Month: September 2018

breakfast ‘without’

It was breakfast without bacon and without tomatoes.

Also new this time: No broken yolks, and somehow the whites came off with something of a geometric perfection as well.

penna rigata, garlic, chili, tomato, husk cherry, lovage, basil

Looks a bit like a corne copia, or in this case, a patera copia, but it was definitely, in the language closest to the vulgate that succeeded classical Latin, una deliziosa scodella di abbondanza.

It is very Italian, but it was conceived on 23rd Street.

  • eight and a half ounces of al dente Afeltra 100% Grana Italiano Penna di Rigata [sic] from Naples, via Eataly Flatiron, with a sauce which began with a little olive oil heated inside a large antique high-sided thick-walled copper pot in which 2 cloves of Keith’s Farm rocambole garlic were slowly cooked until they were beginning to color and soften, accompanied during that time by one whole peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, after which 2 small fresh habanada peppers from Alewife farm were added and briefly heated before the pasta itself was introduced into the pot, along with some reserved pasta water, everything stirred until the liquid had emulsified, and then a half dozen small halved Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio (yeah, they grow all over Mount Vesuvius) from Norwich Meadows Farm were slipped into the pot and moved about, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste, mixed with chopped lovage from Quarton Farm and a small amount of torn basil handed to me by Franca of Berried Treasures Farm, the pasta arranged in shallow bowls, topped with what Oak Grove Plantation’s Union Square Greenmarket stall labelled ‘Ground Husk Cherry Tomatoes’ (the fruits of this species of physalis, of the nightshade family, are also known as husk cherries, groundcherries, Cape gooseberries, just for starters), and drizzled with olive oil around the edges
  • the wine was an Italian (Tuscany/ Bolgheri) white, Antinori Vermentino 2016, from Garnet Wines
  • the music was the album, ‘L’immagine di Corelli’, featuring Arcangelo Corelli’s six violin sonatas from his opus 5 (published January 1, 1700), performed by Susanne Scholz on violin, and Michael Hell on harpsichord

sautéed herb-marinated squeteague; tomatoes; collards

How many names can one fish support?

Cynoscion regalis: I want to call it Squetauge, because I like the sound, because it’s what they call it in Rhode Island, and because it’s what it was called by Americans long before there were any Europeans, Africans, or Asians to name anything.

Weakfish is the name by which it is generally known, I think, but it there are many other ways to designate this excellent eating fish.

My fish monger calls it ‘sea trout’, although it’s no relation to the true trout.

I go through this exercise about fish names a lot, with all sorts of species that we consume at home or elsewhere, but the reason I’m making something of it this time is that while I’ve cooked cynoscion regalis at least 5 times before, ‘sea trout’ didn’t show up on this blog site when I was standing at the fish stand trying to remember what I usually call that fish in the plexiglas window.

  • 7 and a half-ounce fillets of Squeteague (aka ‘Weakfish’, Sea Trout, or Ocean Trout) from Pura Vida Seafood Company, marinated for more than half an hour, first in the refrigerator and then on the kitchen counter, in a mix of a fourth of a cup of olive oil, 2 minced cloves of Keith’s Farm rocambole garlic, and 7 different chopped or torn herbs (1 crushed fresh bay leaf from West Side Market, parsley and spearmint from Phillips Farms, rosemary from Willow Wisp Farm, lovage from Quarton Farm, and marjoram buds from Stokes Farm), drained, reserving some of the marinade, then sautéed, or fried, for about 2 minutes inside an antique lightly-oiled (one tablespoon), heavy tin-lined oval copper pan which had been pre-heated to medium-hot, skin-slide down first, then turned and cooked for another minute, arranged on the plates, brushed lightly with a bit of reserved marinade, garnished with micro red chard from Two Guys from Woodbridge
  • five really special very ripe Mountain Magic tomatoes, halved, heated inside a small vintage Pyrex blue glass pan in a little olive oil, turning once, seasoned with sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper,, arranged on the plate garnished with a bit of basil, the gift of Franca Tantillo of Berried Treasures Farm
  • one bunch of collard greens from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, stemmed, washed 3 times, drained (some of the water retained and held aside to be added, as necessary, while the greens cooked), cut roughly and braised gently until softened/wilted inside a large, heavy enameled cast iron pot in which 2 cloves of Keiths Farm rocambole garlic had been heated until they had softened, seasoned with salt and black pepper, finished with a small drizzle of olive oil
  • slices of a She Wolf Bakery polenta sourdough boule
  • the wine was a California (Napa) red, La Tapatia Chardonnay Carneros 2016, from Naked Wines
  • the music was Handel’s 1726 opera seria, ‘Scipione’, in a performance by Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset

oregano/chili-roasted squid; dill potato; grill tomato, basil

Mostly back to the Mediterranean, after a short detour in German lands.

  • one pound of rinsed and carefully dried squid bodies and tentacles from American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, arranged without touching if possible, inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until quite hot and its cooking surface brushed with a thin coating of olive oil, once the oil itself was quite hot, the cephalopods immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of some super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, one small crushed dried pepperoncino calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, one large chopped fresh habanada pepper from from Alewife Farm, some sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a drizzle of a few tablespoons of Whole Foods Market organic lemon, and some olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for 5 minutes, removed, the squid distributed onto 2 plates and ladled with a bit of the cooking juices that had been transferred to a glass sauce pitcher
  • La Ratte potatoes from Berried Treasures Farm, boiled with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while inside the large, still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware glass pot in which they had cooked, a tablespoon or so of olive oil added, seasoned with Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with chopped dill from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market
  • four small San Marzano tomatoes from Quarton Farm, each sliced in half and placed face down on a plate which had been spread with sea salt and pepper, the surface dried somewhat with a paper towel and placed in a hot grill pan and turned once, finished on the plates with a bit of olive oil, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, and the very last leaves, torn, of those that had remained on a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge
  • the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Terredora Falanghina 2017, from Garnet Wines
  • the music was a genuine oddity, ‘Les Mystères d’Isis’, an 1801 adaptation, for the Paris opera, of Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’, by Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith, with a new French text by Étienne Morel de Chédeville

bauernwurst; boiled potato, micro mustard; peppers, basil

German-isch again.

Well, actually it was more than just, “-isch”. It was pretty German, but with Mexican and French touches in the wine and the music.

  • four links of Schaller & Weber Bauernwurst (a smokey pork and beef sausage, with pepper, garlic and marjoram), heated inside an oval enameled cast iron pan until the skin had blistered, served with a classic German mustard, Löwensenf Medium (and, not in the picture, a luscious German pepper pickle, Hengstenberg 1876 Red Pepper Steak Sauce, both purchased at the same Schaller & Webber store, which has been located for almost 80 years in what was once the Manhattan German community of Yorkville 
  • ten or 12 ounces of small sweet and delicious Pinto (or Pinto Gold) potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, boiled with a good amount of salt in the water only until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while inside the large, still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware glass pot in which they had cooked, a tablespoon or so of butter added, seasoned with a bit of Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sprinkled with toasted home-made breadcrumbs and garnished with micro red mustard from Two Guys from Woodbridge
  • one pale yellow Hungarian pepper from Stokes Farm, cut lengthwise into quarters, and 2 aji dulce peppers (not hot) from Eckerton Hill Farm, the seeds and membranes removed from both, sautéed over a high or medium high flame inside a large, heavy, antique high-sided copper pot until slightly caramelized, one medium fresh habanada pepper from Alewife Farm added near the end, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper and tossed with leaves of a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge, torn, and served with a drizzle of olive oil
  • the wine was a California (Napa) red, Macario Montoya‘s Sin Fronteras El Mechon California Red Blend 2017, from Naked Wines
  • the music too was, in a way, sin fronteras, since it celebrated an event that “..culminates in a grand procession of the Human Race, dancing and singing in praise of Liberty. [without frontiers]”; it was ‘Le Triomphe de la République ou Le Camp de Grand Pré’, by Francois-Joseph Gossec, performed by I Barocchisti, conducted by Diego Fasolis