This time I mean it: Chicken, really good chicken like this, responsibly raised chicken, will show up on our table and on this blog more frequently in the future.

This one was was really delicious.

The excellent, very simple – and simply-outlined – ‘recipe‘ I used is from Mark Bittman.

• two 10-ounce chicken thighs, Cascun Farms‘ Cornish Cross breed, from Eataly Flatiron, browned well in two tablespoons or so of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ inside an oval enameled high-sided cast iron pot, then covered and cooked over medium-low heat, turning occasionally, until the internal temperature is 155-165 degrees, or the juices run clear, 15 to 20 minutes, transferred to plates resting on top of the hot oven (mine is a 1934 Magic Chef, with the oven above and to the left of the 4 burners, and so very useful for the purpose), one minced Camelot shallot from Quarton Farm and about a third of a cup of white wine added to the pot, the heat raised to medium high and the liquid reduced a little, and more than a dozen tarragon leaves form Stokes Farm, chopped, added and stirred in before the sauce was transferred to a glass sauce boat, from which some of it was poured over the chicken

• most of a small, very sweet ‘conehead’ cabbage (also known as ‘caraflex’ or ‘arrowhead’ cabbage) from Alewife Farm, washed, drained, and sliced crosswise into 1/2″ ribbons, sautéed in little more than a tablespoon of olive oil inside a large antique, high-sided heavy copper pot in a little olive oil along with two halved and chopped small to medium size leeks from from Hawthorne Valley Farm, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage had wilted but was still crunchy, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, adding also a little more than a teaspoon of toasted cumin seed and half of a teaspoon of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, the mix stirred and cooked for another couple minutes

• twelve ounces of small dragon carrots from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, dried, halved lengthwise, tossed inside a bowl with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a teaspoon of ground Italian fennel seed and a bit of crushed orange/gold dried habanada pepper, arranged, not touching, on a medium size ceramic Pampered Chef oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 20 minutes, or until tender, arranged on the plates and garnished with a spray of long-stemmed pea shoots from Echo Creek Farm in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market

After the main course, there was a taste of a single very interesting cheese, one we’d never before experienced; it was delicious.

• Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse’s cow’s milk Baudolino, with a seasonal twist, having been cured in pinot noir grape must
• a bit of Organic Valley butter
• thin slices of Bobolink’s ‘Flax Seed Armadillo’

 

 

• the wine throughout the meal was a California red, Sin Fronteras El Mechon California Red Blend 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music throughout was Michel Pignolet de Montéclair’s 1732  tragédie en musique, or tragédie biblique, ‘Jephté’, performed by William Christie and the Choir and Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants

Some of our most delicious meals have been about squid, and their friends, and this was one of the most delicious.

• inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan heated on top of the stove until hot, the cooking surface brushed with olive oil, and once the oil was also quite hot, one pound of rinsed and carefully dried baby squid from Pura Vida Seafood quickly arranged inside, immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, 3 small fresh seasoning peppers (a yellow and a green grenada pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm and a habanada from Norwich Meadows Farm), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a douse of 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Whole Foods lemon, and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for only about 5 minutes, by which time their little bodies had ballooned, the pan removed and the squid distributed onto 2 plates, ladled with their cooking juices after they had been transferred to a footed glass sauce sauce boat

• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, bathed in several changes of water, left undressed
• two Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, placed face down on a small plate spread with sea salt and black pepper, pan grilled, sprinkled with bits of a few cut fresh tarragon leaves from Stokes Farm, then drizzled with a little olive oil
• ten or eleven ounces of ounces of ‘pinto’ potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed there with some Portuguese house olive oil from Whole Foods, seasoned with Maldon salt and black pepper, then tossed with some roughly cut sorrel from Windfall Farms, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with fresh, unheated sorrel for a brighter green finish
• the wine was a delightful Italian (Campania) white, Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina 2017 from Garnet Wines

• the music was the entertainment of kings, the 2014 Les Editions Arts Florissants album, ‘Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau’

 

[image at the bottom from Musicesferas]

Of course they were beautiful; it’s one of the reasons I love this fish.

They were also delicious, but to get there I had to cook them.

• six Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, tossed gently inside a shallow bowl with less than a tablespoon of olive oil and less than one crushed peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, arranged, their cut sides down, inside a medium glazed ceramic oven pan and roasted for about 10 minutes, after which two 10-ounce unfilleted skate wings from American Seafood Company with cartilage where they were attached to the main body wholly intact, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, transferred to the pan, after moving the tomatoes to the edges, then roasted for another 15 minutes or so, when a mixture of a tablespoon of olive oil, half a tablespoon of lemon juice, half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and more than a half tablespoon of rinsed salted Sicilian capers that had just been whisked together was poured over the fish and tomatoes, the pan returned to the oven for 2 or 3 minutes, removed, its contents arranged on 2 plates, the tomatoes next to or on the skate, both garnished with micro nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge, lemon quarters placed to the side of the plates

• one bunch of Hakurei turnips (or ‘Japanese turnips’) from Willow Wisp Farm, their quite tiny roots separated from the beautiful greens, leaving a bit of stem on each, scrubbed, sautéed inside a heavy antique medium-size tin-lined high-sided copper pot in a little olive oil, in which 2 bruised rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been softened, until the vegetables had begun to color, the roots removed and set aside while the washed and very roughly cut greens were introduced to the pan and heated until barely wilted, the turnips then returned to the pan and everything seasoned with sea salt,  freshly-ground black pepper, and a dusting of dried Sicilian peperoncino from Buon Italia
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) white, Scott Kelley Pinot Gris Willamette 2017, from Naked Wines
•  the music was Stefano Landi’s 1631 opera, ‘Il Sant’Alessio’, performed by William Christie directing the Choir and Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants

This pasta is a familiar essay around here, in this or similar forms, and it’s an easy one.

And, while I don’t think I’d want to serve this particular filled ravioli in the summer,  it’s really satisfying in the fall and winter.

• the contents of a 10-ounce package of Rana butternut squash-filled round ravioli, cooked but not quite al dente, introduced to a sauce already composed inside a large antique, tin-lined high-sided thick copper pot in which 4 or 5 chopped small late-season garlic scapes from Berried Treasures Farm had been heated in 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ until beginning to soften, to be followed by a bit of home-dried heatless, orange Habanada pepper and a good number of mostly small fresh sage leaves from Phillips Farm, all heated over medium heat until the butter had begun to turn nut-brown and the sage to shrivel, at which time one fourth to one third of a cup of water was added (to halt the browning and to provide more liquid for the sauce) and the mixture stirred, becoming loose and a little soupy, then, now with the pasta included, cooked for only about a minute or so, or until some of the water was absorbed and the pasta perfectly done, after which a third of a cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese from Whole Foods Market tossed in and stirred, making the sauce somewhat creamy, the contents of the pan seasoned liberally with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste, served at the table with more cheese scattered on top

There was a small cheese course, although I didn’t stop to photograph it.

• two cheeses, one an aged water buffalo cheese, a really delicious new product from Riverine Ranch, the other Consider Bardwell Farm’s cow cheese, ‘Bardem Blue’
• part of a demi baguette from Bread Alone
• one very ripe Bartlett pear from Locust Grove Fruit Farm, divided, avoiding the bruises

 

• the wine throughout was a Greek (Fteri, Mantinia, Tripolis, Arcadia) white, Troupis, Moschofilero ‘Fteri’ 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Donizetti’s 1833 tragic opera, ‘Lucrezia Borgia’, Jonel Perlea conducting the  RCA Italiano Orchestra and Chorus, with a cast that included Montserrat Caballé, Shirley Verrett, Alfredo Kraus, and Ezio Flagello

I’ve worked with this recipe twice before. It’s turned out differently each time, but each time it was terrific.

I think this one may be the closest to the original concept, and I did have fun with it. To begin with, I actually cut the monkfish into medallions this time, and I floured and cooked them on one side only, as instructed, probably for just a minute and a half in the pan, working fast to see that 17 pieces got in and then out within that narrow window, at which time they were just slightly underdone, like scallops, which makes great sense for this fish.

And I managed to restrain myself from the urge to toss in some flowers at the end.

Now it really was a first visit with gai lan, the vegetable we enjoyed with it. This Chinese broccoli is really, really delicious and I’m sure we’ll all be seeing more of each other, even through the winter (the farmer has high tunnels).

• the dish is called ‘monkfish with caper butter’, and I stayed pretty close to this great Florence Fabrikant recipe, starting off with 2 monkfish tails (17 ounces total) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, which I sliced roughly into 1/2″ medallions, continuing with local Union Square Greenmarket-purchased whole wheat flour from The Blew family of Oak Grove Plantation in Pittstown, N.J. seasoned with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and ground mustard seed; Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’; a portion of a Camelot shallot from Quarton Farm; Sicilian salted capers, thoroughly rinsed; the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market; and chopped tarragon leaves from Stokes Farm
• slices of a She Wolf Bakery miche, to savor the juices of the fish and the greens

• one bunch of really wonderful “broccoli with leaves” from Lani’s Farm, layered with the cut stem sections on the bottom and the roughly-cut leaves on top inside an antique medium high-sided copper pot with a half inch of water in the bottom, covered with an antique copper universal lid, steamed for a few minutes, the water then entirely drained from the pot and the greens tossed, over a medium flame, with a little olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and a little crushed ripe red dried shishito peppers (flavor, no heat), also from Lani’s Farm
• the wine was a California (Central Coast/Santa Ynez Valley) white, Rick Boyer Santa Ynez Valley Dry White Blend 2017, from Naked Wines
  by Rick Boyer
• the music was a recording of an excellent performance of Donizetti’s 1832 opera, ‘L’elisir D’amore’, with  Sir Geraint Evans,  Placido Domingo,  Ileana Cotrubas,  and Ingvar Wixell, John Pritchard conducting the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra