It started with leftovers Saturday night.

I knew we would enjoy the lobster-filled mezzalune, but what we had was only enough for a primi. I thought about a vegetable gratin for the secondo, but having found myself inside Whole Foods Market to pick up some milk, I visited the case where the salmon is displayed and the vegetables were pushed aside.

Except for the delicious January kale from central New York (and the micro-Romanesco and green cauliflower I added to the pasta).

• 8 pieces of lobster-filled mezzaluna remaining from an earlier meal, heated in a little butter then tossed with sections of tiny heads of Romanesco and green cauliflower from Norwich Meadows Farm and sprinkled with some additional squashed pink peppercorn
• mini baguette from Whole Foods

The second course was all brand new.

• one wild Sockeye salmon fillet (larger than usual, 1.15 pounds) from Whole Foods, seasoned with salt and pepper, rubbed with a mixture of ground coriander seeds, ground cloves, ground cumin, and grated nutmeg, and fried over medium-high heat for a few minutes on each side in an enameled, cast iron pan, finished with a squeeze of sweet lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge [note: this time, more or less unaccountably, I cooked the salmon on the skin side first, which may have had the effect of weakening the effect of the wonderful seasoning]
• a bouquet of delicious flat-leaf Winterbor kale from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed in olive oil in which 2 medium cloves of garlic, halved, from Lucky Dog Organic Farm had first been allowed to sweat
• mini baguette from Whole Foods

• the wine throughout was a California (Napa) white, Sin Fronteras Chardonnay Napa 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music, for much of the meal, was Alfred Schnittke, Symphony No. 7, Lü Jia conducting the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

,

It was a surprisingly wonderful tripling (used in the sense of ‘pairing’, but with 3 elements instead of 2).

The pollock had come first, picked up earlier in the day at the Greenmarket. That evening I pared down the possibilities for a vegetable and selected the last of our Campo Rosso radicchio. Then, because I was afraid that those two might make for a pretty light meal, I looked around in my [figurative] potato bin for a suitable starch.

It turned out they played well together very well, the flavor of each informing that of the other two.

The fish was a delicious as ever, and it remains a favorite of mine, and its lack of general popularity baffles me. The chicory I had was a particularly delicious variety of a plant I’ve come to love more and more, and I may finally discovered the secret to to pan-grilling this vegetable (a very hot surface). Finally, while the small potatoes I used (one of  my favorite varieties) had started out looking a bit shriveled from age, I suspected that would mean they’d taste even better than usual (my suspicions were confirmed; the real surprise was that the boiling process totally revived their youthful skins).

• one 15-ounce pollock fillet from Pura Vida Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, rinsed, dried, seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in a buttered baking dish, spread with a mixture of some soft butter, zest from a local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and the scissored mostly-whiter part of one baby leek from Norwich Meadows Farm, baked 15 minutes at 350º, removed to the plates, spread with the cooking juices and sprinkled with a small number of salted capers which had earlier been rinsed, drained, and dried before they were briefly heated in a little olive oil, finished on the plates with a colorful micro sorrel from Two Gus from Woodbridge
• six Carola potatoes (yellow flesh, creamy) from Max Hatchery, boiled, drained, dried in the pan, halved, rolled in the clear pyrex pan, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• one radicchio variegato di Castelfranco from Campo Rosso Farm, rinsed under running water, cut into quarters and patted dry with a paper towel to remove excess water, the surfaces of the cut sides coated lightly with olive oil by being placed and turned on a shallow plate lined with it, and, making sure a grill pan is quite hot, the wedges placed in it, cut side down for 30 seconds, turned onto the other cut side for another 30 seconds, and finally the rounded, uncut side, then removed from the pan and drizzled with a dressing assembled with one salted anchovy, rinsed thoroughly and filleted, crushed in a small mortar, teaspoon of white wine vinegar and less than 2 tablespoons of olive oil added and stirred in, plus a little fresh juice from the Fantastic Gardens lemon mentioned above, some chopped parsley [and/or another herb] stirred in just before serving
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) white, Scott Peterson Rumpus California Sauvignon Blanc 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Alfred Schnittke’s Sympnonies No. 7, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka

Delicious home economics: This was the third meal in which we were able to enjoy some part of a single 5-pound smoked rack of pork (Kassler). I had purchased it to share with friends on New Year’s Day, but over the next 5 days it eventually became the centerpiece of 8 delicious main course dishes, making the cost per serving only $5.

And they definitely were delicious, this last meal, where only a few ounces of our smoky leftovers were able to dominate a luscious combination of some pretty assertive vegetables, no less than the ones which had preceded it.

• two tablespoons of Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter melted in a small, heavy, tin-lined copper pan over medium-high heat, without stirring, until the butter had become golden brown, a generous amount of sage leaves from Eataly added at that time, and the pan removed from the heat and put aside while 3 outer leaves of a red cabbage from Hoeffner Farms, sliced very thinly, sautéed in another, larger, copper skillet (eventually adding water) until lightly cooked (retaining a slight crunch), and, near the end of that time, one medium shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, thinly-sliced, added and heated until soft, followed by a few ounces of leftover smoked pork (originally a part of the preparation of this meal) which had been sliced into thick matchstick lengths, then the contents of the skillet added to 8 ounces of a locally-sourced and locally-produced, seasonal and and artisanal pasta, Sfoglini ‘Jerusalem Artichoke Fusilli’ (incorporating sunchokes grown by Norwich Meadows Farm) which had been cooked al dente during the preparation of the sauce, drained, and returned to the cooking pot, everything stirred, along with some reserved pasta cooking water, at which time the sage butter was added and the mix seasoned with salt and pepper to taste

• the wine was a Hungarian (Tokaji) white, Royal Tokaji Wine Co. The Oddity Dry Furmint 2013
• the music was Alfred Schnittke’s Sympnony No. 6, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka

I zeroed in on the part of the sign at American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket today that said they had black sea bass. Now I love that fish, but at the moment I was most likely to have been thinking about the fact that I could put those fillets on our table more quickly, and with less of a fuss, than almost anything else I saw on that board.

• three sea bass fillets (a total of 11 ounces) from American Seafood Company, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, sautéed for 2 minutes over a fairly brisk flame with butter and a little olive oil inside a large, thick oval copper pan, skin side down, then turned and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed to the plates when done (covered at least a little to keep warm until the sauce was completed, or kept in a warm oven), a tablespoon or more butter added to the pan, and 4 ounces of oyster mushrooms [pleurotus ostreatus], from Bulich Mushroom Company, cut into medium-size pieces and sautéed, stirring, until lightly cooked, seasoned with salt, pepper, a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley, both from Gristede, and a tablespoon or more of the juice of a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, the mushrooms stirred some more before they were arranged on the warm plates and the bass finished with micro dandelion from Windfall Farms

The accompanying vegetable was one of the two kinds of very special chicories I had taken home from Campo Rosso Farm last Friday, but I had forgotten to photograph either at the time, so the image of the Castelfranco which appears below, while their own produce, was obtained elsewhere.

• one very-thinly-sliced medium shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm heated in two tablespoons of olive oil inside a heavy, high-sided tin-lined copper pan until softened, then one roughly-chopped Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco from Campo Rosso Farm introduced into the pan with some salt and pepper, stirring all along until the radicchio had mostly wilted, finished with barely a splash of balsamic vinegar and arranged on the plates
• the wine was a French (Loire) white, Domaine de Bellevue Touraine Sauvignon 2015
• the music was Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5’, the  Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducting

[image of Castelfranco radicchio from printrestaurant.com]

Leftovers, but a very special kind of leftovers.

Tonight we enjoyed a re-run of our New Year’s Day feast, absent the radicchio but present some good red cabbage, simply presented.

• about 16 ounces of the 24 ounces of smoked pork loin which remained from Sunday, reheated in the oven after being drizzled with the small amount of sauce that had also not been consumed that day, along with the modest amount of the surviving horseradish potato gratin, both served with a small amount of pungent horseradish jelly from Berkshire Berries and a handful/scoop of 2 finely-sliced really tiny red cabbages from Norwich Meadows Farm that had been dressed with a little good olive oil, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of real apple cider vinegar from Race Farm and allowed to sit for 45 minutes
• the wine was a German (Baden) red, Hermann Dorflinger Spätburgunder Müllheimer Reggenhag Spätlese trocken 2013 which we had brought through customs when returning from our last German trip
• the music was Alfred Schnittke, Symphony No. 4, the Stockholm Sinfonietta conducted by Stefan Parkman, the Uppsala Akademiska Kammarkor directed by Okko Kamu

I wasn’t going to post this about meal, mostly because it was entirely improvised and I didn’t expect I’d remember what went into it, but then I realized that those might actually be good reasons for including it.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley), seared/heated inside a cast iron pan in a little olive oil, 2 to 3 minutes on each side, served on 2 plates on top of a salsa composed of roughly-chopped Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Eataly, a very small shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a bit of homemade French Basque piment d’Espellate purchased in a small town north of Baie-Comeau, Quebec last year from the producer’s daughter, a very small amount of dried Itria-Sirissi chili, peperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia, chopped oregano from Stokes Farm, the cakes drizzled with the juices left in the bottom of the bowl where the salsa had been mixed, and each topped with a couple dozen pine nuts from Whole Foods which had been been toasted first
• three very small leeks from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, drained, dried, cut into quite small segments and sautéed until softened inside a large enameled cast iron pot in a little olive oil in which a teaspoon of Italian fennel seed had already been heated, some green radicchio (pan di zucchero?) from Tamarack Hollow Farm, shredded as a chiffonade, added to the pot and stirred until it had wilted some, the vegetables seasoned with salt and pepper, finished with chopped parsley from Gristedes, tarragon from Whole Foods, and a squeeze of local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island
• the wine was a French (Loire) white, Château la Berrière Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Alfred Schnittke, ‘Symphony No. 3, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Vladimir Jurowski

Yesterday I tweeted that our New Years Day dinner would be “Germany with some Italian, and, as always, New York too”. I followed through later in the day, and this post describes what it looked like, as prepared for four.

We began with bread sticks and a sparkling wine, to toast good friends and the new year

• grissini from Buon Italia
• the wine was a California (Sonoma and Mendocino) sparkling white, Eponina Brut North Coast NV from Naked Wines

I had hoped to serve smoked eel for the first course, but there was none in site in the Greenmarket or anywhere else I look. Instead, I connected with some great smoked halibut from North Atlantic waters.

• smoked haddock from the Lobster Place, with a little dressed upland cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge (a Campania olive oil, Lamparelli O.R.O. from Buon Italia; Maldon salt; freshly-ground black pepper; and a squeeze of juice from a sweet lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island)a
• slices of an Eric Kayser ‘Pain aux Céréales’
• the wine was a German (Franken) white, Weingut Schmitt Kinder Gutswein Silvaner Trocken 2014

Since there would be 4 of us at dinner, my idea of a smoked pork roast for the main course seemed to make sense for the wow factor, for deliciousness, and for ease of preparation, and that’s what we got.

• one 6-rib 5-pound (more than enough for this meal) smoked pork rack (Kassler), from Pennsylvania, possibly an Amish farm, via O. Ottomanelli and Sons on Bleecker Street in the West Village, trimmed and the fat scored by Joe Ottomanelli (on the side not seen in the image below) rubbed with a mix of salt, pepper, a little of both picante and dulce Spanish paprika, placed in a large enameled cast iron dutch oven with 4 yellow onions and 3 garlic cloves, all diced and all from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, 5 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia and 8 juniper berries, 6 cups of water and 2 cups of a decent red wine, covered with a lid and cooked in a preheated oven 375° for about 30 minutes, the cover removed and the pork continued cooking for another 25 minutes, basting occasionally, removed from the oven, the meat cut into chops, one rib each, kept warm while some of the cooking liquid was transferred to a smaller saucepan where it was stirred with about 4 tablespoons of water mixed with 2 tablespoons of arrowroot to bind them, served on pre-heated plates with some of the sauce on the top, the remainder poured into a pre-heated sauceboat which was added to the table

The Kassler was accompanied by Quince chutney remaining from several earlier meals, a potato-horseradish gratin, and roasted tardivo radicchio.

