It was just about the simplest recipe possible for cooking pork belly, but it was at least as delicious as my first turn at this wonderful cut almost a year ago, when I cooked a ‘pork belly porchetta’, using a procedure that was a bit more involved. Knowing that the little roast could be served either warm or at room temperature relieved some of the stress of having to guess the cooking time for a piece that weighed little over a pound, while preparing 2 vegetables with very different requirements.

The vegetables too arrived on the table with very few extras, and little fuss, although both the turnips and the chard had started out pretty well equipped.

The turnip color was spectacular, although much of the red disappeared when they were peeled.

I would normally describe the greens as rainbow chard, but the one bunch left on the table when I arrived at the farm stall didn’t include any true yellow stems, so I’ll call it ‘half-rainbow chard’.

Only the pork was served with a garnish, but the turnips, shown here before they went into the oven, were joined by some very fresh rosemary early on.

• *one section of pork belly (1.09 pounds) from Flying Pigs Farm, rinsed in cold water, patted dry, the fat side scored at one-centimeter intervals, and the piece halved to keep it from curling while cooking, the flesh side seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, then placed skin side up inside an oval enameled cast iron pot on top of 10 or so fresh small-to-medium-size sage leaves, that surface seasoned with more sea salt, roasted inside a roughly 465º F oven for about 25 minutes, or until the skin was starting to blister and crackle, then enough whole milk added to the pot to come halfway up the side of the meat (this is why it’s best to use a pot little larger than the piece of meat), the heat reduced to 325º and roasted for another hour, possibly less, or until the meat is “meltingly tender”, as the recipe that I used reads, the pork removed from both the oven and the pot (the milk will curdle if the meat is left inside), and either kept warm or allowed to cool (I kept it warm while finishing the vegetables, and garnished it with bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm)
• red turnips from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into half-inch-thick slices, tossed with Portuguese olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a generous amount of very fresh rosemary leaves from Stokes Farm, roasted inside a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan for about 30 minutes at 425º
• one modest-size bunch of ‘half-rainbow chard’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted in a little Portuguese olive oil in which three small Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic cloves had first been heated and slightly softened, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and finished with a little more olive oil and a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon
• the wine was a German (Rheinhessen) white, Scheurebe Sonnentau Trocken, Gysler 2014, from Astor Wines
• the music was Phil Kline‘s program, ‘Unsilence’, on New Sounds, streaming

It was a pretty familiar Sunday breakfast at home, even if the herbs and seasonings were juggled around this time.

• six short slices of smoked bacon from Flying Pigs Farm, fried very slowly in a very large heavy seasoned cast iron pan
• six beautiful Americauna eggs from Millport Dairy Farm, slowly fried in the fat rendered by the bacon (with the addition of a bit of Portuguese olive oil), with the addition of Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, small dabs of sun-dried chili-pepper harissa from NYShuk Pantry, a bit of chopped green ends of a spring garlic from Windfall Farms, chopped bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm, and  scissored-cut chives from Lucky Dog Organic Farm
• four halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Chelsea, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, gently heated inside a small tin-lined copper skillet, arranged on the plates next to the eggs, sprinkled with chopped fresh oregano from Stokes Farm and scissored-cut chives from Lucky Dog Organic Farm
• a garnish of micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms
• toasts of a whole wheat sourdough Miche from Bread Alone
• the music was New Sounds, streaming, including works from the Cocteau Twins, George Crumb, John Cage and Pauline Oliveros

I’ve never cooked halibut cheeks before, and I don’t think I had even heard of sacchetti, or culurgiònes, prior to looking up the words at home yesterday, having purchasing some of that exotic(?) filled pasta an hour earlier.

I’m happy that we were able to enjoy the two courses as I was able to put them together, with the help of the internet,  but the meal might eventually be better remembered better for what I learned about these foods, as I now feel better equipped to present them both more minimally and more naturally.

The halibut should probably be gently sautéed, in butter or olive oil, maybe with a little favorite fresh allium involved, and then finished with a bit of fresh lemon and an herb.

