When I stopped inside Eataly’s Flatiron store on Friday, on my way home from the Union Square Greenmarket, I saw that Luca Donofrio‘s fresh pasta shop had some black truffle-filled pasta. I couldn’t use it that night, but I mad a note for myself (that is, a cellphone camera pic) to go back the next day or so.

I went back 2 days later, and we made a meal of it, with the help of an antipasto.

• the first course was a 2.5-ounce package shared by the 2 of us, of some delicious Principe Prosciutto di Parma from Whole Foods Market, served on a medium size plate arranged across from a spray of Betsey Ryder’s terrific arugula (although this makes no sense at all, the inside of the bag in which I’ve been keeping it smells like a mix of middle eastern spices!), from her family’s 18th-century heritage ‘Ryder Farm’, the arugula was sprinkled with Maldon salt, freshly ground black pepper, drizzled with juice from a fresh organic Whole Foods Market lemon and some good Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O.); the prosciutto was drizzled with the same oil, and the plate was accompanied by slices of an Eataly sesame baguette

• ten ounces of black truffle agnolotti from Luca Donofrio‘s fresh pasta shop inside Eataly’s Flatiron, briefly boiled, then, reserving a cup of the pasta water, drained and immediately slipped into a large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pan in which 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ (12 grams of fat) had been slowly melted, and about half a cup of reserved pasta water added gradually while using a small wooden spatula to stir the mix continually until the liquid had emulsified, seasoned with a generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper, divided into 2 warm shallow bowls, finished with some parmigiano reggiano (aged 24 months) from Whole Foods Market grated over the top
• the wine was an Italian (Alto Adige/Südtirol) white, Alois Lageder Pinot Bianco 2017, (pino bianco is known as Weißburgunder in Germany and Austria), from Garnet Wines
• the music was John Blow’s only music theater piece, his 1681 opera, ‘Venus and Adonis’, René Jacobs conducting the Orchestra of the Age Of Enlightenment

We’re leaving for Los Angeles in a few days, so I’ve been putting more simple meals than usual on the table, and working with whatever fresh ingredients we have on hand before we go. Consequently this pairing was at least partly an accident, although it seemed more like a brilliant inspiration once we sat down to try it.

• one swordfish steak (13.5 ounces) from American Seafood Company picked up the same afternoon at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, halved vertically, marinated on an ironstone platter for a little more than half an hour, turning once, in a mixture of olive oil, a tablespoon of fresh torn peppermint from Keith’s Farm, a small amount, chopped, of an aji rico pepper (medium spicy/hot) from Alewife Farm, and the white sections, chopped section of 2 very small scallion from Berried Treasures Farm, after which the swordfish was drained well, both sides covered with a coating of homemade dried breadcrumbs, pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until just barely fully cooked all of the way through (think of the texture of a fresh good cheesecake), removed from the pan and arranged on 2 plates, sprinkled with a little Maldon sea salt, some of the chopped green parts of the scallions, and drizzled with a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon squeezed, garnished with purple micro radish from Windfall Farms

• a very cool, sort of sweet-sour fresh green salsa assembled from half a pound of tiny, mostly tart, green tomatoes from Berried Treasures Farm, halved; a bit of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia; a portion of one finely chopped aji dulce (sweet) pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm; one small sliced and chopped red onion from Quarton Farm; a little turbinado sugar; a pinch of sea salt; some scissored garlic chives from Echo Creek Farm in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market (through December on the north sidewalk of 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues); and some chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Le Salse, Verdicchio di Matelica, 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was a new recording of Monteverdi’s ‘Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria’, John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir in a live recording from The National Forum of Music in Wrocław

The tautog, or blackfish. It’s one of my favorites. It doesn’t show up often in the fish market, but I can rarely keep from bringing some home when it does.

• a single 14-ounce fillet of Blackfish/Tautog from Pura Vida Seafood Company , prepared mostly as described in this recipe by Melissa Clark, laying the fish skinned side down and kept there without turning, and then, to be specific about the other ingredients I used, the fresh sage was from Phillips Farm; the olives were kalamata, from Whole Foods Market, and the lemon juice was squeezed from a Whole Foods Market organic fruit, and although for the first time ever when cooking this recipe I would have been able to include the elusive ‘Aleppo Syrian red pepper’ [I found some from Morton & Bassett at the Westside Market] that it specifies, but I rushed through the preparation and totally forgot the last step, in which the fish would be dusted with “Urfa or Aleppo red pepper”, but I did toss some finely chopped small (sweet) yellow Grenada seasoning peppers from Eckerton Hill Farm, and garnished the plate with some purple micro radish from Windfall Farms, and the results were terrific!

I guess we know why they’re called ‘blue eyes’.

• a pound of ‘blue eyes’ potatoes from Berried Treasures Farm, boiled with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while still inside the large still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with some good Portuguese olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and 3 garlic scapes from Berried Treasures Farm, cut into short sections, that had been softened by heating them in olive oil inside a smaller Pyrex pan
• the wine was a California (Napa Valley) white, Alex and Ryan Present: Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album. ‘L’esprit d’Armenie’, with Jordi Savall and his Hespèrion XXI

This is one of the most satisfying meals I can imagine, at any level and in every way. Barry calls it “comfort food’, and it certainly is that, in spite of the fact that it seems relatively exotic.

We enjoy it often.

• two large (roughly 13-ounce each) monkfish tails from American Seafood Company, prepared  prepared using a David Pasternak recipe, but  reducing the proportions, using three fourths of a cup of Tunisian M’hamsa Couscous and Portuguese olive oil, both from Whole Foods in Chelsea, sliced rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, one and a half 400-gram cans of really good Afeltra canned pomodorini from Eataly Flatiron, green olives from the Chelsea Whole Foods Market, pitted but otherwise kept whole, and 2 whole dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia

• several small bunches of the leaf mustard (Brassica juncea) ‘Gai Choy’, an Asian green also known as Asian mustard, Chinese mustard; or karashi-na, from Lani’s Farm, roughly sliced, wilted for only a minute or two in a little olive oil in which 2 small cloves of sliced rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat before a teaspoon of crushed cumin was thrown in, the greens seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a California (Napa Valley) white, Alex and Ryan Present: Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was Kyle Gann’s 2008 piece, ‘War Is Just a Racket’, performed by the pianist Sarah Cahill

It’s a fantastic pasta, not quite like any other I’ve ever tasted, and its texture, and rich neutral flavor almost beg a cook to come up with different ways to show it off (we’ve never repeated a meal using this wonderful local product, and a ‘search’ on this blog tells me we’re enjoyed it at least 5 times).

The starting point this time was what was left from a basket of beautiful mostly-green plum tomatoes that I at the Windfall Farms stand at the Greenmarket the previous Wednesday.

• a simple fresh sauce for a dried pasta which began with 3 one-inch sections of garlic scapes from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut into 2-inch lengths, and one stalk of celery from celery from Lucky Dog Organic Farm cut into very short sections, sautéed together gently in olive oil for 3 or 4 minutes, one chopped habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm added, and then the remaining half of a one-pound package of pasta that had been cooked barley al dente, specifically, a New York spaccatelli made by Sfoglini (local organic durum semolina and organic hard red wheat flour, New Jersey Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk, local water), the pasta purchased from the buffalo farmer’s own stall in the Greenmarket, one fourth of a cup or more of reserved pasta cooking water added to the pan and cooked, over moderately high heat, tossing until combined well and the sauce had emulsified, served inside shallow bowls, topped with chopped garlic chives from Keith’s Farm and toasted homemade breadcrumbs, a bit of olive oil drizzled around the edges
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Karen Birmingham Clarksburg Pinot Grigio 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was a largely neglected vestige of the very late romantic era of ‘classical’ music, Franz Schmidt’s opera, ‘Notre Dame’ (written between 1904 and 1906 but not premiered until April, 1914), the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christof Perick, with a cast that included Gwyneth Jones, Hans Helm, Hartmut Welker, Horst Laubenthal, James King, Kaja Borris, and Kurt Moll; this world premiere recording was released only five years ago, in 2013; we chose the work for its obscurity, but it was much more beautiful than we had expected