looks like a holiday pastry

It may look a bit like a holiday treat, but it’s totally savory.  The tuna is ‘paved’ with crushed fennel seed and peperoncino, not colored sugar, and the red and green comes from the Chinese brassica and the most modern expression of the ancient Andean/Mexican cherry tomato.

• one 12-ounce tuna steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, halved, rubbed with a mixture of dry fennel seed and one dried Itria-Sirissi chili, peperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia, both ground together, additionally seasoned with salt and pepper, then pan-grilled for little a little more than a minute and a half on each side, finished with a good squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil
• one bunch of yu choy sum (‘flowering bok choy’) from Lani’s Farm (where it was probably grown in one of her magic high tunnels), roughly chopped, added to a heavy enameled cast iron pan where one very large bruised and quartered Rocambole (Calabrian) garlic clove from Keith’s Farm had been heated until beginning to brown, the greens stirred until tender along with a little of the water which the greens had shed after being washed, arranged on plates and drizzled with olive oil and drops of lemon juice
• two Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, halved, seasoned with salt and pepper, pan-grilled, then placed on the plates with a mixture of one very cosmopolitan green garlic from Lani’s Farm, sliced, one Mexican poblano pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, also sliced, both of which had been sautéed in olive oil and seasoned
• the wine was a Spanish (Rioja) rosé, Muga Rosado 2014 
• the music was entirely from Counterstream radio

Taking a break from what has almost become a regular diet of fish, and mindful of how much we appreciate goat cheese (which we know doesn’t come from the boys), we decided to enjoy some chevon last night.  The chops, appropriately enough, were from one our favorite goat and cow milk cheese makers, who also occasionally offers both kid and veal at its Union Square stand, for the obvious reason to which I just alluded.

These chops were as delicious as their cheese.

• kid goat chops from Consider Bardwell Farm in the Greenmarket, first marinated for about twenty minutes to half an hour in oil, Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, bruised black pepper, 4 juniper berries, also bruised, chopped rosemary from from Hoeffner Farms, and organic lemon zest, then pan-grilled and finished with oil and lemon
• four different kinds and colors of small carrots from Alewife Farm, simply scrubbed, then rolled in olive oil, salt, and ground pepper on a small ceramic oven pan, roasted at 400º for about half an hour, or until tender
• one small shallot John D. Madura Farm, thinly-sliced, warmed in olive oil until pungent, some very healthy arugula from Lani’s Farm added to the pan, seasoned with salt and pepper and dressed further with a small drizzle of olive oil and a smaller one of Rioja wine vinegar
• the wine was a French (Cahors) red, Terreo Malbec Comté Tolosan 2014
• the music was Franz Xaver Mozart: Complete Piano Chamber Music, performed by the Ravinia Trio

a new approach to preparing a favorite fish

The fish was mackerel, Boston, or Atlantic mackerel, which happens to be a wonderful, extremely healthy, delicious, and, apparently, remarkably-sustainable species.  Most people either love it dearly or ignore it like the plague. It’s one of our favorite entrées, and I’ve prepared it often, but basically only in two ways. This time I didn’t summon a single tomato, and there wasn’t a lemon in sight.  It was at least as delicious as ever.  The recipe originated with Gordon Ramsey.

• among the ingredients I used for the fish and potato serving, mostly following Ramsey’s directions, were 5 small Boston mackerel from Pura Vida Fisheries in the Union Square Greenmarket, one Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, 12 ounces of ‘red thumb’ potatoes from Berried Treasures,  a teaspoon of Pimentón de la Vera dulce, one small leek (instead of the scallion specified in the recipe) from Lucky Dog Organic Farm
• a large handful of  some very healthy arugula from Lani’s Farm, warmed in olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, a small drizzle of olive oil and a smaller one of white balsamic vinegar, some chopped thyme from Hawthorne Valley Farm and chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms scattered on top
• the wine was a French (Burgundy) white, La Maison Aegerter AA Chardonnay 2013
• the music was the album by the pianist Pedja Muzijevic, ‘Sonatas and Other Interludes‘, in which John Cage’s ‘Sonatas and Interludes‘, for prepared piano, is laced with short pieces by Domenico Scarlatti, Franz Liszt, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss, and Aleksander Michalowski

probably needs no argument

The recipe came from Saveur, which I find never seems to come up with a dud, but it was @onekade who clued me into it, with this tweet from a few weeks back.

It sounded terrific, it looked terrific, and it was terrific.  It was also very easy to put together.  If you have access to some good mushrooms, there is absolutely no reason not to make this special dinner.

