It was warm, so we decided to have a picnic.

• Alto Adige/Südtirol Speck from Eataly, and chopped parsley, both drizzled with very good olive oil, three kinds of olives and two cheeses (Danby Vermont goat milk from Consider Bardwell Farm and Arpeggio Massachusetts cow milk from Robinson Farm, and slices of whole wheat (‘Integrale’) bread from Eataly
• before the salume and cheese there there was a smaller plate of fresh, ricotta cheese from Millport Dairy Farm, sprinkled with Maldon salt, crushed Tellicherry pepper. fresh thyme leaves, a drizzle of the same olive oil used later, and served with halved Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Eataly, and slices of the same Eataly ‘Integrale’
• the wine was a Spanish sparkling, Pinord Natura Brut Nature Reserva Marrugat NV
• the music was Ferdinand Ries‘ Symphony No. 3

Note to self:  This recipe has been a winner every time.  

 

This image, or some version of it, is becoming pretty familiar on this blog.  It’s because the recipe is as easy as it is delicious, and because it can adapt itself to any number of subtle variations, most of them involving the choice of herb.  It doesn’t hurt that it would be happy to make an appearance with almost any green vegetable as a side.

• two eight-ounce Long Island flounder fillets from P.E.&D.D. Seafood, seasoned, cooked in a pan over high heat in a mixture of olive oil and butter for a few minutes, turning once, then placed on warm plates, and a couple of spoons of ‘tomato butter’ [see below] placed on top and around them.
• ‘tomato butter’ made by cooking in melted butter a tiny amount of shallot from S. & S.O. Produce Farms, then letting the flavored butter cool slightly before being poured over fresh large cherry tomatoes ‘Cocktail Tomatoes’ from Maine via Whole Foods, which had been cut into eighths and combined with chopped tarragon form Eataly, the ‘butter’ then seasoned with salt, pepper, and a few drops of red wine vinegar
• tiny and delicious middle-March Brussels sprouts from Phillips Farms (what are they doing out there in Milford, digging out from under the snow some brand-new buds sprouting from last year’s plants?  dunno.), tossed with salt, pepper, and some olive oil, and roasted in a 400º oven for about fifteen minutes
• the wine was a California white, Sean Minor Four Bears Sauvignon Blanc 2013
• the music was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8

We enjoyed this pretty wintry meal on Sunday, even if it had already seemed we had probably finally moved into spring.

There was a reason for it looking like serious cold weather fare, since I had brought home almost all of the vegetables from the Greenmarket in the middle of winter, although I had picked up the duck only in the past week.  I was probably thinking of the roots and cabbage when I grabbed the duck from the refrigerator case at Eataly.

I started defrosting the breast the day before.  I’ve had the turnips for a month, but yesterday at the last minute I realize that there were only two small-ish roots remaining from the larger stash with which I had started weeks before;  I added one russet potato to the mix.  The cabbage has also been around for longer than I want to admit (okay, I’ve been occasionally peeling leaves off of the head for more than a full month), but its flavor has also survived the winter undiminished, a virtue which must have endeared it to our northern ancestors long ago.

• a small duck breast from Pat LaFrieda at Eataly, the fatty side scored, covered with salt, pepper and a bit of turbinato sugar infused over time with a vanilla bean, then left standing for about half an hour before it was pan-fried, finished with lemon, chopped tarragon from Eataly, and a bit of olive oil
• two purple-top turnips from Norwich Meadows Farm, plus one Russet potato from Samascott Orchards, all cut into half-inch pieces, tossed with oil, a few cut baby leeks from Rogowski Farm, salt, and pepper, roasted in an unglazed ceramic pan for about half an hour at 425º  [Note:  I was in a hurry, and not thinking, but the leeks should really have been tossed with the roots only near the end of the cooking time]
• white cabbage from Foragers, using only some of the leaves (again, in order to preserve the remainder of the cabbage for another day), sliced very thinly, tossed with salt, pepper, and three juniper berries, sautéed in a little butter over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the leaves were tender and had begun to brown and (hopefully) crisp slightly at the edges, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar then added and heated briefly, the dish finished with chopped parsley from Rogowski Farm
• the wine was a California red, White Hart Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2011, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, Manfred Honeck conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Home late from a concert tonight.  This quickie meal is just a matter of assembling stuff, and if you’re very lucky, it’s mostly stuff already on hand.

