Colorful goodness.

• the fish serving began with 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 roughly 6 ounces of tomatoes (one sliced orange heirloom from Stokes Farm and a couple of sliced Mountain Magic tomatoes  (‘cocktail tomato’ in size, “..a cross between a large-fruited tomato and a very sweet grape tomato…” a hybrid released in North Carolina sometime within the current decade) from Norwich Meadows Farm, along with 2 ounces or so of pitted whole kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, the mix seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and stirred for a minute or 2 before the pan was set aside to cool a little, after which some 2 or 3 tablespoons of herbs (chopped fresh lovage from Quarton Farm, a Sullivan County grower new to the Union Square Greenmarket this year; an equal amount of fresh oregano buds from Norwich Meadows Farm; and torn leaves of a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge) were stirred into the salsa, reserving some of the herbs to garnish the fish and salsa once it was on the plate, followed by the juice of half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, the mix now stirred once again, and set aside while the fish was prepared
• four 4-ounce porgy fillets from P.E & D.D. Seafood, the skin slashed with a very sharp knife in 2 or 3 places on each, placed skin side down inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan in a tablespoon or so of olive oil that had gotten very hot  sitting over a high flame, the top, or flesh side of the fish seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and 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 just about one minute, quickly basting with the oil in the pan during that time, or until the fillets were just cooked through, arranged on the plates, the salsa drizzled around the porgy and both sprinkled with some of the reserved herbs

• ten ounces or so of tiny purple okra from Lani’s Farm, sautéed over a high flame inside a large enameled cast iron pan in a little bit of olive oil [supposedly cast iron causes even green pods to blacken, but I’ve never really noticed that, at least not as a problem, these pods were already a dark purple going in, but I went with an enameled pan nevertheless], adding a good part of one crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia half way through, seasoned with sea salt  
• the wine was an Oregon (Columbia Valley) white, Dave Harvey Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was Handel’s 1738 opera, ‘Faramondo’, a story of the eponymous late 4th, early 5th-century Frankish dux and goings on in the ancient geographical home of my own family (“All ends happily with general rejoicing…”), performed by I Barocchisti, conducted by Diego Fasolis [a 6-minute excerpt from that same performance here]

It was a night off for the cook, or at least a night when he didn’t have to think much, or juggle a lot of ingredients.

• three ounces of excellent Iowa La Quercia ’Speck Americano’ from Whole Foods, drizzled with a very small amount of a good Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O.)
• accompanied by a bit of red (wild?) cress from Dave Harris at Max Creek Hatchery, and a few stems of parsley from Alex’s Tomato Farm, the greens seasoned with Maldon salt and a freshly-ground strong black pepper, and dressed with the same oil and a few drops of Cesare Giaccone aceto vino bianco, made from a mixture of white wines from Langhe
• slices of She Wolf Bakery miche

The main course was almost as simple.

• two bruised and halved rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm and 2 small whole peperoncini Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, heated inside a large vintage high-sided copper pot in olive oil until both garlic and peppers were pungent, a little sea salt and some freshly-ground pepper added, one sliced red heirloom tomato from Stokes Farm slipped into the pot and stirred in the now quite pungent oil before a 12-ounce package of cooked (for exactly 2 minutes) Rana spinaci e ricotta ravioli from Eataly was introduced into the pan, everything carefully mixed then stirred with most of one cup of reserved pasta water until the liquid had emulsified, transferred to shallow bowls and scattered with torn leaves of a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Argentinian (Lujan de Cuyo) rosé, Lujan de Cuyo
• the music was Handel’s ‘Hercules, a Musical Drama in Three Acts’ composed in 1744, Marc Minkowski directing Les Musiciens du Louvre

I broke some yolks.

Still, although it’s certainly not related, it turned out to be one of the most delicious versions of my regular Sunday bacon and eggs thing. Maybe I just hit the right combinations in my enthusiasm for adding herbs and spices. The tomatoes however were new, maybe even new to the planet, and incredibly good without much help.

I don’t normally like to make much of what something ‘tastes like’, but these tomatoes shocked me: They tasted a little like fresh sweet corn; go figure.

• the ingredients of this breakfast/lunch included thick pastured-pig bacon and eggs from free-range Americauna chickens, both from Millport Dairy Farm; Mountain Magic tomatoes (‘cocktail tomato’ in size, “..a cross between a large-fruited tomato and a very sweet grape tomato…” released in the current decade) from Norwich Meadows Farm, which were topped with torn leaves of a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge; a bit of crushed peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia and sliced Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm that were tossed into the 13″ seasoned cast iron pan after the bacon and before a little butter was added, prior to frying the eggs, which were seasoned and gingered up with some Maldon salt, freshly-ground very strong black pepper (whose origins I can no longer account for), a pinch of Sicilian wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, and fresh chopped dill from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market; some micro kale from two Guys from Woodbridge as a garnish and as a half-hearted attempt to disguise the broken yolks; lightly toasted slices of 2 different breads, a 12 grain from Bread Alone and a miche from She Wolf Bakery
• the music was a Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s 1698 whatchamacallit, titled, ‘Judicium Salomonis’ (The Judgement of Solomon), and otherwise described as ‘Motet pour une longue offrande‘, a gorgeous work in any event, in a gorgeous performance by William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants

Steak and cucumbers, or to be more precise, water buffalo New York strip steak and poona kheera cucumbers.

• one 13-ounce New York Strip Steak of local water buffalo purchased from Brian Foley’s Riverine Ranch stand in the Union Square Greenmarket, removed from the refrigerator, where it had defrosted, rinsed, dried on both sides with paper towels and sprinkled with sea salt, allowed to rest on the kitchen counter on a paper plate, covered loosely with wax paper, for about 2 hours, then dried once again and placed inside an enameled cast iron oval pan that had already been heated above a medium-hot flame, cooked for 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until the meat was just under medium [it’s important not to overcook buffalo, or the steak would be tough; also, noting that the color of this lean meat is a lot redder than beef means that a medium-rare buffalo steak would be the same shade of an almost rare beef steak], and, just before it was done, pieces of a thinly sliced section from a stem of a Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm were tossed onto the pan surface to be briefly heated, softening them, before they were picked out and scattered on top of the meat, before it was removed from the pan and cut into 2 sections (and checked for doneness), moved to the plates, where some juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon was squeezed on top, the steaks finished with a bit of chopped rosemary from Willow Wisp Farm and a drizzle of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, allowed to rest for about 5 more minutes to let the juices to be drawn back into the muscle, relaxing the meat fiber to help ensure its maximum tenderness and juiciness
• three poona kheera cucumbers (a variety sometimes labelled, less accurately, as ‘Sikkim cucumber’) from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced unpeeled into rounds roughly 3 cm thick, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large antique high-sided copper pot over a medium-high flame, turned over once or twice, lightly-sprinkled with salt each time (ideally, they should have carbonized a bit, but I forgot to think about that at the time), adding, more than half way through, slices of a small red onion from Lucky Dog Organic Farm and a couple bright red aji rico peppers (not hot) from Eckerton Hill Farm, then seasoned with freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with a little fresh dill from from Alex’s Tomato Farm, arranged on the plates, garnished with more dill and some torn leaves of a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• a little red cress (possibly wild) from Dave Harris’s Max Creek Hatchery
• the wine was a Portuguese (Dão) red, Gota Wine, Dao Tinto “Bergamota”, 2014, from Flatiron Wines

• the music was Lully’s 1676 tragédie en musique, ‘Atys’, William Christie conducting his  ensemble, Les Arts Florissants [I saw his silver production at BAM in 1989]

 

[the image at the bottom is from the 1989 production of ‘Atys’]

The meal was a bit Spanish, -ish. Or maybe it was just Chelsea Mediterranean. But it was also definitely local.

• a generous number of large shishito peppers (all were juicy, some were actually sweet, none were fiery, or even suggested fire, and every one was delicious), the gift of a friend, from her garden, ‘Lower Hayfields’, in Garrison, New York
• slices of 12 grain bread from Bread Alone
• the music was Bang on a Can’s album, ‘Summer Marathon Mixtape 2018’

• a 17-ounce mako shark steak from Pura Vida Seafood, the bloodline removed, cut into 2 portions, marinated in a mixture of olive oil, a tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano buds, a small amount of crushed peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, and thin slices of the stem of a fresh bulbous shallot from Tamarack Hollow Farm, allowed to rest for a little more than half an hour, the first 15 minutes in the refrigerator, drained well and covered with a coating of dried homemade bread crumbs, pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, removed to the plates, seasoned with a little sea salt, drizzled with a little lemon juice, dusted with a pinch of some wonderful Italian wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, and dsome freshly, very-finely-chopped scallions tossed on the top
• a bit of wild red cress from Dave Harris at Max Creek Hatchery

• five small Japanese eggplant from Campo Rosso Farm, each halved lengthwise, brushed all over with a mixture of a little olive oil, 2 finely-chopped medium size rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-grilled on a cast iron ribbed pan above a brisk flame, turning twice, adding more of the material from the marinade the second time, then arranged on the plates where they were tossed with torn basil leaves off of a plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge and drizzled with a bit of olive oil
• the music was Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Marin Alsop conducting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

 

• the wine throughout the meal was a California (Sonoma) white, Jacqueline Bahue California Sauvignon Blanc 2017, from Naked Wines