• this is the recipe, which I halved.  By the way, the honey was described as optional, but I would seriously recommend using it.  My ingredients included a rich (12% fat) unsalted butter, Kerrygold Pure Irish, from Westside Market; a mix of shiitake and cremini mushrooms from Bulich Mushroom Farm; thyme from Hawthorne Valley Farm; Rocambole Calabria garlic from Keith’s Farm;   9 ounces of a L’antica Madia pappardelle from Eataly; a local artisanal ricotta, Liuzzi Angelini, also from Eataly; shelled walnuts from I no longer remember where; and some extraordinarily rich Apple State Hilltop Family Farm pure buckwheat honey (a perfect cooking honey), which I believe I had purchased some time back in the Greenmarket
• the wine was an Italian (Langhe) red, a very special Langhe Nebbiolo, Produttori del Barbaresco Langhe Nebbiolo 2013
• the music was Sibelius Symphony No. 5, performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic

flounder may be delicate, but it doesn’t have to be shy

There were plenty of choices available when I arrived at the fish stall on Wednesday (much earlier than usual). Since most had been on our table pretty recently, it was more a matter of what would best work with my meal plans otherwise.

I decided to pick something that would go with the clean sweet taste of the flowering bok choy  I had bought on Monday. Since I was thinking of using more ingredients than I normally would with greens, ideally it would be a fairly uncomplicated fish, but one which could still stand up to strong flavors.

I chose a flounder fillet, and decided to intensify its delicate taste with scallions, lemon, and a bit of parsley.  The vegetables I served were some simple boiled potatoes finished with an herb, and a ‘bouquet’ of yu choy sum (the flowering bok choy), to which I gave a bit of an exotic twist.

• one 13-ounce flounder fillet from Blue Moon Fish Company, divided into 2 pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper on both sides, coated lightly with flour (I used North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour), then submerged in a shallow bowl containing a whipped mixture of 1/3 cup of milk, one large egg from Millport Dairy, and a pinch of salt, removed from the bowl, fried in a pan with olive oil until golden, about two minutes for each side, transferred onto two warm plates, most of the remaining oil poured off, the pan returned to the heat, now turned lower, three tablespoons of butter added along with about a third of a cup of finely-chopped scallions from John D. Madura Farm, chopped thinly, some salt and pepper, all allowed to cook together without browning for about one minute, stirring, more than a tablespoon of lemon juice then added, the sauce now poured over the plated fillets, which were served with pieces of lemon (wedges would be far more convenient than the slices pictured here) and sprinkled with chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms
• four La Ratte potatoes (fingerlings, buttery and nutty) from Berried Treasures Farm, boiled in well-salted water, drained and dried in the warm pot, rolled in butter, salt, and pepper, and a sprinkling of cut chives from Phillips Farms
• a bunch of yu choy sum (flowering bok choy) from Lani’s Farm, added to a heavy enameled cast iron pan where some bruised and halved Rocambole (Calabrian) garlic from Keith’s Farm and a small handful of pine nuts had been heated until beginning to brown, stirred until tender, occasionally introducing some of the water which the greens had shed after being washed, a dash of  balsamic vinegar added at the end, then put onto the plates, where they were drizzled with olive oil and drops of lemon juice, and sprinkled with chopped thyme from Hawthorne Valley Farm
• the wine was a South African (Western Cape) white, Beyond Sauvignon Blanc 2015, from the Buitenvervachting wine farm (the vintage is ‘2015’, because in the southern hemisphere, at least in South Africa, the 2015 harvest occurs in February and March)
• the music was an album of Ruth Crawford Seeger compositions, ‘Portrait’, performed by Olivier Knussen

more colorful than I expected (particularly impressed with the Blaukraut)

I had intended to pick up seafood at the Greenmarket, Monday, but the fisher family was unable to make it that day. I didn’t have a backup entrée, at least nothing that wasn’t frozen, so I picked up a fresh boneless duck breast at Eataly on my way home.

The rest of the meal then just came together, some of it having shown up in earlier dinners.

