This is one of the most satisfying meals in my modest portfolio; I owe it all to Mrs. Soccodato, whom I unfortunately never met, the non-Italian wife of my erstwhile Italian, West Village barber, Nic Soccodato.

• Setaro Penne Rigatoni, from Buon Italia, about 12 ounces, served with three quarters of the simple tomato sauce described in this post, in which I used 3 garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm, one 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes, and 3 large whole leaves of Gotham Greens Rooftop basil purchased last summer at Whole Foods (which I had wisely dried and frozen between small squares of waxed paper and stacked inside a soft plastic sealed container)
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) red, Tenuta Rapitlà Nero d’Avola Campo Reale 2013
• the music was Q2 streaming, most notably including Uuno Klami’s ‘Northern Lights’

This pretty simple recipe, which I first came across only three months ago, has quickly become my favorite way to enjoy fresh cod.

Last night Barry’s mother Earline joined us, and the number of my muses immediately doubled.  This cod en persillade was absolutely the very best tasting – and looking – and touching – to date.

• two 8-ounce fillets of fresh cod from American Pride Seafood, brought to room temperature, seasoned with salt on both sides, then only the top side (former skin side) brushed with a little French dijon mustard which had been mixed with a very small amount of water to make it easier to spread, the two pieces dipped into a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs mixed with some finely-chopped parsley from Whole Foods, browned briefly, but only on the side coated with the mustard and breadcrumb mix, in a little olive oil inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish began to flake (about 15 minutes this time, because the pieces were thick), sprinkled with scissored slices from half a dozen whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm [the recipe is based on Thomas Keller’s ‘Wild Cod en Persillade‘
• late-season small-leaf cavolo nero, or black kale, from Tamarack Hollow Farm, briefly wilted with olive oil and two halved garlic cloves from from Berried Treasures Farm, after the garlic had first been heated in the oil, and finished with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of a sweet Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island,
• two baby fennel ‘bulbs’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, and their stems, sliced roughly and slowly braised for a few minutes in olive oil and a large, slightly-squished garlic clove from Berried Treasures, most of a red cayenne pepper from Oak Grove Plantation and 6 halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from While Foods added and cooked until softened, the mix seasoned with salt and pepper and finished with a squeeze of sweet lemon and chopped fennel fronds
• the wine was a Spanish (Galicia) white, Benito Santos Igrexario de Saiar Albariño 2014
• the music was Yle Klassinen, streaming

very happy with this meal

 

Holidays and weekends shouldn’t be the only occasions for special meals, and besides, what’s ‘special’ when you’re trying to do your best all the time?  Still, I have to admit that this was pretty special, and while I served it on an ‘ordinary’ Monday, that wasn’t my original intention.  It was supposed to be Sunday dinner.  The fact is, earlier last week I had gone back and forth in my head about whether to marinate these venison chops 24 hours ahead of time, and in the end decided to play them quite straight (no marinade).  So I missed my cue for removing them from the refrigerator, and did not realize it until almost 10:30 Sunday night.

The new plan for that night was to put together a dish of rich pasta, and make the venison wait 24 hours.

Fortunately nothing suffered from the delay, and certainly not ourselves (the cacio e pepe was delicious).

I had interrupted the sauce preparation just in time, and it might even have profited from the overnight rest.  At least I can avow that it tasted wonderful and even more rich than it looks above.  My interest is normally in minimal, quickly-assembled meals, but I understand the passion for intense spicy sauces (usually thought of a cold weather thing in northern Europe, but a warm time thing around the Mediterranean and in south Asia); last night it was very cold outside, and we were delighted to have the oven working to heat both ourselves and this rich meal.

This venison talk inspires at least one more thought: I understand why a medieval or renaissance-era lord – and lady – would prefer the robust taste of game to so-called, ‘butcher’s meat’, especially after being out riding all day, hunting animals (or men).  Moves tells me I only walked 1.6 miles the day we sat down to this meal, so a single chop for each of us was plenty.

