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It was one of the 6 anniversaries as a couple which we celebrate each year (yeah, ‘6‘!), in this case the 24th anniversary of what we refer to, somewhat discreetly, as the night of ‘the Magic meal’. The meal had to be special, but when I was planning it we didn’t expect our oven would be again be operational…

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Sitting down to the first course, because the pasta looked so small in that broad shallow bowl, I felt as if I was in the kind of fancy restaurant we seldom visit. There was this primi, because there was some of a delicious pasta e ceci remaining from a few days before, because I knew it would still be very good, and because…

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It was Trifolati rognon e rabe broccoli brasato, to put an Italian point on it, but they hung out with an American wine. four lamb kidneys (10 ounces total) from 3-Corner Field Farm, gently sautéed in butter (in this case inside a new tin-lined 8-inch copper pan) until brown all over on the outside but still very rare…

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We’ve already enjoyed the basic recipe for this luscious pasta twice.  But I’ve never before had the privilege of welcoming foraged garlic mustard greens into my kitchen; last night this dish became the medium. I decided to mix most of them into the pasta at the very end of the cooking, and sprinkle a few of the most tender shoots on the…

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and flowers too   I had never heard of arugula rabe before stopping by Alewife Farm on Saturday, and I can’t find much that is useful on line, but maybe all we really have to know is the name, which simply means ‘sprouted arugula’. It’s beautiful and it’s delicious (and it’s not broccoli). The assignment was…

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This was actually a very simple meal, put on the table very quickly, even allowing for some time with an incredibly minimal marinade. two  very fresh inch-and-a-quarter-thick swordfish steaks (off of the F/V Bookie, out of the Hamptons) from Blue Moon Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, marinated for less than a half hour in a mixture of olive oil…

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filet after being rubbed with the sugar and spices, before it was refrigerated   Thinking of the arguable thesis that an artist’s best work may often arise from working with constraints, I will make the modest proposal that the same thing can work for the creative output of an ordinary cook. I was unable to get…

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I’ve cooked this simple dish many times, and it’s shown up on this blog three times before. It never fails to satisfy whatever either of us was looking for in a meal at the moment; usually it was when we didn’t have the time or patience to come up with something more complicated. approximately 8 ounces of Afeltra spaghettone, from Eataly, boiled,…

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I love cucumbers. And thanks to Martha Stewart I’ve now discovered the sautéed cucumber. I took some liberties with her recipe however, in consideration of the vegetable materials I had on hand, and my own taste: I had 3 small Korean cucumbers, I cooked the chunks until they had begun to brown, and I finished them with lovage.…

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At first I thought I wouldn’t do a post of this meal, since the main course was simply a matter of re-heating a pasta we’d had a few days earlier (even if these leftovers always present their own pleasures), but the antipasta was new, and so delicious, I decided that I should ‘memorialize’ it, at least for the sake…

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