They really were all ‘baby’ things, as I tweeted last night, baby squid, baby corn, and baby cucumbers (even if only the corn had been labelled as such), and all of them came from the Union Square Greenmarket. It certainly wasn’t something I had been after; it just happened, but fortunately, as I added then, it was all good, very good.

The corn was the only real surprise, since, before I shucked the little ones, the cobs had looked like they would be somewhat larger. Had I known the size while still at the stand, I would probably have bought more, but the plate proportions did end up just about right.

• a full pound of cleaned baby squid, bodies and tentacles, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, marinated for about 45 minutes (the first 25 or so in the refrigerator) inside a bowl containing a mixture of the zest and juice of most of one Whole Foods Market lemon, one clove of fresh minced fresh garlic head from Alex’s Tomato Farm, almost 2 tablespoons of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, a third of a teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, removed from the marinade, drained, pan-grilled briefly (virtually a matter of seconds, for the smaller pieces) on top of a seasoned cast iron double grill pan that had been allowed to get very hot on top of 2 burners and high flames, arranged on 2 plates, sprinkled with a bit of juice from the same lemon used in the marinade, scattered with chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm, finished with a drizzle of olive oil

• ten ears of baby bicolor corn from Alewife Farm, shucked, sautéed inside a heavy medium antique copper pot, in which a little butter and a little less olive oil had been heated until fairly hot, sprinkled with Maldon salt, black pepper, and a bit of crushed dried habanada pepper, finished with fresh summer savory from Alewife Farm

• five or six ‘Excelsior’ cucumbers (rather baby size) from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced lengthwise, sautéed in a little olive oil inside an oval antique copper pan until they had begun to caramelize, and, shortly before that moment, joined by slices of flowering spring shallot stems from Keith’s Farm, turned over, stirred around a bit, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, sprinkled with cut dill flower, also from Alewife Farm, arranged on the plates and sprinkled with more dill
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Corvo Bianco 2015, from Philippe Liquors and Wines
• the music was Johann Gottlieb Graun’s ‘Symphony for Strings and Basso continuo in B flat major’, in a terrific performance by the Frankfurt Capella Academica

These were quite possibly the most delicious goat chops either of us had ever had. This makes me very happy, because, for what it may be worth, I don’t think either or I have ever been served goat chops outside of our own home.  I’m going to share my happiness with Lynn Fleming, the local goat breeder from whom I had purchased the meat, commending her for the quality of her production.

The extraordinarily pungent marjoram flowers were stars too,..

..even if they couldn’t rival the splashy color of the micro radish.

• four loin goat chops, each averaging just over 4 ounces, from Lynnhaven Dairy Goat Farm, marinated for about 45 minutes in a mix of a couple tablespoons of olive oil, 2 small sliced cloves of fresh garlic from from Alex’s Tomato Farm, freshly-ground black pepper, 8 slightly-crushed juniper berries, some roughly-chopped rosemary from Phillips Farms, one medium crushed bay leaf from Westside Market, and a little zest from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, then pan-grilled for a few minutes, turning 3 times, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper after the first time, finished with a bit of a fortunate nicety, some tomato water that remained from an earlier meal, plus some very aromatic marjoram flowers from Stokes Farm, and a drizzle of olive oil
• a knob of purple micro radish from Windfall Farms, as a plate garnish

• a vegetable assembly that began with preparing 10 or 12 small, one-ounce artichokes from Alewife Farm (removing the outer leaves, trimming the stem, cutting off the top third, slicing in half lengthwise) while a little olive oil and 2 smashed fresh garlic cloves, again from Alex’s Tomato Farm, were heated inside a large antique copper pot over low heat, and when the oil began to sizzle, a handful of oil-cured black olives, a few branches of fresh thyme from Campo Rosso Farm, a pinch of sea salt, and the artichoke halves (cut side down) were added, the heat raised a bit and the chokes moved around until they had browned, when a handful of a mix of ‘wild Mex tomatoes‘ and Coyote tomatoes, both from Eckerton Hill Farm, was added, along with a splash of water, and everything cooked until the chokes were tender, the pot covered for part of the time, the dish seasoned to taste and served [NOTE: it can also be served at room temperature, which makes this recipe very convenient]
• the wine was a zinfandel a California (Lodi) red, Karen Birmingham Reserve Zinfandel Lodi 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Carl Heinrich Graun’s 1755 opera, ‘Montezuma’, Johannes Goritzki conducting the German Chamber Academy Neuss and the Cantica Nova Chamber Choir 

 

* although not really a caponata at all, it turned out to be an excellent accompaniment for the goat

This was not our fathers’ Sunday breakfast.

It started with the water buffalo labneh (a creamy, tangy Middle Eastern yogurt strained to remove most of its whey) that I had in the refrigerator. While I knew there would be eggs involved, I also knew that there were all kinds of possibilities for improvisation. I actually had most of the ingredients that might come to mind in that purpose, and some are mentioned on this site, but I decided to keep it simple, at least my first time out with this concept.

It was really delicious, and we’ll occasionally be revisiting this refreshing breakfast form, with all kinds of variations.