• quince chutney, made following this theKitchn.com recipe, using a shallot from Keith’s Farm, a garlic clove from Stokes Farm, quince from Red Jacket Orchards, dried sweet cherries from Whole Foods, fresh ginger from Lani’s Farm, apple cider from Locust Grove Fruit Farm (the recipe asked for apple cider vinegar, and I do have a bottle of the local stuff, from Race Farm, but I misread the instruction and the dish still turned out more than fine)
• three pounds of russet potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, peeled, and thinly-sliced, tossed in a large bowl with 1½ teaspoons salt, ¾ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 3 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, half of a cup of shaved fresh horseradish from Eataly, and almost 3 cups of Ronnybrook heavy cream, arranged inside a buttered shallow 3-quart enameled cast iron baking dish, pressed to submerge the potatoes completely, covered in aluminum foil and baked in a 400º oven for 25 minutes, the foil removed and the dish continued to bake until the potatoes were tender and the top is golden, about another 50 minutes, removed to rest on the top of the stove until ready to be served [the dish can be prepared ahead of time, allowed to cool, and reheated for 12 minutes]
• two heads of tardivo radicchio, one from Campo Rosso Farm, the other from Italy, via Eataly (Chris and Jessi had only one left when I stopped by their stall in the Greenmarket on Friday, and I really wanted to serve this wonderful vegetable to our guests), prepared pretty much according to this simple recipe, which is to say, washed under cold running water, the moisture shaken off, each head cut in half lengthwise, and a V-cut made inside the root end to allow it to cook more rapidly, the halves arranged inside a ceramic oven pan cut side up, covered with thyme sprigs from Stokes Farm, seasoned generously with salt and pepper, drizzled with2 tablespoons of olive oil, baked for about 12 minutes, turned over, baked for about 8 minutes more, turned so the cut side is up and once again returned to the oven, this time for only a couple minutes or so, or until the stems were tender [the tardivo can be served hot or warm]
• the wines were, first, an Austrian (Burgenland) red, Sankt Laurent ‘Konkret,’ Meinklang – 2009; and then a German (Baden) red, Pinot Noir, Dr. Heger – 2012, both from Astor Wines

There was a cheese course.

• the cheeses were, from left to right in the picture above, Consider Bardwell Farms ‘Manchester’ goat cheese; their ‘Pawlet’ cow cheese; ‘Barden’, a cow blue cheese, also from Consider Bardwell; and ‘Arethusa Blue’, a Connecticut cow blue from Eataly
• thin toasts from the same Eric Kayser ‘Pain aux Céréales’ with which the meal began
• and I brought out a dozen dried Calabrian (Amantea) figs from Buon Italia
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, Matt Iaconis Chardonnay Napa Valley 2015, from Naked Wines

There was a sweet, a very festive sweet!

• struffoli from the Magliulo family’s shop, Buon Italia, made by Tonia, who, with her husband Mimmo, owns this wonderful place

• the music throughout was the conversation of four friends and one very smart baby

[the image of the struffoli is from the archive, although the sweet was made by the same woman; the one I took last night turned out a little blurry after several courses with wine]

Red.

Red pork, red lobster, red/pink ‘peppercorns’:  It wasn’t a plan, but after the fact the red tones in this simple meal seemed right [Left] for the turn of a year in anxious times, even if the pleasures of the celebratory meal itself were nothing of the sort.

