It had been a stressful day for both of us, beginning with a 5:15 am wake-up, but I still wanted to put some kind of homemade dinner on the table. What we got was some delicious comfort food that I quickly improvised 15 or so hours later.

• • eight ounces of boiled Sfolini Beet fusilli pasta, some of the cooking water reserved (note: this pasta only takes about 5 or 6 minutes to cook, and it goes to al dente with virtually no warning), drained and stirred into a large, heavy, vintage tin-lined copper pan in which about a tablespoon of olive oil had been heated before a handful of chopped young celery stalks from Phillips Farms and one chopped Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm had been tossed in and sautéed until all of the pieces had softened, after which one section of golden/orange dried habanada pepper, sea salt, and freshly -ground black pepper were added and stirred in, the pasta and vegetables stirred over a moderate flame along with some of the pasta water until the liquid was emulsified, the sauced pasta arranged in 2 low bowls, some olive oil drizzled around the edges, sprinkled with sprinkled with toasted home-made breadcrumbs, and scattered with chopped celery leaves
  • the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Le Salse, Verdicchio di Matelica, 2015, from Flatiron Wines
  • the music was Haydn’s Symphony No. 60, ‘Il Distratto’, and No. 91, performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Because we really like this fish, and because it doesn’t show up there very often, it was the John Dory that came home with me from the fishers’ stall in the Greenmarket yesterday.  Also, although I had forgotten until that evening, there was another reason to enjoy it, especially on a night before we had to set our morning alarm for 5:15 (ouch): It doesn’t take long to prepare.

While this particular recipe does ask that the fillets sit for half an hour in a (quickly-assembled) marinade, that interval was exactly what I needed to prepare the vegetables that would accompany it.

While there was still a week to go in February, the temperature on Wednesday had soared to 78º, and I really didn’t want to turn on the oven for any vegetables I had planned to serve with the fish. The tomatoes would be no problem, but I don’t remember ever having cooked Brussels sprouts on top of the stove. My solution worked very well: the sweet little cruciferae tasted at least as good as they look in the picture above.

• three John Dory fillets (15 ounces) from American Seafood Company, one of them halved in order to serve 2 people, marinated inside and then outside the refrigerator for about 30 minutes in a mix of half a clove of Rocambole crushed garlic from Keith’s Farm, one teaspoon or more of chopped thyme from Westside Market, the juice and zest from roughly a quarter of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, half a teaspoon of walnut oil, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, placed skin-side down first inside a large heavy, tin-lined copper skillet that had been heated over medium-high heat with enough olive oil to coat the surface, the heat immediately reduced slightly, the fillets cooked for just 2 minutes on each side, removed and arranged on warm plates, sprinkled with a bit of micro mustard from Windfall Farms
• four halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, placed cut sides down in a little olive oil that had been warmed inside a small 19th-century enamel-lined iron porringer, heated on both sides, sprinkled  with a little sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, removed and arranged next to the John Dory, sprinkled with the smallest leaves out of a bag of red-veined sorrel from Windfall Farms
• Brussels sprouts from Phillips Farms, trimmed, where necessary, cut in half top to bottom, placed cut sides down inside a large, very heavy, seasoned cast iron skillet, pre-heated over medium-high flame once the skillet was just short of smoking, the heat reduced to medium, seared on that side until well browned, or about 3 minutes, turned over and cooked on the rounded side, also until nicely browned, and tender, or another 3 or 4 minutes, removed and seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) white, Jacqueline Bahue Carte Blanche Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma Valley 2016 from Naked Wines
• the music was that of an almost exact contemporary of Mozart, Johann Christoph Vogel, his Symphonies 1, 2, and 3, all published in 1784, Reinhard Goebel conducting the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic

It was an amazing collaboration of ingredients, really surprising me when I had only expected a workaday dinner. I knew we would enjoy the very special chicory, even if it had come all the way from northern Italy, and of course the sweet potatoes as well. Adding some sorrel to the latter was a last minute decision, but it turned out to be a very good one.  Finally, I always forget how good this Amish farm’s spicy chorizo really is, and (almost) the last of a jar of a wonderful well-made sweet/tart jelly was exactly what it needed.