I don’t know why I decided not to go with the addition of a little tomato (fresh cherry tomato), especially since, yeaaah, I was working with shellfish, fish roe, and the first ramps of the season, but it’s now something I’m going to look forward to, that is, as long as Eataly’s Luca Donofrio decides to make these dumplings again.

Another confession: I ended up using the same garnish on the halibut that I had already decided to scatter on top of the pasta; I don’t know why, and I also don’t know what I had originally thought I would team with the fish.

• a tablespoon or so of butter melted inside a large tin-lined copper sauté pan, one chopped medium red onion from Norwich Meadows Farm and 3 small sliced Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm added and sautéed until translucent, then some salt; half of a tablespoon of scissored chives from Lucky Dog Organic Farm; the zest from almost one whole organic Whole Foods Market lemon, along with a little lemon juice; and one fourth of a cup of white wine added, after which the liquid was heated until reduced by a third, and one tablespoon of rinsed salted Sicilian capers stirred in, and 6 halibut cheeks (8 ounces) purchased from Eataly Flatiron that afternoon were slipped into the skillet and cooked, covered, for 3 minutes or so on on each side, the cheeks and the sauce arranged on 2 plates, garnished with chopped bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm, plus a spray of that same herb as well [the basic recipe is on this site]
• arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with a small drizzle of Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, the gift of  a friend, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper

• twelve ounces of a lump crab, fish roe, spring ramp, and mascarpone-filled pasta (called ‘culurgiones‘, ‘sacchetti‘, or ‘sacchettone‘) from from Luca Donofrio‘s fresh pasta shop inside Eataly’s Flatiron store, boiled carefully in a large amount of well-salted water, drained, some of the pasta water retained, slipped into a large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pot in which one sliced stem of spring garlic stem from Windfall Farms had been heated in a tablespoon or so of Portuguese olive oil, stirred over medium heat with the addition of some of the pasta water to emulsify the liquid, then some freshly-ground black pepper added, the pasta arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, more olive oil drizzled around the edges, garnished with chopped bronze fennel from Windfall Farms
• the wine was a German (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) white, Elbling, Furst 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Beethoven’s ‘Die Geschöpfe Des Prometheus’ (The Creatures of Prometheus), Op.43, the complete ballet music, performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

This meal followed something of a routine: Each of the 3 main elements was modeled on a preparation I’ve done many times before. Most of the details however were new.

I neglected to get a picture of the deeply-serious-looking bronze fennel while it was still at the market stall earlier in the day, but here’s a shot of the beautiful micro red amaranth that embellished the swordfish last night.

There’s a little more to that story: I had intended to accompany the potatoes with the amaranth and arrange the fennel fronds around the fish, but I inadvertently reversed that arrangement in my rush to dress the plates for the table. I’m not sure it really made any difference.

I did however capture the chives, which made it onto the potatoes even prior to the fennel, before I left the market.

• one 13-ounce yellowfin tuna steak off of Scott Rucky’s fishing vessel, ‘Dakota’, from Pura Vida Seafood, halved, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and rubbed, tops and bottoms, with a mixture of dry Sicilian fennel seed from Buon Italia that had been crushed in a mortar and pestle with a little dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi, also from Buon Italia, pan-grilled above a brisk flame (for barely a minute on each side), finished on the plates with a good squeeze of the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and some olive oil, served with micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms

• six Nicola potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm scrubbed and boiled, with their skins, inside a medium vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while still inside the still-warm pot, tossed with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and scissored chives from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, garnished with bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm

• one bunch of collard greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, the larger leaves stemmed, cut as a rough chiffonade, then braised inside a heavy antique high-sided, tin-lined copper pot in which 3 small crushed Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic cloves had been allowed to sweat with some olive oil, the dish finished with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Dão) white, Quinta Dos Roques Encruzado 2015, from Garnet Wines
• the music was a streaming of the terrific sort-of-old album (I think I bought the LP in 1990), ‘Points of Departure‘,  the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performing works by Fred Lerdahl: ‘Waves’ (1988); Jacob Druckman: ‘Nor Spell Nor Charm’ (1990); WIlliam Bolcom: ‘Orphee-Serenade’ (1984); and Michael James Gandolfi: ‘Points of Departure’ (1988)

The salumi course incorporated 3 different national traditions, but it still looked Italian.

• two ounces of Fermin Salchichón Ibérico dry-cured sausage from the Chelsea Foragers Market, made from the ‘pata negro’ breed of pig (Iberico pork, salt, nutmeg, black pepper, white pepper, plus seasoning which consisted of sugar, trisodium citrate, sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate), drizzled with a bit of Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, the gift of  a friend
• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, dressed with more of the olive oil, a bit of Maldon salt, and some freshly-chopped black pepper
• slices of an organic sourdough baguette from Bread Alone

The pasta was something of a highbrid as well, although it too looked more Italian than anything else.

The Italian for red-veined sorrel? I think its ‘acetosa venata di rosso‘, if you can find it.

• two handfuls of red-veined sorrel leaves from Lani’s Farm, roughly chopped, folded into 3 ounces of softened Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, along with more than a teaspoon of juice and the same amount of zest from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, scraped onto a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper, rolled into a log and placed inside the refrigerator until ready for use to initiate a sauce once 12 ounces of fresh pasta had been cooked al dente and drained (specifically, a fettuccine from Raffetto’s of New York City, whose ingredients are only durum flour, whole fresh eggs, and water, purchased at the Chelsea Foragers Market), the sorrel butter placed over a low flame inside a large antique tin-lined copper pot to melt, the pasta added, and then most of 2 ounces of toasted pine nuts as well, everything mixed well before the pasta was slipped into 2 bowls, sprinkled with the remaining pinoli, and garnished with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano Hombre from Whole Foods Market [I forgot to add a garnish of an ounce of micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms I had planned to include]

• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont), Erbaluce di Caluso ‘La Torrazza’, Ferrando 2014, from Astor Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Robin de Raaff, Entangled Tales‘

It all tasted as good as it looks.

The swordfish had been very well cared for, and could not have tasted more fresh, regardless of how far the boat had swum since landing it somewhere south of Long Island.

The tomatoes were grown indoors in Maine, in late winter, early spring, but, as usual, they tasted like they had been outside in the summer.

The greens were described by the local farmer as “overwintered”; they could not have been more tender or tasted any sweeter

• one thick 13.5-ounce swordfish steak from American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, taken from Scott Rucky’s fishing vessel, ‘Dakota’, halved (I’m getting really good at that), marinated for more than half an hour in a mixture of olive oil, a tablespoon of fresh oregano from Stokes Farm, a small amount of crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, and a chopped section of a Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, drained well, covered on both sides with a coating of homemade dried breadcrumbs, pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 4 or 5 minutes on each side, or until barely fully cooked all of the way through, removed, seasoned with a little sea salt, a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon squeezed on top, drizzled with a little olive oil and garnished with micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• three Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, sprinkled with a small amount of sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, briefly placed inside the grill pan just as the swordfish were finishing, arranged on the plates and garnished with chopped thyme from Eataly
• small clusters of overwintered broccoli rabe” (aka rapini) from Lani’s Farm, wilted in olive oil flavored with one small whole dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia and 2 Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm which had been bruised and heated until beginning to color, then seasoned with salt and pepper, divided onto the plates and drizzled with more olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Catarratto ‘Vigna del Masso’ Feudo Montoni 2016, from Astor Wines  
• the music was Luigi/Louis Cherubini’s 1791 comédie héroïque, ‘Lodoiska’, Jérémie Rhorer conducting Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and Les Elements Chamber Choir [the composer‘s story and that of the opera are both fascinating: particularly in an era when the world is once again being turned upside down: Cherubini survived, and prospered from the time he was taken up by the Bourbon court in the late 1780s (yeah) as an emigrant, through the Revolution, the Directorate, the Empire, the Restoration, and the July Revolution; the opera premiered 26 days after the royal family, some of whom were his most important patrons, was arrested and escorted back to Paris from Varennes (the theater, until that month named Théâtre de Monsieur, for the king’s brother, was renamed Théâtre Feydeau after the arrest); the best part of the Wikipedia entry: “In a spectacular scene that helped to make the opera a hit in Paris, one of the castle walls is blown up, then crumbles to reveal the battlefield outside.”]

The fish was superb, delicious and perfectly cooked (yay, the skin was even crispy this time), as was the salsa, but while the vegetable was also delicious, one look at the rather stiff green stems in the picture above should be enough to show the choy sum wasn’t properly cooked. The next time I prepare it I’ll pull aside the larger stems and spend some time breaking down their fiber (slicing them smaller, par-boiling them, or cooking them a bit before the rest of the vegetable was added to the pan).

The fish were absolutely beautiful throughout. I mostly followed a simple Gordon Ramsay recipe in preparing it.

• a salsa prepared by heating 3 tablespoons of a Portuguese house olive oil from Whole Foods Market inside a small vintage Corning  Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot pot over a gentle flame, adding 5 ounces of sliced Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market and 2 ounces or so of pitted whole kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, seasoning the mix with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, stirring for a minute or 2, the pan set aside to cool a little, and some fresh lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge and an equal amount of fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm (several tablespoons altogether) were chopped and, reserving some of the herbs for garnish, stirred into the salsa, the juice of half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market added and the salsa stirred once again, and set aside while the fish was prepared
• four 4-ounce porgy fillets from P.E & D.D. Seafood, their skin slashed with a very sharp knife in 2 or 3 places each, placed, skin side down, in a little very hot olive oil inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan sitting over a high flame, the flesh side of the fish seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, cooked for 2 or 3 minutes until the flesh was dark golden and the skin crisp’, the fillets turned over, cooked on the other side for 1 minute, basting with the oil in the pan, if any, until the fillets were just cooked through, arranged on the plates, the salsa drizzled around them, sprinkled with some of the reserved herbs and garnished with bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• Yu Choy Sum from Lani’s Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, washed, trimmed and very roughly chopped, added gradually to a heavy, antique, large high-sided tin-lined copper pot, in which 2 Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been heated in  a little Portuguese olive oil until they had begun to color, the greens stirred until tender [not tender enough this time, as some tough stems revealed later], seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, scattered with scissored chives from Phillips Farms and chopped spring garlic from John D. Madura Farm, finished on the plates drizzled with a little more olive oil

• slices of a She Wolf Bakery sourdough bâtard, to enjoy the wonderful juices, picked out from their glass front wooden box in the Union Square Greenmarket
• the wine was a French (Touraine) white, Vignoble Gibault Touraine Sauvignon 2015, from Landmark Wines
• the music was the magnificent Gould Piano Trio album, ‘Macmillan, Maxwell Davies, Beamish’

The beef was kinda purple-y, and so were the two vegetables, but the real story was how really, really good everything tasted.

In fact I think we both can say the potatoes especially were just about the best we’d ever had.

• *one 16-ounce culotte (the American spelling) steak from Greg and Mike of Sun Fed Beef/Maple Avenue Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, cut crosswise into 2 pieces, brought to room temperature, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared briefly on the top, or thick, fat-covered side (much of the fat is rendered in the cooking, and the rest just makes it it taste wonderful), inside an oval enameled cast iron pan, then cooked for about 4 minutes on each side, to rare-to-medium-rare, after which the narrow bottom side was seared briefly, removed from the pan, placed on warm plates, drizzled with juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon and some decent olive oil, sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and allowed to rest for about 4 minutes
• *one pound of so of Peter Wilcox potatoes (purple skin, golden flesh) from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, skins left on, halved, tossed with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, rosemary leaves from Phillips Farms, arranged, cut side down, on a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at about 350º-375º for about 30 minutes, garnished with Micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• a couple handfuls of purple mizuna from Campo Rosso Farm, slightly wilted in a little Portuguese olive oil heated inside a large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pot, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a little more olive oil
• *the wine was an absolutely terrific Portuguese (Douro) red, Quinta de Cidrô Touriga Nacional 2014, purchased in the Porto duty free shop last year
• *the music was Camille Saint-Saëns’ grand opera in 3 acts and 4 scenes, ‘Samson et Dalila’, which was completed in 1874 and premiered in Weimar in 1877, in a performance with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Orchestre de Paris and the Choeurs de l’Orchestre de Paris

The meat course preceded the somewhat-fish course last night.

• three ounces of some really good La Quercia Ridgetop Prosciutto, from Whole Foods Market, drizzled with a bit of Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, the gift of  a friend
• arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with the same oil, a bit of organic Whole Foods Market lemon juice, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• slices of a She Wolf Bakery sourdough bâtard

The pasta, a squid ink spaghetti, contained no other reference to seafood, except in the kind of ingredients that went into its simple sauce.

• two slightly-squished Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic cloves heated in a little Portuguese olive oil inside an antique, high-sided tin-lined copper pot until they had begun to color, a bit of crushed dried pepperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia added, plus slices of one spring garlic from John D. Madura Farm and half a dozen sliced Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, the contents stirred a little before half a pound of squid ink pasta (Neapolitan Pastificio F.lli Setaro spaghetti al nero di seppia) that had just finished cooking was added, the mix stirred again, with some reserved pasta cooking water, until the liquids had emulsified, sprinkled with fresh chopped oregano from Stokes Farm, and arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, where some olive oil was poured around the edges, finished with micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Italian (Lazio) white, Monastero Suore Cistercensi (Bea), Lazio Bianco ‘Coenobium’ 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was by the Finnish composer Väinö Raitio (1891-1945), an early-20th-century pioneer composer of Finnish modernism, although still almost unpublished and unrecorded even today, his Piano Quintet in C sharp minor, op. 16, heard streaming on Yle Klassinen

I had thought about presenting a very different monkfish dish tonight, but it was one that would have required a bit of dexterity. For that same reason, as I was feeling a bit under the weather with a bad cold, I fell back onto an old standby that’s always pleased.

Monkfish is the delicacy the French know as Lotte, the Italians as Coda di rospo, the Spanish as Cola de Rape, and the Germans as Seeteufel. The English call it Anglerfish, which in fact, I would say, is pretty much what it is.

Probably our happiest experience with this great fish was in northern Spain, on a visit over a decade ago.

The species has only recently developed a following on this side of the Atlantic, due, I think, mostly on account of its repellent visage.

 

There was nothing frightening however about the potatoes or the vegetables.

• two monkfish tails (a total of 22 ounces) from Pura Vida Seafood, rinsed, and cut into four pieces, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, roasted at 400º for 12 minutes with three fourths of a cup of a mixture of Gaeta and black oil-cured olives from Buon Italia, pits removed, placed on top of a bed consisting of a full pound of very thinly-sliced unpeeled Nicola potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm that had been scrubbed, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and roasted beforehand for about 40 minutes in a very generous amount of olive oil (1/4 of a cup) with 13 dry Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, and a pinch or so of crushed dried orange/gold habanada pepper inside a large enameled cast iron pan (the potatoes having been removed when they had softened and their edges had begun to crisp)
• one washed and trimmed bunch of a sweet baby bok choy from Tamarack Hollow Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, added gradually to a tablespoon or more of warmed Portuguese olive oil inside a heavy vintage large high-sided tin-lined copper pot, the choy stirred until tender while introducing some of the water which they had shed that was left in the bowl after they had been washed, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, scattered with one washed, dried, cut green garlic from John D. Madura Farm, finished on the plates drizzled with more olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Alentejo) white, Esporão Reserva White 2016
• the music was Jean Philippe Rameau’s 1748 Paris one-act acte de ballet, ‘Pygmalion’, performed by James Richman and the Concert Royal Orchestra & Chorus

 

[the anglerfish image is from Wikipedia]