• red pepper taralli

• four ounces of thinly-sliced prosciutto Friulano Levoni from Eataly, served on a plate with a little Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O. from Buon Italia
• pieces torn off an Eric Kayser ‘baguette monge’, from the bakery/store near the Flatiron Building (still very warm when purchased at 5 that afternoon)

• lobster-filled mezzaluna (about 13 ounces) from the Rana store inside Chelsea Market, with a sauce of only a few tablespoons of rich Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, melted, a few sprigs of chopped tarragon from Whole foods and some crushed pink peppercorns, the last a delicacy I had discovered in the original Dean & Deluca store on Prince Street in the early 80s
• more bread, to finish the sauce

• a toast, at midnight, with a split of Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut Champagne

• the wine throughout (until the midnight toast) was an Italian (Campania) white, Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina 2014
•  the music throughout was WKCR streaming, the very last hours of its 9-day ‘Bach Festival 2016, then topped off after midnight with Bach’s delightful secular cantata-almost-opera,  ‘Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde’ (Swift, You Swirling Winds), the dramatization of a dispute between Phoebus and Pan about the relative merits of popular and ‘learned’ music

It’s a familiar site on our table, sometimes with slight variations, but we never tire of this skate recipe, or of kale in any form (we eat both because we really like them, and not to be virtuous).

Barry said it was the best skate yet.

The kale was, well,..kale, which is damn good indeed.

• one 12-ounce skate wing from Pura Vida Seafood, divided into 2 pieces, coated all over with a coarse polenta seasoned with salt and pepper, sautéed in olive oil for 4 minutes or so on each side inside a heavy oval tin-lined copper pan (the only difficult part of this recipe is turning them over without breaking them up), removed, about 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, one small leek Norwich Meadows Farm, a part of one tiny ‘red wing’ onion from Keith’s Farm, and 2 small cloves of garlic from from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, all sliced or chopped, introduced into it and stirred over a now-lowered flame, followed by the addition of a little more butter, the juice from half of a very sweet organic lemon from Whole Food Market, some chopped tarragon from Whole Foods Market, a tiny amount of almost-dry finely-chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm, and a bit of chopped parsley from Alex’s Tomato Farm, Carlisle, NY, at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, stirring for a bit to blend everything, the sauce divided over the fish which had been placed onto the plates
• a couple handfuls of Winterbor kale from Lucky Dog Organic Farm [winter kales, sturdier than their older cousins, tend to not wilt down as much when sautéed, an attractive quality for the frugal cook, during a season when the farmers have justly to ask higher prices for this wonderful green; also, light frosts only make the leaves of this hybrid taste even sweeter, a treat for the diner], sautéed, until partially wilted, in olive oil in which one bruised and halved garlic clove, also from Lucky Dog, had first been allowed to sweat and only begin to brown, then seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little more olive oil
• the wine was a California (Napa Valley) white, Matt Iaconis Chardonnay Napa Valley 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Helmut Lachenmann, ‘Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern’ (The Little Match Girl), the performance by the Staatsoper Stuttgart

For whatever reason, I was in a hurry and this dish was almost thrown together. It only worked out well because, since I cook almost every night, there are always some useful makings around, fresh or otherwise.

• one very small leek from Norwich Meadows Farm, softened in a tablespoon or so of olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pan over medium heat, after which the flame was turned off and one finely-chopped heatless orange Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm (my last fresh example) added and stirred in, the pan set aside until 8 ounces of Sfoglini Riverine Ranch Water Buffalo Milk Pasta (Spaccatelli), picked up recently at the buffalo farmer’s stall in the Union Square Greenmarket, cooked al dente (which took only 5-6 minutes!), had been added, mixed in, and emulsified with a little of the reserved pasta cooking water, then a large handful of green radicchio from Tamarack Hollow Farm, shredded, a little peppermint from Alex’s Tomato Farm, Carlisle, NY, at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, and one or two  tablespoons of freshly-squeezed lemon, the pasta served in shallow bowls, topped with a little crumbled Castelmagno D’alpeggio DOP Guffanti from Eataly
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) white, Stefano Massone Masera Gavi 2015
• the music was Alfred Schnittke’s profound homage to Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 2 for Choir and Symphony Orchestra, which he subtitled ‘St. Florian’ and ‘Invisible Mass), the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting