These were crab cakes with trimmings. The pictures probably betray the fact that when I put this meal together color may not have been the least consideration.

 

The image below is of the grilled leeks after some heated Habanada pepper had been scattered on top, and before they were divided onto the plates.

I had picked out the salsa tomatoes from this group one week earlier; one had become almost red by last night, the other had totally retained its greenness.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (the ingredients are crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley), seared/heated in a cast iron pan, 2 to 3 minutes for each side, served on 2 plates on a bed of a salsa composed of 2 roughly-chopped heirloom tomatoes (one green and one deep green with some reddening) from Tamarack Hollow Farm, a pinch of turbinado sugar (infused over time with a vanilla bean), the sugar only because these were mid-November tomatoes, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a bit of finely chopped medium-hot chocolate cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, a little olive oil, some sauce left from an earlier pollock dinner, and topped with a scattering of micro beets from Windfall Farms
• arugula from Keith’s Organic Farm, dressed with Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a very good olive oil, Campania D.O.P. Penisola Sorrentina ‘Syrenum’, and a drizzle of lemon juice
• three small leeks from Willow Wisp Farm, split lengthwise, rolled in olive oil, salt, and pepper, pan-grilled, combined with one chopped heatless Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm which had been warmed in olive oil inside a small pan, and arranged on the plates, a little bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge scattered over the top
• the wine was a California (Central Coast) rosé, Keith Hock Central Coast Rosé 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Haydn’s ‘La Vera Costanza’, Antal Doráti conducting the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, with Jessye Norman, Helen Donath, Claes H. Ahnsjö, Wladimiro Ganzarolli, and others

This flounder doesn’t look shy, but the colors of its coat betray only some of the complexity of the flavors it inherited from the garlic, herb and vegetables with which it shared a pan.

I no longer use a the original version of this recipe for the treatment of white fish, one in which I’ve incorporated hake, cod, several flatfish varieties, and possibly others in the past, but regardless of what I’ve done to alter it, there’s always magic.

The yellow Romano beans may be the last of the season for us, and it was a good sendoff: They had a great texture, and a surprising sweetness.

• two flounder fillets, 5 1/2 ounces each, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, seasoned with salt and pepper on both sides, coated lightly with well-seasoned flour (I used North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour), then submerged in a shallow bowl containing a mixture of one egg from Millport Dairy, a little whole milk, and a pinch of salt, allowed to stay submerged until the vegetable had been mostly prepared and the remaining ingredients for the fish set out, then removed from the bowl, placed in a heavy oval copper pan with 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter, several crushed dried sage leaves from Stokes Farm, one chopped Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, and some chopped leek green leaves, fried over a brisk flame until golden, about two minutes for each side, sprinkled with lemon, transferred onto warm plates, some micro beets from Windfall Farms scattered over the top
• yellow Romano beans from Norwich Meadows Farm, briefly parboiled and dried inside the same warm pan, once drained, set aside, reheated while the fish was frying in a cast iron pan, seasoned, finished with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (Napa Valley) white, Matt Iaconis Chardonnay Napa Valley 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was from the album of Per Nørgård’s work, ‘Libra. Rêves en pleine lumière. Kredsløb’, an extraordinarily impressive cycle of

Chicken? Yeah, chicken.

I can’t remember ordering chicken in a restaurant, haven’t cooked chicken in ages, and haven’t cooked a chicken breast at least since starting this food post almost 8 years ago, but I’ve been thinking about the lowly bird for a while now. I’m also always interested in adding a new ingredient to my kitchen practice (especially if I don’t have to find room to store it), and I’ve been impressed with the current conversation about the current quality of chicken, when well sourced. I thought I’d give it another go.

I ignored the conventional wisdom, to which I had long subscribed myself, that dark meat is far preferable to white. I’m too contrary by nature to stay with the flow of almost anything for long, and I’ve been hearing murmurs from several sources that the distinction has been overvalued.

I did make at least one concession to ‘neo-hippie’ food trends by avoiding the ‘boneless breast of chicken’ protocol: My breast came with its original equipment, and stayed with it until after arriving on the plates.

It was fantastic.

The basic recipe is from Mark Bittman.

The chicken came from Zaid and Haifa’s Norwich Meadows Farm in Norwich, NY, and it was pasteur-raised, organic, never frozen, and, yes, still attached to the bone.

The vegetable, a radicchio, was from Campo Rosso Farm, whose origins are very closely linked with this gorgeous chicory.

• a glazed ceramic pan only large enough to hold the halves of a 20-ounce full chicken breast, with bone, from Norwich Meadows Farm (divided at home with, well, chicken shears), heated, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, for 2 or 3 minutes inside a 425º oven, removed, and the breasts, first rolled in a mixture of chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm, chopped mint and garlic from Stokes Farm, and one wonderful chopped heatless Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, returned to the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until just cooked through, turning once or twice, finished on the plates with some of the herb not included earlier, and topped with ‘Bull’s Blood’ micro beets from Windfall Farm
• one medium radicchio from Campo Rosso Farm, quartered, placed in a medium unglazed ceramic oven pan (Pampered Chef, well-seasoned), drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, roasted at 400º (more like 425º this time, because of the chicken’s demands) for about 15 minutes, turning once, finished with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and, scattered with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse from Buon Italia
• the wine was a very special German (Pfaltz) red, Weingut Friedrich Becker Pinot Noir 2010, which appears to not be available anywhere, but there’s more information here
• the music was Wagner’s ‘Der Fliegende Holländer’, Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra and the Deutsche Oper Chorus, with Cheryl Studer, Bernd Weikl, Placido Domingo, Peter Seiffert, and others

It was like many earlier Sunday breakfasts, but I went a little crazy with the toaster. In the end, we had leftover toast, but it will all be used in some meal soon.

• six eggs and an 4 thick slices from a package of ‘bacon ends’, the bacon hand cut by me, all from Millport Dairy, one green heirloom tomato, sliced, from Cherry Lane Farm, arugula from Keith’s Farm, the eggs variously cooked or plated with thinly-sliced red scallion from S. & S.O. Produce Farms, a bit of finely sliced leek greens from Willow Wisp Farm, some chopped no-heat Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, a tiny amount of a mild-to-hot green Pasilla pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, chopped lovage and micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and a superb aromatic seasoning blend called L’eKama
• the toast was made on my ‘Camp-A-Toaster’ [see this post] and the breads used (day-old, or many-days-old), all sliced by myself, were an Einkorn cube (like the moist German Vollkorn packages) from Bread Alone; a ‘corn rye’ boule (NY wheat flour’, rye flour, caraway, rolled in cornmeal), also from Bread Alone; a classic French demi-baguette from Whole Foods; and a mini whole wheat naan, also from Whole Foods
• the music was Dvorak’s ‘Stabat Mater’ Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Dresden State Opera Chorus, with Mariana Zvetkova, Ruxandra Donose, Johan Botha, and Roberto Scandiuzzi

I’ve been hoping for years to be able to prepare scallops with the roe attached. Last Friday I was finally able to bring some home. I bought some scallops in the shell (alive) around midday, and kept them, I think I can be pretty certain, happy as clams. They stayed snuggled together under a wet towel in the coldest part of the refrigerator overnight, raised above any liquid that might accumulate in their bowl, to keep them from drowning.

It was only the following day that the frustration began. I can shuck clams, I can shuck oysters, and now I can shuck scallops, but I far prefer doing clams and oysters, even if scallops have the advantage of presenting almost no stabbing risk.

The live scallops offer their roe, but only on condition that you remove the gills, viscera, and any other stuff you wouldn’t want sharing the pan or the plate with . When you’re done, you’re going to wonder why that tiny little muscle needed all that plumbing: I had bought 11 scallops (shells about 5 inches across), and, once the detritus had been removed, even including the orange or white roe, the whole lot would barely cover the bottom of a saucer.

Their small size made it very difficult for me to cook them as I normally would, or even think of them as a full seafood portion, so I altered my procedure a bit, and increased the amount and numbers of the vegetable sides.

I now understand what’s behind the market cost of cleaned scallops, and, having gone through the process with this one small batch, going forward I’ll be totally content with paying to avoid the job myself. I can’t imagine ever doing this again, unless the shells are huge, meaning the scallop of commensurate size, making it at least worth the trouble.

• eleven sea scallops, including their orange and white roe, from Pura Vida Seafood, cleaned as discussed (perhaps too daintily) above, dried on paper towels, seasoned with salt and pepper, sautéed briefly over medium heat inside an oiled pan in which chopped rosemary from Phillips Farm had already been heated briefly, removed, divided onto 2 plates and finished with a squeeze of lemon and a scattering of micro beets from Two Gus from Woodbridge, then drizzled with some good olive oil, served with wedges of lemon on the side
• purple snow peas from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed in olive oil along with some chopped no-heat Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, sprinkled with a little lemon zest, then tossed with spearmint from Stokes Farm and seasoned with salt and pepper
• fourteen or so Sun Gold tomatoes from Stokes Farm, heated in a little olive oil with a little finely-chopped garlic from Stokes Farm and a tiny amount of a medium-hot red cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation until the tomatoes were beginning to break down, finished with torn New York City basil from Gotham Greens via Whole Foods
• a spray of delicious arugula from Keith’s Organic Farm, dressed with a very good Campania olive oil, salt, and pepper
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, David Akiyoshi Reserve Chardonnay 2015
• the music was Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No, 1, Leif Segerstam conducting the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

It looks like I had forgotten how red-ish shrimp get once cooked, since I the vegetable I chose to accompany them comes with a similar palette, and the touches of green on/under each only emphasized the similitude.

