Both were definitely local, but If the ‘wild tomatoes’ were not, technically wild anymore, the seafood really was, even if it had been domesticated by the fisherman (by bringing it home) and the fisherman’s wife (by preparing the salad at home).

• eight ounces of a squid and conch salad (including olive oil, parsley, red pepper, lemon juice) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, made by Dolores Karlin, the wife of Phil Karlin, the fisherman himself, arranged on a thin bed of arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, the seasoning of the salad adjusted only slightly, including a drizzle of juice from an organic California lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, arranged on leaves of  a head of Roxy purple leaf lettuce from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, dressed with a good olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle lemon juice too, arranged as a bed for the salad
• slices of an organic multigrain baguette from Bread Alone

 

The main, or pasta course, included a scion of the ur-tomato, called the ‘wild Mexican tomato’, here grown on Eckerton Hill Farm, boasting the sophisticated flavors expected of a member of an ancient lineage.

• a very simple pasta sauce begun by heating and softening in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot over a medium flame, one and a half garlic scapes, cut into very short lengths, from Phillips Farms, adding some crushed dried espelette pepper from Alewife Farm, the mix tossed with 9 ounces of an Afeltra pasta artigianale di Gragnano I.G.P. 100% grano Italiano biologico that had been cooked al dente and drained, almost an entire cup of its cooking water also added, everything stirred over a high flame until the liquid had emulsified, then 4 ounces of fantastic, sweet tiny ‘wild’ Mexican tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm were stirred in, followed by a mix of chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm, chopped parsley from Jersey Farm Produce Inc. in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market, and torn peppermint leaves from Alex’s Tomato Farm, also in the Saturday market, and finished with more herbs and a little olive oil drizzled around the edges

 

• the wine throughout was a Portuguese (Douro) white, Quevedo Family Alvarinho 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music throughout was Pier Francesoc Cavalli’s 1640 opera, ‘Gli Amori D’apollo E Di Dafne’, Gabriel Garrido conducting the Elyma Ensemble

A tough one.

Somehow I must have persuaded myself that the tougher parts of the agretti branches I had picked up at the Greenmarket would miraculously soften once they had been parboiled.

I was wrong, and now it was getting pretty late for any major change in the menu.

I had suspected I might have a problem on my hands, so I had started to think of something to replace them with as a side dish for the scallops even as I tossed the agretti into the pot of boiling water, but with a quick recovery – stripping the ‘leaves’ from the branches after they had drained and combining them with some tomatoes that I had earlier thought of as a second vegetable – I rescued at least some of my original dinner plan, and saved some little cucumbers for another meal.

• ten sea scallops (13.5 ounces total) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, slit horizontally with a very sharp knife almost all of the way through to accommodate tiny spoonfuls of a mixture of some fresh chopped epazote from TransGenerational Farm, one medium-size clove of ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm, less than half of a tiny Brazilian wax pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, a little local P.E. & D.D. sea salt, and a bit of whole black pepper, all having been chopped together very finely, and removed to a small bowl where just enough olive oil was added to form a paste, the ‘stuffed’ scallops then rolled around on a plate with a little more olive oil [although I’m not certain this is step is necessary, especially to retain ‘grill’ marks], drained, pan grilled in an enameled cast iron pan for about 2 minutes on each side, removed to the 2 dinner plates, finished with a squeeze of a small California organic lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of olive oil

• a handful of golden heirloom cherry tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm, each punctured once or twice with a small metal skewer, then rolled around in a little olive oil above a low flame inside a medium copper skillet, eventually joined by the tender parts of a bunch of agretti (or saltwort) branches, from Norwich Meadows Farm, separated from the woody parts after the branches, still intact, had been parboiled for exactly 7 minutes, the tomatoes and the agretti stirred together, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, and warmed a bit, a little juice from an organic California lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market squeezed on top before tomatoes and agretti were arranged on the plates
• slices of an organic multigrain baguette from Bread Alone
• the wine was a New Zealand (South Island/Marborough/Wairau Valley) white, Lay of the Land Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album of works by Sheila Silver, ‘Piano Concerto’ and ‘Six préludes pour piano, d’après poèmes de Baudelaire‘

It may be looking a bit less like summer around here, but nothing in the image above is really not a summer thing.

Sunday night we were able to enjoy, for the first time, a fresh sausage created by some venders new to the Union Square this year.

I also managed to have come up with a second, very different puntarelle dish, using a single large ‘head’ of puntarelle, also from the Greenmarket, and I learned a good deal about this extraordinary vegetable in the process.

And I just happened to have a few potatoes that could balance the very different strong flavors of each.

• “simmer then sear”, read an admonition I spotted somewhere that day (I usually stress over how and for how long to cook sausages), and it became my guide with 4 ‘Summer Broccoli Raab’ pork sausages (1.05 lbs) from Hudson Vally Charcuterie at Raven & Boar farm, made in collaboration with Jacuterie, an artisanal charcuterie company (located just south of them, in Ancramdale, Columbia County): after being placed inside a large pot and filling it with cold water, just enough to cover, they were heated over a medium-high flame until the water had reached a gentle simmer, by which time they were fully cooked, then removed, drained, and dried on a paper towel before being place inside a seasoned cast iron pan over high heat (after its surface had been brushed with a very small amount of olive oil), seared, turning frequently, until colored on all sides, then arranged on the plates with dabs of a rich shallot, garlic, paprika and turmeric mustard, also from Hudson Valley Charcuterie
• four medium ‘Lilly’ German Butterball new potatoes from Savoie Organic Farm, boiled with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while still in the still-warm vintage large Corning Pyrex Flameware glass pot in which they had cooked, rolled around inside in a little more than a teaspoon of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, sprinkled with flowering pericón (‘Mexican tarragon’) from Norwich Meadows Farm
• the outer leaves, reserved from the large head of puntarelle purchased from Tamarack Hollow Farm, whose central section had been prepared in a classic Roman fashion that day, trimmed, thoroughly washed and drained several times, and prepared more simply by being wilted, stirring continuously, inside a large antique copper pot in a little olive oil in which 2 medium cloves of ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm had first been allowed to soften and begin to color over a low to medium flame, followed by the addition of a few rinsed and drained Sicilian capers from Buon Italia and 6 or 8 Kalamata olives from Flatiron Eataly, seasoned with salt, pepper, and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Australian (Victoria) red, Jen Pfeiffer The Hero Shiraz 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album of works by the 18th century Bohemian composer, a student of Vivaldi, František Jiránek: ‘Concertos and Sinfonias’, performed with period instruments by Collegium Marianum (period instruments) under the direction of Jana Semerádová

