We don’t really celebrate Christmas, except culturally, which always means there’s a place for a special meal and a special wine. This was only the night before the night before Christmas, and so while it was a special meal and a special wine, the occasion was probably more that of the Sunday thing. We also don’t really celebrate Sundays, except as the Germans do, meaning as a day not like the other days of the week, and one which should include a good meal.

The problem with this routine, and this account is, first, the fact that I cook almost every night, second, that it’s largely chance that determines what the meal will be (what might be available at the farmers market on a particular day), and, third, that I can’t actually know in advance when a dinner is going to turn out well, or especially well.

This past Sunday really was unlike other days, and the meal was special, because I managed to put an excellent small rack of lamb on the table, and because I somehow managed to cook it perfectly. Although it was produced by local farmers in the Hudson Valley, I didn’t buy it at the Union Square Greenmarket, but from Eataly Flatiron, 2 blocks east of us. They have an excellent meat department, with most its stock locally sourced (may I describe their guys as neighborhood butchers?).

I still feel a little guilty, because I want to patronize the farmers in the Greenmarket as much as I can. But on that day I hadn’t planned ahead at all, and didn’t have anything in the apartment that I wanted to present for dinner. For a day or 2 I had been thinking about some good chicken, especially since I had some special vegetables that would show well with chicken, and that’s how I found myself at Eataly in the middle of the afternoon. Their broilers however were too large, the breast parts that I saw were unfortunately boned and skinless, and we had enjoyed their excellent Cascun Farms thighs only recently. Now I was stumped.

Then looked inside the meat counter itself and there I saw a single, very beautifully-frenched quite small rack of lamb peeking out from behind a store tag showing both an impressive description of origin and an impressive price. The lamb, it turned out, when I asked the butcher to check, weighed a little more than I had hoped it would, but it was now too late to blink. I bought it and I’m delighted to say that it turned out to be probably both the tenderest and most delicious lamb I’d ever had, whether at home or elsewhere.

I guess sometimes you do get what you pay for.

• a one-pound Kinderhook Farm frenched rack of lamb (Dorper breed) purchased from Eataly Flatiron that afternoon, brought to room temperature, then, when the oven had been set to 475º, seasoned generously with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper while one tablespoon of olive oil was heated inside a small heavy, oval enameled cast iron pan until it was hot but not smoking, the lamb placed inside to brown, for about one minute per side, the arced, bone side down first, followed by all the other surfaces in turn, removed and most of the fat poured out, all sides of the rack except for the ends then rolled inside a shallow bowl which held a mixture of less than 2 tablespoons of whole yellow mustard seeds and 2 full teaspoons of Sicilian fennel seeds (both toasted together earlier inside a large quite vintage seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat until they had become fragrant and, in order to cool slightly, had been immediately transferred to the bowl in which the lamb was to be rolled, the meat now returned to the pan in which it had been seared, arced side down, transferred to the oven (now lowered to 375º), roasted until a thermometer inserted into the center of the lamb registered 135º, or medium-rare (roughly 15-20 minutes), at which time the pan was removed from the oven and allowed to stand on top of the range for at least 10 minutes, when each of the 2 sections were cut into 2 chops, which were arranged on the plates, drizzled with a little Whole Foods Market lemon juice and some Whole Foods house Portuguese olive oil, and garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge [the excellent and pretty simple recipe I used began with Martha Stewart]

• a 10-ounce mix of round baby Yukon gold potatoes from Race Farm and oblong la ratte potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, skins left on, halved, tossed with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, rosemary leaves from Phillips Farm, and a bit of dried habanada pepper, arranged, cut side down, on a medium well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at temperatures averaging 400º for about 25-30 minutes

• halved sections of 2 ‘heads’ (almost the very last in their tub) of what Chris and Jessi of Campo Rosso Farm have dubbed, ‘Rosa di Campo Rosso’, their own cross-breed[?] radicchio (it seems somewhat related to tardivo), tied with butcher’s string, tossed with a little olive oil, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper and arranged, with branches of thyme from Willow Wisp Farm on the top, inside a small unglazed seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 12-15 minutes, turning once, finished with a very small splash of balsamic vinegar [note: the radicchio can be served either hot or warm, so it’s an excellent low-stress accompaniment for many different meats or fish]
• the wine was a French (Pomerol) red, Château Moncets, Lalande de Pomerol 2012, (merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon) from Astor Wines
• the music was Rossini’s 1817 opera, ‘La Cenerentola’, with Riccardo Chailly conducting
  the Bologna Teatro Comunale Orchestra and the Bologna Teatro Comunale Chorus, with Cecilia Bartoli as Cinderella

It was pea shoots and chervil because I put the pea shoots on the eggs before I remembered I had planned to toss them with chervil, so I ended using both.

