italia was heating inside a large stainless pasta pot, 4 heirloom tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm (approximately one pound) were cut into rough chunks, tossed in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 lightly-crushed garlic cloves from from Norwich Meadows Farm, part of a dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, part of a golden dried habanada pepper, about half of a cup of torn basil from Alewife Farm, then stirred, allowed to sit until the spaghetti itself was ready, cooked al dente, and tossed into and mixed with the tomatoes, the mix placed in shallow bowls, a little olive oil poured around the edges of the pasta, sprinkled on top with homemade bread crumbs browned earlier in a little olive oil, finished topped with chopped dill flowers from Eckerton Hill Farm, and nasturtium flower petals from Windfall Farms
• the wine was an Italian (Veneto) sparkling, Milleri Millesimato Prosecco 2015, a gift from friends
• the music was the third and final act of Handel’s ‘Radamisto’, begun during dinner the night before

It was a simple meal, and easily assembled, but very, very good.

• one 13-ounce tuna steak from Blue Moon Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket (caught on Scott Rucky’s fishing vessel, ‘Dakota’), halved, rubbed with on the tops and bottoms with a mixture of a heaping tablespoon of wonderful dry Sicilian fennel seed from Buon Italia and a little crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, the two having been ground together with mortar and pestle, the tuna sections also seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper before they were pan-grilled (for only a little more than a minute or so on each side) and finished on the plates with a good squeeze of the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a bit of micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge draped over the fish before, some olive oil drizzled on top
• eight small eggplants (a round orange ‘Turkish’ variety from Norwich Meadows Farm, the others from Alewife Farm), each cut horizontally into 2 or 3 slices, mixed with a little olive oil, a 2 finely-chopped garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, pan-grilled on an enameled cast iron ribbed pan over a brisk flame, turning once or twice, sprinkled with chopped peppermint leaves from Norwich Meadows Farm, arranged on the two plates on top of a small amount of sliced fennel from Alewife Farm (also pan grilled), drizzled with a bit of olive oil
• the wine was a French (Chinon) rosé, Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon Rosé 2016, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Handel’s 1712/1720 opera, ‘Radamisto’, Nicholaas McGegan conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, with Juliana Gondek, Lisa Saffer, Dana Hanchard, Monica Frimmer, Michael Dean, Nicolas Cavallier, and Ralf Popken

I used to be puzzled by the people who get so excited about the arrival of blowfish in the local fish market (in the big piscivore picture, their numbers may not be large, but it always seemed like I was the only one who didn’t get it).

I get it now.

As I wrote last September, they taste at least a bit “like fried perch”, and so evoke one of the best foods I remember from the midwest where I grew up.

And then there was a (cool) salsa.

The side dish was put together mixing some oddments, a few herbs, and several vegetables, each in a quantity not sufficient to use by itself. As such it was something of a mongrel, but like most mixed breeds, it turned out to be a very good mix. And the colors made a great presentation.

• twelve blowfish tails (a total of 13 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, dredged in about a quarter to a third of a cup of local North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour seasoned with plenty of sea salt and fresh-ground Tellicherry pepper, pan-fried in olive oil (in depth, about an eighth to a quarter of an inch) inside a very large heavy cast iron pan, turning over once (cooking about 2 minutes on each side, or until they had turned golden), served with wedges of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, and garnished with micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge,  [NOTE: the next time I make this dish I may try adding some ground mustard seed to the flour, since it had been such a great addition to this monkfish preparation]
• a bright and refreshing salsa composed of yellow tomatillo from from Oak Grove Plantation, sliced several times horizontally, one green heirloom, chopped roughly, and 6 miniature orange plum-shaped tomatoes, halved, both the heirloom and ‘cherry’ fruits from Eckerton Hill Farm, several chopped stems of a young fennel bulb – and some of the chopped fronds – from Alewife Farm, 3 small chopped spring shallots, also from Alewife Farm, chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm, a little olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, lemon juice, a big pinch of dried fenugreek that I had obtained Nirmala Gupta’s ‘Bombay Emerald Chutney Company‘ at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, the mix arranged on the plates and garnished with nasturtium blossoms from Windfall Farms
• the wine was an American (New Mexico) sparkling, Gruet Brut
• the music was the last act of Handel’s 1724 opera (the 1731 version),’Tamerlano’, Riccardo Minasi conducting Il Pomo d’Oro, with Xavier Sabata in the title role (we had listened to only the first two acts during a meal last week)