But, color choices aside, they turned out to be a great pairing.

• one teaspoon of chopped garlic from Stokes  Farm heated inside a (13 1/2″) cast iron pan over a very low flame until the garlic had colored nicely, then one finely-chopped no-heat Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farms added and pushed around with the garlic, followed by a pinch of Spanish saffron (DO La Mancha from Antonio Sotos), 2 smaller whole dried chipotle peppers from Northshire Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket (unpunctured, left whole) and a teaspoon of freshly-ground cumin seed added, all stirred for a minute or two, after which 14 ounces (11 by count) of Hudson Valley farmed shrimp from Eco Shrimp Garden were added (I had cut them all along their backs, from head to tail, to ease shelling once they were served), seasoned with salt and pepper, the heat brought up a bit and the shrimp cooked until firm while turned twice, served on 2 plates with a generous squeeze of lemon, finished with purple micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge [both the peppers and the micro ‘greens’ are my additions to Mark Bittman’s recipe]
• one small leek from Willow Wisp Farm, cut lengthwise down the center, rinsed well under cold water (although there was none of the soil usually found between the leaves this time), dried, chopped into small pieces, cooked in heated olive oil until wilted, two dark-red heirloom tomatoes from Cherry Lane Farm, sliced, then slipped into the pan and barely heated, a generous amount of chopped thyme from Keith’s Farm, salt, and sugar added, stirred into the vegetables, served with additional uncooked finely-sliced parts of leek sprinkled on top
• the wine was an Argentinian (Mendoza) white, Santa Julia Viognier Plus Mendoza 2015 from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was from a recording of 6 works featuring violin or viola, by Bach and Schnittke, performed by Sarah Nemtanu and Deborah Nemtanu, with Sascha Goetzel conducting the Paris Chamber Orchestra in 4 of the pieces

For some reason, although I almost always serve the same cut, it almost always comes from the same farm, and I think, except for the finishing herb or micro green, I’ve always used the same basic recipe, the duck breasts I cook taste a little differently each time.

This might not be unexpected in the real world of small-scale farming, but this time I might credit it partly to my taking more time than I normally do in scoring the fat on top of the meat. Smaller islands of caramelized fat must have helped in an enjoyment of both the textures and the taste. The obvious ‘fancy-ham’ pattern in the picture above describes what I mean: The piece of duck (half of a 12-ounce breast) shown was only about 3 inches across.

The Brussels sprouts were our first of the fall. They came on a 2-foot stalk, but were nevertheless quite small, took very little time in the oven, and were absolutely fine.

The golden heirloom tomato was more delicate than I had been prepared for, or else I was distracted and just left it on the hot grill pan a little too long, so it ended up looking less like a tomato in that same picture, but it definitely tasted like a great one, and the seasoning I used amplified its virtues.

• one duck breast (12 ounces) from Hudson Valley Duck, the fatty side scored in tight cross hatching with a very sharp knife, the entire breast then sprinkled with a mixture of sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, and a little turbinado sugar (in our kitchen, the bowl of sugar has been infused over time with a vanilla bean), the duck left standing for about 45 minutes before it was pan-fried, first the fatty side down, in a tiny bit of olive oil, over medium heat, draining the oil part of the way through, to be strained and used in cooking later, the breast removed when medium rare (cut into 2 portions to check that the center is of the right doneness), left to sit for several minutes before finishing it with a drizzle of lemon and drops of a very good Campania olive oil, and scattered with ‘Bull’s Blood’ micro beets from Windfall Farm [NOTE: the tenderloin would normally have been removed from the breast before cooking, also marinated, and fried very briefly near the end of the time the breast itself was cooking, but this time I could locate no separate section to remove]
• small Brussels sprouts from Norwich Meadows Farm, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, spread onto a medium, well-seasoned Pampered Chef oven pan in a 400º oven and cooked until tender and slightly carbonized (the time will depend on size, but these took barely 15 minutes), finished with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and stirred
• one orange heirloom tomato from Cherry Lane Farm, cut into 1/2-inch slices, dried, pan-grilled, removed, seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (El Dorado) red, Scott McLeod Matt Parish Pilot Hill Gang Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot El Dorado County 2014
• the music was Per Nørgård, Symphony No. 8, Sakari Oramo conducting the Vienna Philharmonic

This was simply the best swordfish I have ever tasted, and that even allows for my prejudice for a minimal treatment of a good fish.

My excuse for adding the finishing touch on the top was the rediscovery that day, at the Greenmarket, of one of my favorite micro greens (I brought home the last few ounces in the farmer’s plastic bucket). I could not not add the ‘beetlings’ to what I suspected was already going to be a terrific piece of swordfish.

The choice of the vegetable was a last-minute decision. After weighing the how-long-it-takes question, the important goes-well-with-the-protein issue, the what-will-keep-better-than-the-other-vegetables consideration, and the how-will-the-colors-work-with-the-entrée judgment, I picked the miniature sweet peppers.

• two 8-ounce swordfish steaks (larger than what I would usually serve, but the alternatives would have been too small or too large) from American Seafood Company, in the Union Square Greenmarket, marinated in a mixture of olive oil, a very small amount of crushed dried Itria-Sirissi chili, peperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia, chopped fresh marjoram from Stokes Farm, and thin slices of red scallions from S. & S.O. Produce Farms, for about half hour, then drained well and covered with a coating of dried homemade bread crumbs and pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, removed to the plates, seasoned with a little sea salt, drizzled with a little lemon juice, dusted with a pinch of some wonderful Italian wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, some freshly, very-finely-chopped scallions tossed across the top, sprinkled with a little ‘Bull’s Blood’ micro beets from Windfall Farm
• small parti-colored peppers from Norwich Meadows Farm, stemmed, split, seeded, the piths removed (there was little of seed or pith in any), then the larger ones halved, all sautéed over high heat until slightly caramelized, finished with torn spearmint leaves from Stokes Farm and a splash of balsamic vinegar
• the wine was an Argentian (Salta) white, Torrontes, Dos Minas 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Per Nørgård, Symphony No. 7

I couldn’t help it: I had the micro greens handy, and, even after I had finished cooking them, both the squid and the vegetables seemed to be asking for something more.

The picture below is of the tomatoes and onions before they went into the oven, long before they had any thoughts about purple micro radish.

• one pound of cleaned squid from P.E. & D. D. Seafood, marinated for about half an hour (half of that time in the refrigerator) in a bowl containing a mixture of the zest and juice of most of one lemon, thinly-sliced garlic from Race Farm, olive oil, pungent dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia, some finely-chopped no-heat Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, and a finely-chopped section of one medium-hot red cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, salt, and pepper, removed from the marinade, drained, pan-grilled briefly over high heat, arranged on plates, drizzled with fresh lemon juice and sprinkled with micro red sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge [the basic recipe, minus the micro radish, with more specific instructions appears here]
• two green tomatoes from Tamarack Hollow Farm and two medium red onions from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced into rough sections, tossed together with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread onto a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at around 375º for about 25 minutes, or until both tomatoes and onions were tender and slightly browned, arranged on plates and sprinkled with purple micro radish from Windfall Farms
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, Sin Fronteras Chardonnay Napa 2015
• the music was that of Poul Ruders, his ‘Nightshade Trilogy’, on Bridge Records; the composer describes the work as, “..a collection of compositions that evoke for me an almost Gothic association with pale moonlight, tombstones crypts and the elusive shadows deep inside an ancient forest at the deep of night.” (I think we got the Halloween thing down tonight)

I had decided dinner would be a pasta. I had some very interesting dried forms and flavors, some of them portions remaining from already-opened packages. I thought of using some of the pancetta I had in the freezer, and I had not yet decided what to do with a very tasty green I had discovered a couple days earlier at the stall of 2 of the younger farmers at the Union Square Market.

The result was an improvised dish of whole wheat pasta with pancetta and ‘wrinkled crinkled cress’. There were a few other ingredients, and they were important, but they were basically there to enrich the basic ‘bones’.

And this is what ‘wrinkled crinkled cress’ look like, although the picture gives nothing away of the flavor, which, as I told Chris and Jessi, of Campo Rosso, in my surprise, was “like candy”.

• two ounces of pancetta affettata from Buon Italia, cut into small cubes, one finely-chopped shallot from Keith’s Farm, cooked with a very little olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pan over medium heat until all had begun to turn golden on the edges, the heat turned off and one finely-chopped heatless orange Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm and a finely-chopped part of one medium-hot red cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation added and stirred in, the pan set aside until 8 ounces of Sfogllini ‘Whole Grain Blend Trumpets’, had finished cooking, almost al dente, at which time the drained pasta was added to the sauce pot, stirred in and moistened with some of the reserved pasta cooking water, followed by a couple handfuls of ‘wrinkled crinkled cress’ from Camp Rosso Farm and about 1 1/2 tablespoons of freshly-squeezed lemon, which was also stirred in, served in shallow bowls and topped with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse from Buon Italia
• the wine was a French (Savoie) white, Jean Perrier et Fils, Abymes 2015
• the music was Per Nørgård, Symphony No. 6