(I turned the plate 90° clockwise after the photo)

I know it looks maximal, especially after the last few Sunday lunches, when I’d been reducing the number of things I’ve been tossing into our breakfast/lunch plates, but I guess I got carried away with the current bounty of the kitchen’s larder. Once we had sat down, I decided I’d just think of it as a 3 peppers/3 herbs omelet.

• the plates included 6 fresh eggs from pastured chickens and 5 slices of bacon from pastured pigs, all from John Stoltzfoos’ Pennsylvania Millport Dairy Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, one very ripe medium red/green heirloom tomato from Eckerton Hill Farm, sliced, seasoned with local sea salt from P.E. & D.D. Seafood and freshly ground black pepper, then heated in olive oil, sprinkled with ‘Gram Masala’ from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company (purchased at the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market), and garnished with micro purple radish from WIndfall Farms, the eggs fried inside the same very large well-seasoned cast iron pan in which the bacon had been slowly cooked (but only after a little rich Vermont Creamery butter had first been added), seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, one sliced fresh habanada pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, a small amount of crushed dried, ripe red shishito pepper (some of which could actually have been hot) from Lani’s Farm, and 2 finely chopped tiny Brazil wax peppers from Eckerton Hill Farm, and sprinkled with an herb mix of lovage from Keith’s Farm, epazote from TransGenerational Farm, and flowering pericón (‘Mexican tarragon’) from Norwich Meadows Farm; the bread was untoasted slices of ‘Seedy Grains’ (wheat, spelt, rye, and barley organic bread flours; buckwheat; oats; flax sesame, sunflower,  and pumpkin seeds; water, and salt) from Lost Bread Co.
• the music was a collection of sacred works, and secular works inspired by the sacred, from three composers with the name Praetorius, Jacob, Hieronymus, and Michael, from the album, ‘Praetorious’, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble

Only a few hours before I began to prepare it, I hadn’t thought I’d be making dinner at all Saturday night, but by the middle of the evening it seemed like it would be the most comfortable way to satisfy our hunger, better than a restaurant, and also better than ordering even a very good pizza. There would be great company, a good table, agreeable climate control, good decor, great music, unexpected flavors, and not too many dishes to wash afterward.

It was mostly a matter of assembling things for which others had done the hard work earlier (local others).

There was an appetizer because I had already opened a package of a great hard salami the week before, and I had a stash of some terrific semi-wild red cress that would not stay at its peak forever. Also, the frozen package of filled pasta did not represent a lot of food for two by itself.

• two ounces, thinly sliced, of a luscious local finocchiona-style sausage, ‘Finochiona’ (pork, salt, red wine, spices, garlic, evaporated cane juice, celer extract, lactic acid starter culture) from Rico and Jill of Walnut Hill Farm in Pawlet, Rutland County, Vermont, which now sells at the Union Square Greenmarket on Fridays (the sausage is made in collaboration with Jacuterie, an artisanal charcuterie company south of them, in Ancramdale, Columbia County, New York
• handfuls of red watercress from Dave’s Max Creek Hatchery (I still had a lot left), dressed with a good olive oil, Renieris Estate ‘Divina’ (a Koroneiki varietal), Hania, from Crete, purchased at the Chelsea Whole Foods Market, a bit of juice from a small organic California lemon (Sespe Creek Organics), also from Whole Foods, some local salt (Phil Karlin’s P.E. & D.D. Seafood Long Island Sound sea salt), and freshly ground black pepper
• slices of ‘Seedy Grains’ (wheat, spelt, rye, and barley organic bread flours; buckwheat; oats; flax sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds; water, and salt) from Lost Bread Co. in the Union Square Greenmarket

The main course pasta was as delicious as it was pretty.

• most of one garlic scape from Phillips Farms, chopped, followed by one small chopped shallot from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, slowly heated in a tablespoon or two of olive oil inside a large antique high-sided tin-lined heavy copper pan until they had begun to color and smell fragrant, followed by one sliced fresh habanada pepper from from Campo Rosso Farm, briefly stirred with the alliums before being joined by more than half a dozen or so halved Kalamata olives olives from Whole Foods Market, followed by the introduction of a still-frozen 10 ounce package of Rana portobello-mushroom-and-ricotta-filled ravioli from Eataly that had been cooked, al dente, immediately before, everything stirred together over a low flame, along with some of the reserved pasta water, until the liquid had emulsified, the pasta arranged inside 2 shallow bowls topped with a bit of shaved Parmigiano Reggiano from Whole Foods, olive oil drizzled on top and around the edges, the dish finished with a little micro purple radish from Windfall Farms
• the wine was a French (Beaujolais) red, Barbet Beaujolais Beau 2016, from Copake Wine
• the music was music of Laurence Crane, on the album, ‘Crane: Drones, Scales and Objects’, performed by the Cikada Ensemble, on the Norwegian record label LAWO Classics