• Rana mushroom-filled ravioli from Eataly, quickly boiled, drained and shoved around in a broad pan in which sliced baby leeks from Rogowski Farm and Kalamata olives from Whole Foods had been briefly sautéed in olive oil, then a bit of pasta water added, the liquids emulsified, and the whole assemblage placed in shallow bowls with roughly-grated Parmesan cheese dusted on top
• the wine was an Italian red, Rosso Piceno Colonnara 2012, from the Marche
• the music was that of the entire two-CD set of Jordi Savall’s very frisky ‘Guerre et Paix’, which could make any meal a fest! (listen, and look at those beautiful cornetts!)

Note to self: This is an unbelievably easy and extraordinarily delicious entrée, employing two of my favorite things, so where has it been all these years?

This image of near perfection doesn’t look real even to me, and yet it’s a dish I put together myself a few  hours ago.  Among the several other delights and rewards in preparing this amazing surf, turf, and colewart entrée was the knowledge that I was including a late fall vegetable in a meal being served at the end of the first week of March.  Woot!  Mainly however it was the pleasure we had in savoring both its taste and its textures.

• late this afternoon, while trying to scare up something which would both include two Greenmarket prizes of the day, and which could also be assembled in only a few minutes after we had returned from a concert, I found on line the general outlines of the dish I ended up with;  this is Emma Ribiero’s terrific recipe, and these are the sources of the ingredients I used:  sea scallops from Pura Vida; collard greens from Rogowski Farm, cut as thin ‘noodles’ (I came home today with Ron’s last few leaves); Colameco’s uncured diced Pancetta from Whole Foods; and one minced Christopher Ranch garlic clove from Eataly
• the wine was a French white, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Domaine La Haute Fevrie 2013
• the music was Rodion Shchedrin’s 1999 Piano Concerto No. 5

This simple tuna preparation has appeared on our table repeatedly, but the equally simple leek and tomato combination which accompanied it tonight, a modified version of an old Mark Bittman recipe, had never made an appearance before.  It turned out to be a standout, totally equal to the delicious tuna.

The two dishes are equally simple to put together, and demand surprisingly few ingredients, but there the similarity in preparation ends.  Because they are very different when it comes to the kind and amount of attention they need in the minutes before being put onto plates, they seem to be made for the cook who wishes to avoid being harried.  The tuna demands only about three minutes of cooking, but that has to happen just before it’s served;  the vegetables on the other hand can be assembled together leisurely and put into the oven an hour before (in fact they can be served merely warm rather than hot, guaranteeing there will be little last-minute stress for the cook).   The combination makes a great entrée to serve to a couple of guests.

• a 12-ounce section of tuna loin from American Seafood Company, cut into two pieces, rubbed on both sides with a mixture of fennel seed and dried peperoncini, ground together, seasoned with salt, and pepper, then pan-grilled for only a minute or so on each side, finished with a good squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil
• one 15-ounce can of chopped San Marzano tomatoes spread onto the bottom of a ceramic oven pan, covered with some olive oil, four large leeks from S.&S.O. Produce Farms trimmed and cleaned, sliced lengthwise into quarters, placed onto the tomato, seasoned with salt and pepper, the dish baked for almost an hour, until the tomato had become saucy, the leeks very tender, finished with chopped parsley from Whole Foods
• the wine was a Portuguese white, , DAC, Dão 2013
• the music was an electrifying, intoxicating music theater piece by Rodion Shchedrin, ‘The Enchanted Wanderer‘

This will be the last entry until the middle of the week.  Barry and I are going to be in Philadelphia for two days, so I’m going to get to eat out!

For tonight’s secundi, we shared part of a wild salmon fillet, and a bunch of not-so-wild kale.

• wild Coho salmon fillet from Whole Foods, roasted in butter in a shallow enameled cast-iron pan (using two tablespoons of butter for about 13 ounces of salmon), seasoned, roasted for about eight minutes, turning once, after five minutes, removed to warm plates and sprinkled with salt, pepper, chopped parsley from Whole Foods, and a melange of several other fresh herbs, already chopped, which I could no longer identify tonight
• shallots from John C. Madura Farms, garlic from Samascott Orchards, and rinsed salted capers, all sautéed, in their turn, in olive oil, then joined by chopped winter kale from Rogowski Farm, which was sautéed until tender, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Austrian red, Stadlmann Pinot Noir 2012
• the music, spread over much of both courses, was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7

 

We had started with a primi which was a slight alteration to small amount of the pasta left over from dinner last night.  Surprisingly, it was even more delicious the second time around.

• To the origninal pasta e ceci I added the lighter green parts of a large sheath of leek which I had sautéed until wilted, some more chicken broth, and a dusting of mixed herbs, before I again grated some parmesan cheese over the top
• the bread, to soak up the sauce, was a little bit of lightly-toasted pita left from today’s lunch
• the wine was an Italian white, Campi Flegrei La Sibilla 2013 

Yesterday I mistakenly described this meal as vegetarian, and potentially vegan (I’ve corrected the post), but I had completely forgotten about the half dozen little anchovies thrown in at the beginning of the process (a neglect which is the usual, almost sad fate of the glorious anchovy – in spite of its negative reputation with some – which is to make good things even better, ideally without being much noticed)

This dish is genuinely vegetarian, although it’s definitely not vegan.

Ah, the leek.  It seems that I’ve been building up to Saint David’s Day for weeks, although unwittingly. All those meals which boasted  baby or full-size versions of the Welsh national emblem now seem to have represented more than just gustatory delight.  It was only after I had decided this morning to sacrifice one more full-size allium sheath for our first meal of the day, and checked the date, that I remembered March 1, as the date of the 7th-century Welsh patron saint’s death, was a national feast day celebrated almost ever since.  By the way, while I was assembling this lunch Barry read to me the Wikipedia entry for the saintly monk;  I can say with some certainty that whatever his charms may have been otherwise, I would never have been seduced by his punishingly severe monastic rule, although it was one which I have to think was “More honor’d in the breach than the observance”.

The impetus for this morning’s search for a dish which would include at least one of the large leeks I still had in the crisper had been simply the desire to use my stock before we left for a short stay in Philadelphia, but we had a delicious lunch, and the recipe is definitely a keeper.

• that recipe appears here, but I took the liberty of substituting fresh tarragon for the fresh chives I no longer had on hand.  I also used six eggs rather than ten, and reduced the quantities of the other ingredients proportionately;  the potatoes I used were Yukon Gold, from Norwich Meadows Farm, the eggs were from Millport Dairy, the tarragon was from Eataly, the leek from S. & S.O. Produce Farms, and the thyme from Eataly
• the ‘bake’ was accompanied by a few toasted bread slices, cut from the heels of three different breads

This luscious dish is very Italian, and very simple to prepare, although it’s also rather counterintuitive for those of us who have always thought that pasta had to be cooked in plenty of water.  It happens to produce a delicious primi, or a bowl which could serve as a main course, if one dares to offend Italian convention.

Americans generally don’t suffer from a lack of protein, but I’ll mention anyway that the extremely ancient chickpea is a rich source of that essential dietary component.

• the appetizer was our enjoyment earlier in the evening of the second concert of the 2015 Avant Music Festival, five choral works performed by the Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble
• the recipe for the pasta comes from food52.com, so I needn’t transcribe it here, although I have four advisories (I should probably have just included my own edited version):
  1. the instruction seems to have left out mentioning that half of the three tablespoons of olive oil at the end of the list of ingredients should be used to sauté the garlic, anchovies, and rosemary sprigs
  2. be careful not to add more liquid at the very beginning than needed to cook the pasta, as you can add more along the way
  3. Stir the contents of the pot while they cook, adjusting the heat if necessary
  4. and finally, disregard the instruction, “cook till one minute less than the package recommends”, as you will find that it will almost certainly take longer than that, especially if the pasta is artisanal (which means there will be no instruction on the package anyway), so just cook the mixture until the pasta is al dente

  The list of ingredients I used began with the voluptuous curves of Afeltra Pasta di Gragnolo ‘Vesuvio’ from Eataly;  there were also salted anchovies from Buon Italia, canned San Marzano tomatoes, also from Buon Italia, fresh rosemary from John D, Maderna Farm, and 24-month-old Parmesan cheese from Buon Italia

• the wine was an Argentinian red, Zolo Signature Red 2012 (with only a very small percentage of Malbec grapes)
• the music was John Cage’s 44 Harmonies and 14 Tunes from ‘Apartment House 1776‘

I really rushed through the preparation of this meal tonight, but it turned out very well.  I had originally thought I wouldn’t have time to cook after getting home from a performance which was a part of the Sixth Annual Avant Music Festival (a terrific evening of music by Paula Matthusen) but when I learned that the length of the program was to be only about 70 minutes, I went out and bought seafood at the Greenmarket today.  As it turned out, the music began late (it had been sold out early, but there was some late seating, and I think everyone who showed up may have made it in), and even though one of Matthusen’s pieces had to be pulled because of a musician’s illness, we didn’t get out until pretty close to 10 o’clock.   Also, on the way home, we had some sorta-bad subway karma.  This meant there would be no time for any fanciness in the kitchen, or much thinking about choice of ingredients or cooking details.

What I ended up putting on the table was a simple meal, its elements very familiar to us, of spicy roasted baby squid, and a reasonable approximation of frites, which were in this case baked and finished with two different forms of allium.  The squid recipe is the absolutely wonderful creation of Rose Gray and the late Ruth Rogers, from their, “Italian Easy:  Recipes from the London River Cafe“.  I highly recommend the recipe and the book, as well as their “The River Cafe Cook Book” and “Italian Two Easy, Simple Recipes from the London River Café”.  Each of them is a jewel, and together they could serve very well as a complete kitchen library.

The cephalopods would have taken only 10 minutes from start to finish, but, after I had rinsed them I set them out to come to room temperature, they had to wait for the potatoes, which probably took all of 45 minutes.

• as a starter, far away from the kitchen, we attended the opening concert of the 2015 Avant Music Festival, four pieces by Paula Matthusen
• baby squid from Pura Vida in the Greenmarket, rinsed, dried, placed in an enameled cast iron pan after its cooking surface had been brushed with olive oil and heated on top of the range until very hot, then sprinkled with some super-pungent dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia and one crushed dried pepperoncino, also from Buon Italia, with a good squeeze of lemon juice and some olive oil drizzled over the top, placed in a pre-heated 425º oven and roasted for five minutes
• Yukon Gold potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced as for pommes frites, unpeeled, tossed in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, salt and freshly-ground pepper, placed in one layer onto one of  my trusty, well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pans (I’m very pampered, as I have four, in three sizes) for about 30-35 minutes, a few sliced baby leeks from Rogowski Farm added and shoveled around the pan with the ‘fries’ at the very end with a wooden spatula, then served with a sprinkling of scissored chives from Whole Foods
• the wine was an Italian, white, Cantina del Taburno Falanghina del Sanno 2013
• the music was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6