• Otherwise it was a pretty basic plate of bacon and eggs, although more minimal than usual usually found at our breakfast table, one which included very fresh eggs from pastured chickens and bacon from pastured pigs, both from Millport Dairy Farm; Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ from Whole Foods Market on the side, almost none of it used this time; a bit of crushed dried peperoncini Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia; Maldon salt; freshly-ground black pepper; pea shoots from Echo Creek Farm in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market (the market is now gone for the winter); micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge;
  and both fresh and lightly toasted slices of 3 different local breads (a flax seed armadillo and a medieval baguette from Bobolink Dairy and Bakery and a miche from She Wolf Bakery
• the music was Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt  conducting the Vienna Concentus Musicus and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir

Neapolitan pasta, Sicilian garlic, and Calabrian peperoncino.

I made it intentionally simple, to make it easier to appreciate the artisanal pasta, and to make it more likely we’d want to sample some of the excellent cheeses I’d been assembling lately.  US cheeses, including those produced by local farmers in the New York area, are better than ever

• eight ounces of Afeltra 100% Italian grain pasta artigianale spaghetto from Eataly Flatiron,  boiled al dente, then tossed into large antique copper pot and mixed with a simple sauce made with 4 fairly thinly sliced rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm and 2 crushed dried peperoncini Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia that had been heated in one third of a cup of olive oil over a low-to-medium flame for about 2 minutes, or until the garlic had barely begun to color, some of the reserved pasta water added after the spaghetto had been coated with the sauce, everything stirred over high heat until the liquid had emulsified and the sauce thickened
• the music during the first course was the album, ‘Settecento Veneziano’, performed by Accademia Bizantina, conducted by Ottavio Dantone

There was a somewhat bracing cheese course

• four cheeses, moving from left to right in the picture above: an aged water buffalo milk cheese from Riverine Ranch (still unnamed), that same farm’s water buffalo milk brie, Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse’s ‘Baudolino’ aged cow’s milk cheese cured in a pinot noir grape must, and a ‘Bardem Blue’ cow’s milk cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm
• slices of She Wolf Bakery miche
• the music during this part of the meal was the 2005 ECM album, ‘Lontano’, by Polish jazz trumpeter and composer Tomasz Stańko

 

• the wine throughout the meal was a Portuguese (Alentejo) white, Esporao Monte Velho White 2016, from Garnet Wines

This meal suggests summer, but it is likely to be the last of that sort for a while, since it was served a few hours after the winter solstice.

• twenty medium size sea scallops (about 14 ounces) from Pura Vida Seafood, washed, drained and very thoroughly dried on paper towels (twice), generously seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled for about 90 seconds on each side, finished with a squeeze of organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, scattered with some cut, or shredded sorrel leaves from Windfall Farms, and drizzled with some Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil
• four Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, their cut sides sprinkled with salt and pepper, pan grilled, turning once, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm and drizzled with olive oil

• one beautiful head of purple bok choy from Norwich Meadows Farm, the last on their table on Friday, the leaves separated from the base, very thoroughly washed and drained, added to a heavy vintage large tin-lined copper pot inside of which 2 bruised and halved Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been heated until beginning to brown, the choy stirred in, occasionally adding some of the water which they had shed after being washed, and cooked until barely tender, their stems still a little crunchy, seasoned with salt and pepper, arranged on the plates, and drizzled with a little more olive oil
• the wine was a Spanish (Bierzo) white, Palacio de Canedo Godello 2012, from Garnet Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Haydn Symphonies’, with performances of numbers 78 through 81, by Accademia Bizantina, conducted by Ottavio Dantone

A good December meal.

• two thick 12-ounce blade pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, rinsed, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper before being seared quickly in a heavy oval enameled cast-iron pan, then half of a large organic Whole Foods Market lemon squeezed over the top (after which the lemon was left in the pan between them, cut side down), the chops placed in a 400º oven for about 13 minutes altogether (flipped halfway through, the lemon squeezed over them once again and, after a bit of crushed dried habanada pepper had been sprinkled on top of the pork, placed again on the bottom of the pan), removed from the oven and arranged on 2 plates, the juices that remained, with the addition of some juices remaining from a tomato salad prepared for a meal 2 days earlier, poured over them, the rest transferred to a glass sauce boat and placed on the table

• four small dragon carrots from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, dried, rolled inside a small unglazed ceramic Pampered Chef oven pan with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and less than half a teaspoon of crushed Italian fennel seed, roasted at 400º for about 30 minutes, or until tender, arranged on the plates and garnished with small nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• one bunch of young Napa cabbage from Lani’s Farm, washed thoroughly, trimmed, torn into smaller sections, wilted in olive oil along with 9 or so crushed juniper berries, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and drizzled with a little more olive oil
• the wine was a Washington (Columbia Valley) white, Michaud Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was ‘Il giardino di rose’, works by Alessandro Scarlatti, another section of the album, ‘Il gioco Barocco del seicento italiano’, seventeenth-century Italian music performed by Ottavio Dantone, harpsichord and conductor, and the Accademia Bizantina