• *four 2-ounce links of a very good chorizo sausage from Millport Dairy Farm, pan grilled for a few minutes over a medium flame until heated through, served with a dollop of a garlic oregano jelly from Berkshire Berries [note: I didn’t remove the collagen casings, because I had not been aware they were there until John told me the next day, when I showed him the photograph above, but neither the flavor nor the texture of the sausage was negatively effected)
• *two Japanese sweet potatoes from Samascott Orchards, unpeeled, but scrubbed thoroughly, halved and sliced into one half-inch rounds and crescents, tossed in a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, 4 unpeeled Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, and a bit of crushed golden/orange dried habanada pepper, originally fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm last fall, spread onto a large well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 20 or 25 minutes, garnished with red-vein sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• *one  medium head of a northern Italian tardivo radicchio from Flatiron Eataly, prepared mostly using this simple recipe, washing it under cold running water, the moisture shaken off, cut in half lengthwise, and a V-cut made most of the way through the root end, allowing that part to cook more rapidly, the halves arranged inside a small Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan cut side up, covered with thyme sprigs from Westside Market, seasoned generously with salt and pepper and drizzled with a tablespoon of olive oil, baked inside the 400º oven in which the sweet potatoes were cooking, for about 12 minutes, turned over and cooked for some 8 minutes more, turned a second time so the cut side is once again up, returned to the oven, this time for only a couple minutes or so, or until the stem ends were tender when pierced with a thin blunt metal pin (my all-purpose kitchen tester), removed from the oven [note: the tardivo can be served either hot or warm]
• *the wine was an Italian (Sardinia) red, Cardedu, Canonau di Sardegna “Caladu”, 2013, from Flatiron Wines
• *the music was the album, ‘Scherzi Musicali’, with jokey music by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, and Johann Jakob Walther, Reinhard Goebel conducting Musica Antiqua Cologne

I cook seafood several days a week, and it’s almost always from local waters.  Although most of the fish and shellfish are actually seasonal, on any one day, there’s still a huge variety available in the Union Square Greenmarket, which is less than a mile’s pleasant walk from our apartment, and it’s often difficult to decide what to bring home. This time I can almost say that I picked the flounder because the fillets happened to be the right size, but there was also the fact that I hadn’t prepared it in a while, and that I think of February as being particularly good time for this delicious fish.

After leaving the market, I spotted some interesting Greek wines, from native grapes, at one of our beverage favorite shops, and once at home I picked a recipe that seemed to have a hint of the Hellenic, because it included lemon, black pepper, oregano, and balsamic vinegar. Because it involved an oven however, it was probably not as Greek as it would have been had it asked for an open fire.

By the way, I used, ‘cai xin‘, in the headline above, instead of yu choy sum, or yo choy sum, because it fit into the space available.

• four 4-ounce flounder fillets from P.E. & D.D. Seafood placed inside a lightly-oiled oven pan, skinned side down, most of the top surface spread with a mixture of 1 1/2 tablespoons of zest from a Whole Foods organic lemon; one teaspoon of pungent Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, where it’s sold dried and still on the stem; one teaspoon or more of balsamic vinegar; 3/4 of a tablespoon of olive oil; almost a teaspoon of crushed black peppercorns; a quarter to a half of a teaspoon of sea salt; and one large Keith’s Farm Rocambole (Calabrian) garlic clove, chopped finely, baked fro 13 to 15 minutes in a 350º oven, arranged on two plates and drizzled with some juice from the lemon which supplied the zest earlier, 3 tablespoons of chopped parsley from Whole Foods Market sprinkled on top

• one bunch of yu/yo choy sum (which is a cai xin or flowering bok choy) from Lani’s Farm, added to a heavy enameled cast iron pan where some bruised and halved Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm and a small handful of pine nuts had been heated until all were beginning to brown, the greens stirred until tender, occasionally introducing some of the water which the greens had shed after being washed, arranged on the plates and drizzled with olive oil
• the wine was a Greek (Arcadia) white, Mantineia Troupis, Moschofilero 2013, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was the 2011 ECM album, ‘John Cage: As it is’, with Alexei Lubimov, piano and prepared piano; and Natalia Pschenitschnikova, voice, Stephan Schellmann, engineer; and produced by Manfred Eicher

We could have ordered a pizza, but I thought it would be good for both of us if I cooked a meal that night, however simple, since I’d been away from the kitchen for 4 days.

We disembarked from Philadelphia at Penn Station, which is only 6 or 7 blocks north of us, at around 9:45 on Sunday night. A little more than hour later we were sitting down to this pretty dinner.

• ‘Rye Trumpets’ from our excellent local pasta company, Sfoglini pasta, served with a sauce that began with a little olive oil heated inside a large, heavy, vintage tin-lined copper pan where one or 2 chopped cloves of Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic were allowed to color (in fact, this time they went a bit beyond “allowed to color”, but I decided the error might produce a more interesting effect), one small-ish chopped red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm added, along with one section of a dried golden habanada, some sea salt, and a generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper; when the pasta was added to the pan with the sauce, it was stirred over medium heat with some of the reserve pasta water, in order to emulsify the liquid, and the dish was served inside shallow bowls, where it was drizzled around the edges with olive oil, sprinkled with grated Parmigiano Reggiano Hombre from Whole Foods Market and garnished with red micro chard from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Italian (Veneto) white, Pra, Soave Classico ‘OTTO’, 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Stadtpfeiffer: Music of Renaissance Germany‘, performed by the ensemble, Piffaro