The inspiration for the meal began with an accidental sighting of a sign at the Quattro’s Game Farm stand in the Union Square Greenmarket, ‘Fresh Venison’.  Before this I hadn’t seen them advertising game more robust than pheasant, so I investigated further and, after a conversation with, I think, a member of the family, I ended up purchasing 2 chops from her.  At the time I thought I might have been too stingy bout the amount, but on the day I cooked them I was certain I had gotten it right.

I had very recently purchased David Waltuck’s beautiful big volume, ‘Chanterelle: The Story and Recipes of a Restaurant Classic’, and it was my inspiration for preparing them (the picture on the page facing the recipe is awesome); earlier I had seen a Mike Robinson video (I’d never heard of him until I googled ‘cooking venison shops’) which had already persuaded me to cook them as simply as possible.

I didn’t have any venison bones, so I had to try to reproduce the ‘venison stock’ called for in Waltuck’s recipe;  I think I did pretty well, and even the color looked right.

• 2 venison fallow deer loin chops, less than half a pound each, from Quattro’s Farm, seared quickly on top of the stove, then placed inside a 425º oven for only about 4 minutes (they should be pink and not rare), then placed on top of a very rich pepper sauce which had been prepared earlier
• the sauce poivrade started with a large unpeeled, coarsely-chopped carrot, a medium onion, unpeeled, quartered, one unpeeled garlic head, sliced horizontally, one large celery stalk, cut into 1-inch sections, all placed in hot olive oil inside a large, enameled, cast iron pan, the heat reduced to medium and the vegetables cooked until brown and soft (about 10-15 minutes; half a cup of white wine and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar poured in, the contents cooked, stirring, and scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan, brought to a boil until the liquid is almost evaporated (about 5 minutes), four cups of stock [venison stock is specified, but I used a combination of various stocks I had in the freezer, mushroom, lamb tongue, veal tongue, plus some very good low-sodium commercial beef and chicken stock], brought back to a boil and cooked until reduced by half (around 25-30 minutes); the sauce now strained through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium saucepan, the vegetables pressed, in order to squeeze as much of the juices into the pan as possible, 1 teaspoon of telicherry pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of sichuan peppercorns added, the liquid simmered over medium heat until the sauce was reduced to 1/2 cup (about 20 minutes); 1/2 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 tablespoon of whole wheat flour kneaded together to form a paste, then whisked into the saucepan, breaking up any lumps, the heat raised to bring it to boiling, then immediately reduced to medium, or low, simmering just long enough to eliminate any flour taste (about 5 minutes), then strained, again through a fine-mesh strainer, into a small saucepan, where it can be kept warm (or carefully re-heated) until ready to be placed on the plate
• brussels sprouts from van Houtem Farms, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread onto a large, very well seasoned Pampered Chef oven pan in a 400º oven and cooked until tender and slightly carbonized (the time will depend on size, but these took barely 15 minutes)
• very small white carrots from Rogowski Farm, also tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper, and cooked in a Pampered Chef medium-sized pan at 400º until tender (again, the time will depend on size; these took about 15 minutes), but here finished with a combination of chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm, chopped parsley from Whole Foods, and scissored whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm

white carrots in the just-beginning-to-be-seasoned medium-sized ceramic pan

 

• the fabulous wine was an Italian (Sicily) red, Etna Rosso Calabretta Azienda Vinicola 2001 from Flatiron wines  [we had originally purchased this wine for a meal of hare, celebrating New Year’s Day 2015, and fortunately we had bought two at the time]
• the music was Pierre Boulez, ‘Pli Selon Pli’, in a performance with the composer conducting the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Christine Schäfer the soloist; it’s amazing how well this stuff ‘holds up’, and in fact now seems sorta hummable, after all these years

the venison was aborted

 

It was Sunday, and I was going to prepare a meal which would have included two beautiful fallow deer chops, from the Union Square Greenmarket, and two late-season vegetables.  I had a great time putting together a rich sauce, with a complex faux-venison stock, but 2 or 3 hours in, all wheels stopped when I reached for the venison in the refrigerator and realized I hadn’t taken them out of the freezer.

I dotted the sauce with butter, put it into the refrigerator, returned the vegetables there, and Barry carefully re-corked the luscious Sicilian wine we had anticipated revisiting, and placed it in the icebox as well.  Yes, I also transferred the chops from the freezer and set them near the wine.

It was now late in the evening and I had to come up with an alternative, ideally as satisfying as the meal originally planned, and one which required very little preparation time.

My answer this time was cacio e pepe, to which I was introduced almost exactly 14 years ago, by Amander Hesser, and the former Mr. Latte, and which I have cherished ever since.

It was as sturdy as a venison dinner, and no less delicious.  We had the venison the following day, so I suppose I could also call this a primi.

• the simple recipe is in the link, “I was introduced”, above, and the ingredients this time included 10 ounces of Setaro spaghetti chitarra from Buon Italia (I didn’t have bavette, or linguini fini, but we’re not religious about shapes in this house), Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino Romano cheeses, also from Buon Italia, and unsalted ‘Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter‘
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Saladini Pilastri Falerio 2014, from Phillippe Wines
• the music was Pier Francesco Cavalli’s ‘Xerxes’, with Rene Jacobs both conducting and singing the title role, as countertenor

Yes.  And colorful.

 

• two 8-ounce pollock fillets from American Pride Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in a buttered baking dish, spread with a mixture of soft butter, zest from what may have been a Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and scissored whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm, baked 12 to 15 minutes at 350º, removed to plates and spread with the cooking juices and sprinkled with a small number of salted capers which had been rinsed, drained, dried, before being briefly heated in a little hot olive oil
• a handful of golden radishes from Lani’s Farm, roasted at 400º for about 20 minutes on a small ceramic oven pan with branches of thyme from Stokes Farm, then sprinkled with more thyme, now chopped
• two quite small purple (lilac?) cauliflower heads from from Van Houtem Farms, cored, the florets separated from each other, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread on another ceramic pan and roasted in the same hot oven, for barely 15 minutes, since they were so tender, then finished with chopped parsley from Whole Foods

• the wine was a California white, David Akiyoshi Chardonnay Clarksburg 2014, from Naked Wines
• the music was, early in the meal, Schubert’s ‘Trout Quintette’, streaming from Yle Klassinen as, Schubert: Forellikvintetto (Emanuel Ax, piano, Guarneri-kvartetti, sekä Julius Levine, kontrabasso), followed by a Moscow Studio Archives recording of Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Concerto Grosso No. 1 / Cello Concerto No. 1’

I’ve always thought of New Years Day as something like a companionable New Years Eve, or a small-scale Thanksgiving, whose meal demands no particular traditions.

I look forward to January 1 because it represents starting out fresh, and it’s such a relaxed setting for enjoying both good food and drink.  We often share it with friends, although this year we forgot to plan ahead.  Still, a company of one is pretty great if it’s your love, best friend and muse!

 

• two 12-ounce goat shanks from Consider Bardwell Farm, browned in large enameled cast iron pan, sprinkled with salt and pepper while cooking, the heat lowered, any excess fat removed, a third to a half of a cup of white wine added, simmered, covered, over the lowest possible heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone (I didn’t quite go that far this time, but it was still totally tender), turning the shanks and adding water as they cooked, then, since this was goat, and not lamb, and there was therefor almost no fat in the braising liquid at the end, I was able to pour it over the meat as it was, an au jus, but with wine
• parsnips from Rogowski Farm, sliced as French fries, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, roasted for about 25 minutes at 400º, served sprinkled with chopped parsley from Whole Foods
• radish greens from Lani’s Farm, wilted in olive oil in which a small garlic clove from Berried Treasures had been allowed to sweat for a bit, then seasoned with salt, pepper, a small squeeze of a small Long Island lemon/lime citrus fruit from Fantastic Gardens, and a bit more olive oil
• the wine was a French (Rhône) red, Vincent Paris Selections, Crozes-Hermitage, 2013, from Flatiron Wines & Spirits [this particular vintage is no longer shown on the shop’s site]
• the music was Q2, streaming some terrific new American compositions, appropriately enough

It was the eve of the New Year, and we were stay-at-homes again, at least in part because we love the opportunity the holiday offers for enjoying simple dining pleasures (after all, the star of the show is the midnight hour itself).  I continue to think of this evening as very grownup, and yet pretty magical. that’s in spite of the fact that, purely as an astronomical phenomenon, it’s an invention, albeit an old one.  I also think that the food to accompany it, and there must be food if it’s a feast, should be elegant, even aesthetic, minimal, and suitable for the best champagne the pocket can support.

The meal this year was simple, and definitely an event, thanks to Eataly’s Luca Donofrio, above all to the kitchen skills of a good friend, and to the generosity of two others, and, at the very end, to the good counsel of the gentleman at Heathrow’s World Duty Free scotch kiosk, who pointed us in the right direction.

I know ‘simple’ may not seem a proper adjective for a meal of 6 courses, but there wasn’t actually that much food, even adding them all up, and the descriptions should be able to defend their spareness themselves.

 

• Spanish (Valencia) ‘Marcona’ almonds, ‘fritas‘, the gift of a friend
• eight ounces of spinach tagliolini from Eataly, cooked al dente, tossed in a warm bowl with softened, unsalted rich ‘Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter‘, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground tellicherry pepper
• the wine up to this point was an Italian (Sardinia) white, La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna 2014

• two seafood sausages, the gift of a friend who is a master in his wonderful kitchen, pan grilled for a few minutes, accompanied by a brown butter caper sauce made by melting a third of a stick of Kerrygold butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until the milk solids had turned brown, removed from the heat, the juice of about a third of one sweet (unidentified name) lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island whisked in, along with 4 or 5 teaspoons of salted capers (rinsed, drained, and dried), seasoned to taste with salt and butter, sprinkled at the last minute with 2 teaspoons of whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm, served with slices of a fairly robust bread, Balthazar’s ‘Potato Fendu’, from Whole Foods

 

• Shushan sheep milk cheese from 2-Corner Field Farm, served with thin toasts of the same Balthazar potato bread

 

• the wine with the seafood and cheese courses was a champagne, Ployez-Jacquemart Extra Quality Brut from Flatiron Wines & Spirits

 

• the sweet was a fantastic gingerbread pastry from Dominique Ansel Bakery, the gift of a friend

 

• mixed unshelled nuts from Whole Foods, cracked at the table
• the drink with the nuts was Talisker Dark Storm, from Heathrow duty free

 

• the music playlist for the entire evening is pretty extensive, beginning with Pier Francesco Cavalli’s ‘Calisto‘, extending through Caroline Shaw’s ‘Partita for 8 Voices’, and ending with John Luther Adams’ ‘Become Ocean’

We wanted eggs on the first morning of a new year.  We like eggs, and 2 each didn’t seem quite enough; we had 5, so fried would be out of the question.  I decided to put them together and split them down the middle, thinking of an earlier outing with some of these elements.

I’m not entirely sure of all the ingredients that went into this dish, since I wasn’t entirely awake at the time, and it wasn’t really planned, but I know it included eggs from Millport Dairy, Norcino sausage from Olli, Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, sage from Keith’s Farm, green garlic from Lani’s Farm, salt, pepper, a taste of an aromatic seasoning blend with the proprietary name, L’eKama, and California parsley from Whole Foods.

There was toast made from a loaf of Balthazar’s ‘Potato Fendu’ from Whole Foods.

This dish has appeared on this site at least twice before, which is a testament to its appeal, but also to its usefulness. I always have a number of types of pasta on hand, and several kinds of dried chilies, and of course I’m never without parsley, but tomatoes and leeks are a sometime thing, and sometimes they can’t wait any longer to be part of an entrée.

That, and a desire for an uncomplicated single-dish meal, was the background to this simple dinner.

 

• one large lightly-smashed Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm and one and a half dried chilies from Buon Italia, sautéed together in olive oil until the garlic browned, the chilies removed, and 6 smallish leeks from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, trimmed, split, washed, and sliced, added to the garlic oil and stirred until they wilted, freshly-ground black pepper and 5 Maine Backyard Farms tomatoes from Whole Foods added to the pan and cooked, stirring occasionally until the leeks appeared to began to brown, the sauce tossed with about 9 ounces of Setaro ‘spaghetti chitarra’ cooked al dente, and then more olive oil, some reserved pasta water, and a generous amount of chopped parsley from Phillips Farm
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscan) white, Vernaccia di San Gimignano D.O.C.G. 2014
• the music was Bach’s viola di gamba/cello suites [on “original and unoriginal instruments” – Louise Dubin], a part of the WKCR Bach Fest‘s ‘gamba show’

picture of the skate, about a minute after being place in the new skillet

 

This was a fairly simple meal, and an extremely good one. Its remarkable goodness was actually a surprise for me. We enjoy skate and Romanesco broccoli very much, and I serve each with some regularity, but they were both more tasty this time than they had ever been before.

I can’t account for the exceptional goodness of the skate and its sauce, except to consider the fact this was my first outing with a beautiful new copper skillet, and that might have contributed something to the result.  The only thing novel about the preparation of the it-looks-like-cauliflower broccoli was the fact that I inadvertently tossed the florets with less olive oil than I had in the past, and that, combined with their feathery tops, meant that there was more opportunity for them to develop a nutty, slightly toasted flavor.

• two skate wings from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, each divided into two sections, coated with a coarse polenta which had been seasoned with salt and pepper, sautéed in olive oil for a few minutes, removed from the pan, the pan wiped with a paper towel, then some butter, chopped shallots from Phillips Farm, and sliced garlic from Berried Treasures introduced into it and stirred over a heat which had first been lowered, followed by the addition of a little more butter, juice from half of an organic lemon, and chopped parsley from Phillips Farm
• one fairly small Romanesco broccoli head from Phillips Farm, broken up into florets which were then tossed in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and pepperoncino, spread onto a ceramic oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 25 minutes, removed from the oven, and, when the pan had begun to cool down, drizzled with olive oil and stirred

The entrée was followed by a small cheese course, because, well,.. because the cheese was there, and because we didn’t want one of my favorites, Karen Weinberg’s, ‘Shushan Snow‘, from her family’s 3-Corner Field Farm, to mature beyond its perfection.

• one section of a round of ‘Shushan Snow‘ sheep cheese from 3-Corner Field Farm, served with thin toasts made from a 4-day-old loaf of Grand Daisy Pugliese Pane, from Whole Foods

 

• the wine throughout was a Canadian (Quebec) white, Maurice Dufour‘s, Vinifie Chez Maurice Dufour Le Charlevoyou Muscat Osceola 2014 (the grapes are Osceola Muscat, a small, very winter-hardy white Muscat-type grape developed in Wisconsin, which M. Dufour purchases from Royarnois Estate, a vineyard a few kilometers from his home and chai [it’s a very limited production (we bought it à la maison, just outside Baie-Saint-Paul late last spring), and it’s not available in the U.S., but if it were possible I would buy a case today]
• the music was once again a streaming of the continuing WQXR annual 10-day, year-end Bach Festival, this time a broadcast of the composer’s dramatic ‘Johannespassion‘, BWV 245, in a performance by the Dunedin Consort which included an ‘ideal’ of the original Lutheran vesper liturgy (here, organ and congregational chorales, organ prelude, responsory, collect, blessing, another responsory, another chorale, and a final congregational chorale; it was awesome!