The salumi course incorporated 3 different national traditions, but it still looked Italian.

• two ounces of Fermin Salchichón Ibérico dry-cured sausage from the Chelsea Foragers Market, made from the ‘pata negro’ breed of pig (Iberico pork, salt, nutmeg, black pepper, white pepper, plus seasoning which consisted of sugar, trisodium citrate, sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate), drizzled with a bit of Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, the gift of  a friend
• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, dressed with more of the olive oil, a bit of Maldon salt, and some freshly-chopped black pepper
• slices of an organic sourdough baguette from Bread Alone

The pasta was something of a highbrid as well, although it too looked more Italian than anything else.

The Italian for red-veined sorrel? I think its ‘acetosa venata di rosso‘, if you can find it.

• two handfuls of red-veined sorrel leaves from Lani’s Farm, roughly chopped, folded into 3 ounces of softened Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, along with more than a teaspoon of juice and the same amount of zest from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, scraped onto a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper, rolled into a log and placed inside the refrigerator until ready for use to initiate a sauce once 12 ounces of fresh pasta had been cooked al dente and drained (specifically, a fettuccine from Raffetto’s of New York City, whose ingredients are only durum flour, whole fresh eggs, and water, purchased at the Chelsea Foragers Market), the sorrel butter placed over a low flame inside a large antique tin-lined copper pot to melt, the pasta added, and then most of 2 ounces of toasted pine nuts as well, everything mixed well before the pasta was slipped into 2 bowls, sprinkled with the remaining pinoli, and garnished with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano Hombre from Whole Foods Market [I forgot to add a garnish of an ounce of micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms I had planned to include]

• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont), Erbaluce di Caluso ‘La Torrazza’, Ferrando 2014, from Astor Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Robin de Raaff, Entangled Tales‘

It all tasted as good as it looks.

The swordfish had been very well cared for, and could not have tasted more fresh, regardless of how far the boat had swum since landing it somewhere south of Long Island.

The tomatoes were grown indoors in Maine, in late winter, early spring, but, as usual, they tasted like they had been outside in the summer.

The greens were described by the local farmer as “overwintered”; they could not have been more tender or tasted any sweeter

• one thick 13.5-ounce swordfish steak from American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, taken from Scott Rucky’s fishing vessel, ‘Dakota’, halved (I’m getting really good at that), marinated for more than half an hour in a mixture of olive oil, a tablespoon of fresh oregano from Stokes Farm, a small amount of crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, and a chopped section of a Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, drained well, covered on both sides with a coating of homemade dried breadcrumbs, pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 4 or 5 minutes on each side, or until barely fully cooked all of the way through, removed, seasoned with a little sea salt, a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon squeezed on top, drizzled with a little olive oil and garnished with micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• three Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, sprinkled with a small amount of sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, briefly placed inside the grill pan just as the swordfish were finishing, arranged on the plates and garnished with chopped thyme from Eataly
• small clusters of overwintered broccoli rabe” (aka rapini) from Lani’s Farm, wilted in olive oil flavored with one small whole dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia and 2 Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm which had been bruised and heated until beginning to color, then seasoned with salt and pepper, divided onto the plates and drizzled with more olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Catarratto ‘Vigna del Masso’ Feudo Montoni 2016, from Astor Wines  
• the music was Luigi/Louis Cherubini’s 1791 comédie héroïque, ‘Lodoiska’, Jérémie Rhorer conducting Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and Les Elements Chamber Choir [the composer‘s story and that of the opera are both fascinating: particularly in an era when the world is once again being turned upside down: Cherubini survived, and prospered from the time he was taken up by the Bourbon court in the late 1780s (yeah) as an emigrant, through the Revolution, the Directorate, the Empire, the Restoration, and the July Revolution; the opera premiered 26 days after the royal family, some of whom were his most important patrons, was arrested and escorted back to Paris from Varennes (the theater, until that month named Théâtre de Monsieur, for the king’s brother, was renamed Théâtre Feydeau after the arrest); the best part of the Wikipedia entry: “In a spectacular scene that helped to make the opera a hit in Paris, one of the castle walls is blown up, then crumbles to reveal the battlefield outside.”]

The fish was superb, delicious and perfectly cooked (yay, the skin was even crispy this time), as was the salsa, but while the vegetable was also delicious, one look at the rather stiff green stems in the picture above should be enough to show the choy sum wasn’t properly cooked. The next time I prepare it I’ll pull aside the larger stems and spend some time breaking down their fiber (slicing them smaller, par-boiling them, or cooking them a bit before the rest of the vegetable was added to the pan).

The fish were absolutely beautiful throughout. I mostly followed a simple Gordon Ramsay recipe in preparing it.

• a salsa prepared by heating 3 tablespoons of a Portuguese house olive oil from Whole Foods Market inside a small vintage Corning  Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot pot over a gentle flame, adding 5 ounces of sliced Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market and 2 ounces or so of pitted whole kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, seasoning the mix with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, stirring for a minute or 2, the pan set aside to cool a little, and some fresh lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge and an equal amount of fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm (several tablespoons altogether) were chopped and, reserving some of the herbs for garnish, stirred into the salsa, the juice of half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market added and the salsa stirred once again, and set aside while the fish was prepared
• four 4-ounce porgy fillets from P.E & D.D. Seafood, their skin slashed with a very sharp knife in 2 or 3 places each, placed, skin side down, in a little very hot olive oil inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan sitting over a high flame, the flesh side of the fish seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, cooked for 2 or 3 minutes until the flesh was dark golden and the skin crisp’, the fillets turned over, cooked on the other side for 1 minute, basting with the oil in the pan, if any, until the fillets were just cooked through, arranged on the plates, the salsa drizzled around them, sprinkled with some of the reserved herbs and garnished with bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• Yu Choy Sum from Lani’s Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, washed, trimmed and very roughly chopped, added gradually to a heavy, antique, large high-sided tin-lined copper pot, in which 2 Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been heated in  a little Portuguese olive oil until they had begun to color, the greens stirred until tender [not tender enough this time, as some tough stems revealed later], seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, scattered with scissored chives from Phillips Farms and chopped spring garlic from John D. Madura Farm, finished on the plates drizzled with a little more olive oil

• slices of a She Wolf Bakery sourdough bâtard, to enjoy the wonderful juices, picked out from their glass front wooden box in the Union Square Greenmarket
• the wine was a French (Touraine) white, Vignoble Gibault Touraine Sauvignon 2015, from Landmark Wines
• the music was the magnificent Gould Piano Trio album, ‘Macmillan, Maxwell Davies, Beamish’

The beef was kinda purple-y, and so were the two vegetables, but the real story was how really, really good everything tasted.

In fact I think we both can say the potatoes especially were just about the best we’d ever had.

• *one 16-ounce culotte (the American spelling) steak from Greg and Mike of Sun Fed Beef/Maple Avenue Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, cut crosswise into 2 pieces, brought to room temperature, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared briefly on the top, or thick, fat-covered side (much of the fat is rendered in the cooking, and the rest just makes it it taste wonderful), inside an oval enameled cast iron pan, then cooked for about 4 minutes on each side, to rare-to-medium-rare, after which the narrow bottom side was seared briefly, removed from the pan, placed on warm plates, drizzled with juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon and some decent olive oil, sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and allowed to rest for about 4 minutes
• *one pound of so of Peter Wilcox potatoes (purple skin, golden flesh) from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, skins left on, halved, tossed with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, rosemary leaves from Phillips Farms, arranged, cut side down, on a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at about 350º-375º for about 30 minutes, garnished with Micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• a couple handfuls of purple mizuna from Campo Rosso Farm, slightly wilted in a little Portuguese olive oil heated inside a large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pot, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a little more olive oil
• *the wine was an absolutely terrific Portuguese (Douro) red, Quinta de Cidrô Touriga Nacional 2014, purchased in the Porto duty free shop last year
• *the music was Camille Saint-Saëns’ grand opera in 3 acts and 4 scenes, ‘Samson et Dalila’, which was completed in 1874 and premiered in Weimar in 1877, in a performance with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Orchestre de Paris and the Choeurs de l’Orchestre de Paris

The meat course preceded the somewhat-fish course last night.

• three ounces of some really good La Quercia Ridgetop Prosciutto, from Whole Foods Market, drizzled with a bit of Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, the gift of  a friend
• arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with the same oil, a bit of organic Whole Foods Market lemon juice, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• slices of a She Wolf Bakery sourdough bâtard

The pasta, a squid ink spaghetti, contained no other reference to seafood, except in the kind of ingredients that went into its simple sauce.

• two slightly-squished Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic cloves heated in a little Portuguese olive oil inside an antique, high-sided tin-lined copper pot until they had begun to color, a bit of crushed dried pepperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia added, plus slices of one spring garlic from John D. Madura Farm and half a dozen sliced Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, the contents stirred a little before half a pound of squid ink pasta (Neapolitan Pastificio F.lli Setaro spaghetti al nero di seppia) that had just finished cooking was added, the mix stirred again, with some reserved pasta cooking water, until the liquids had emulsified, sprinkled with fresh chopped oregano from Stokes Farm, and arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, where some olive oil was poured around the edges, finished with micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Italian (Lazio) white, Monastero Suore Cistercensi (Bea), Lazio Bianco ‘Coenobium’ 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was by the Finnish composer Väinö Raitio (1891-1945), an early-20th-century pioneer composer of Finnish modernism, although still almost unpublished and unrecorded even today, his Piano Quintet in C sharp minor, op. 16, heard streaming on Yle Klassinen