• I spread the bottoms of 2 shallow bowls with the contents of one container of Riverine Ranch Labneh (8 ounces?), not their spiced version, but the plain one (just buffalo milk, cultures, and salt), then mixed in one clove of a crushed fresh garlic clove from Alex’s Tomato Farm and some juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, slipped  2 Americauna chicken eggs from Millport Dairy Farm, that I had fried in olive oil, onto the contents of each bowl, the eggs having already been seasoned with Maldon salt, a little freshly-ground black pepper, a pinch or so of a dry seasoning called L’ekama from Ron & Leetal Arazi’s New York Shuk, and the same amount of dried fenugreek from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company (purchased at the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market), garnished the bowls with micro purple radish from Windfall Farms, and accompanied the dish with slices of a wheat baguette from Orwashers
• the music was the album, ‘Pro Pacem – Textes, Art & Musiques pour la Paix‘, Jordi Savall conducting La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Hespèrion XXI, with soprano Montserrat Figueras

It was very much a summer dinner, and the weather cooperated.

Those aren’t zucchini, but ordinary cucumbers. I love cucumbers, in almost every form, including sautéed.

This time I restrained myself when it came to deciding on garnishes (in the picture above there’s not a single micro green in sight), but I got a bit confused in my rush at the very end, when I had to direct to the right target the single finishing herb I decided to use: I had intended to sprinkle the tomatoes with dill, one of my favorites, but instead tossed the seed onto the cucumbers; that of course is a more familiar, and probably more successful pairing, so maybe my unconscious knew what it was doing, even if I was trying to be perverse.

Everything on the plate was fresh from the Union Square Greenmarket that same day or the day before, the only exception being the purple romaine lettuce that I had bought exactly 4 weeks earlier [yeah], and which, amazingly, tasted as good and as crunchy last night as it did when I brought it home; I’ve become a good indoor husbandman.

Even the wine was fresh, and from a fresh new local winery we had visited the week before, Todd Cavallo and Crystal Cornish’s beautiful small, biodynamic, permaculture-focused Wild Arc Farm, in Pine Bush, New York, below the  Shawangunk Mountains.

• two 7-ounce tuna steaks from American Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, rubbed tops and bottoms with a mixture of a tablespoon of a wonderful dry Sicilian fennel seed from Buon Italia and a little dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, that had first been crushed together in a porcelain mortar and pestle, the tuna pan-grilled above a medium-high flame (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 drizzle of olive oil
• three medium cucumbers from Tamarack Hollow Ranch, sliced about 2 centimeters thick, dried, sautéed inside a large seasoned cast iron pan in a little olive oil over a fairly high flame until they began to color, and then joined by several chopped spring red onions from Berried Treasures Farm, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a pinch or so of dried fenugreek from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company, sprinkled with fresh dill flowers from Alewife Farm
• more than one handful of a mix of ‘wild Mex tomatoes‘ and heirloom Coyote tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm heated in a little olive oil inside a small tin-lined copper pan, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged in the plates on top of some washed leaves of a small head of lightly-dressed spring purple romaine lettuce from from Echo Creek Farm’s stand in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market

• the wine was a New York (Hudson River/Pine Bush) rosé, the unfiltered Wild Arc Farm Cabernet Franc Rosé 2017, Bruynswick Vineyard, which we had purchased from the vintners themselves last weekend

There was a sweet, mostly because earlier in the day I had decided we were taking too long to finish the cherries I had bought 3 weeks earlier. That afternoon I cut up those that were left to use as a topping for a pound cake or a soft frozen dessert. Later I couldn’t couldn’t find the cake, so frozen dessert it was.

• some pitted and halved sweet cherries from Kernan Farms, mixed with a little turbinado sugar, for texture, and a bit of Toschi Orzata Orgeat syrup, poured onto a scoop or more of Talenti Vanilla Bean Gelato from Whole Foods Market
• the music was from an album which documents a bit of an amazing, still little-known era, ‘Music From The ONCE Festival 1961- 1966‘

Our dinner Thursday night turned out looking fairly wintry, given its many shades of brown, and the fact that each of its 3 parts included a different allium. In fact however most of the meal was determined by my wanting to include several ingredients that I’d been shifting around the kitchen for a while.

The steak however was new, purchased after we had returned from a trip up the Hudson on Monday, although it was from a steer that was 4 years old, meaning that it was wonderfully sturdy, and absolutely delicious.

• one 12-ounce water buffalo New York strip steak from Riverine Ranch in the Union Square Greenmarket , brought to room temperature, halved crosswise (the cut is unevenly shaped, but somehow I came out with two pieces weighing precisely 6 ounces each) seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared briefly on the top, thick fat-covered side inside an oval enameled heavy cast iron pan, and then the 2 long sides cooked for 3 or 4 minutes each, or until just under medium, and, at about the same time the steak was removed from the pan, the pieces of a thinly sliced section of stem from a flowering spring shallot from Keith’s Farm were tossed into it to be briefly heated and softened before they were scattered on top of the meat, which was then drizzled with juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon and some Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, and allowed to rest for a couple more minutes
• two kinds of potatoes, ‘Peter Wilcox’ cultivars (purple skin, golden flesh) from Tamarack Hollow Farm, and red fingerlings from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled together, unpeeled, in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed there with a bit of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a bit of dried habanada pepper, arranged on the plates and garnished with micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• one small head of radicchio from Tamarack Hollow Farm, sliced broadly, sautéed until barely wilted inside a large, high-sided tin-lined copper pot with a little olive oil in which 3 sliced spring red onions from Berried Treasures Farm had already been heated until they had softened, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, finished with a dash of balsamic vinegar, arranged on the plates, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Dão) red, Quinta da Pellada Dac Red Blend 2014, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Jordi Savall’s ‘Mare Nostrum’ (because it was time to hear it again, since it had been 2 years since we last played the recording), with music of the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures which were in dialog across the Mediterranean from the middle ages into the early modern era