• one 12-ounce Pat LaFrieda boneless duck breast from Eataly, its fatty side scored by a very sharp knife with cross-hatching, sprinkled with a mixture of salt, ‘India Special Extra Bold’ Tellicherry peppercorns, and a bit of turbinado sugar (which had been infused in over time with a vanilla bean), the breast left standing for about an hour before it was pan-fried over medium heat with a little of the strained lard (labelled ‘Morrell Snow Cap Manteca’, from Eataly) used in an earlier meal, and finished with a drizzle of organic lemon, sprinkled with chopped thyme from Hawthorne Valley Farm, and dressed with a bit of olive oil
• some very interesting arugula (including some purple elements) from Lani’s Farm, briefly stirred in a little warm olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of lemon
• a very small amount of red cabbage from Paffenroth Gardens Farm, which had remained unused in the meal with smoked trout, braised with warm olive oil, over a moderately high heat until it sizzled, covered and cooked over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until just tender, uncovered, a bit of lemon juice and crushed dry peperoncini added, seasoned with salt and pepper, and once it arrived on the plates, sprinkled with sautéed breadcrumbs left over from the orecchiette meal
• just under a pound of white sweet potatoes from John D. Madura Farm, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch slices, tossed in a bowl with olive oil, one large garlic clove from Northshire Farm, thickly-sliced, a medium-size branch of fresh rosemary from Hoeffner Farms, chopped, salt, and pepper, then spread in one layer on the surface of my faithful, well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan, the pieces of garlic placed on top of some of the potato to avoid burning, and roasted at 375º for about 40 minutes, or until cooked through and browned
• the wine was a California (Calaveras) red, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve Red Angel 2013, from Naked Wines
• the music was from an album, ‘Oyan‘, featuring the Azerbaijan composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, performed by Konstantin Manaev on cello, the composer on piano, and Alexander Matrosov on accordian

This is the German-isch meal I had anticipated in the immediately previous post.  It was to be an excuse to enjoy a pretty decent riesling, and an all-too-infrequent visit to the food of the Wagner ancestral Heimat.

The wine was in fact more than pretty decent, the food as well, and das Kocherei meant more than a little Sehnsucht nach dem Rheinland.

• one twelve-ounce smoked rainbow trout from Dave Harris’s Max Creek Hatchery in the Union Square Greenmarket, portioned for two servings, accompanied by a cream sauce, a mix of créme fraîche, a little plain yoghurt, both from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy in the Greenmarket, a little softened rich unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter from Westside Market, finely sliced scallions from John D. Madura Farm, organic lemon juice, ground white pepper, a bit of sea salt, and chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm
• four potato pancakes (kartoffelpuffer), part of a new frozen food venture being introduced by Franca Tantillo and Brian Zuckerberg at Berried Treasures, also in the Greenmarket, defrosted, heated on top of the stove in olive oil and a little butter, and served with a simple applesauce I had cooked for half an hour late that afternoon using 4 aging and slightly bruised small apples from Berried Treasures, some Red Jacket apple cider and a smaller amount of Eve’s Cidery‘s ‘Bittersweet‘ (“naturally sparkling cider; fermented in the bottle”), both from the Greenmarket, a little turbinado sugar and a pinch of cinnamon freshly grated from a stick I keep in the spice cabinet for these special occasions
• a red cabbage salad, arranged on a plate to the side, a somewhat loose interpretation of a Kurt Guttenbrunner recipe which I had cut out of ‘New York’ Magazine 10 years back, using part of a small cabbage from Paffenroth Gardens Farm and one aging Rhode Island Greening apple from Berried Treasures which I had been keeping in the refrigerator since early in the fall
• the bread was a small Eric Kayser multigrain and multiseed loaf, ‘Pain aux Cereales‘; the accompanying butter (this is Germany, after all) was unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter, from Westside Market
• the wine was a German (Nahe) riesling, from Kruger-Rumpf , Münsterer Dautenpflänzer Riesling Spätlese 2014, purchased from Flatiron Wines & Spirits
• the music was Anton Bruckner, Symphony No.5, performed by Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Staatskapelle Dresden

looks a bit like mashed potatoes, but I actually don’t do mashed potatoes

..and this was so much better.

The cod was from Captain Phil himself, whom I had manager to catch at his family’s fish stall in the Union Square Greenmarket where I headed minutes after our train arrived at Grand Central from our wonderful, not-so-very-upstate Thanksgiving break.

It was 3:17 when I arrived, pretty late in the day for the market, even for me.  I hadn’t gone out looking for seafood, but in pursuit of a vegetable to accompany a dinner of smoked freshwater trout, already resting in the refrigerator. The plan was to enjoy some good German wine on a Saturday evening. I was only going to I say hello to the Karlins and their fish, but then I saw that they still had some gorgeous specimens remaining, and I also spotted the fisherman himself, on one of his rare appearances in the city.

I love cod.  I bought some cod.

I also like cauliflower very much, agreeing with Pliny the Elder, a naturalist, who (before he had died in the eruption of Vesuvius, had also managed to learn a thing or two about seafood, including cod, with which he may have become acquainted through Romano Britain contacts) wrote, “Ex omnibus brassicae generibus suavissima est cyma“/”The most pleasant tasting of all cabbages is the [young cabbage sprout]”  I don’t know what I was thinking when, also yesterday, I came across two small, perfect green specimens, perfectly, tenderly embraced by their outer leaves, but only took home one of them.

Once I was putting the meal together, I realized that, since our modest table wasn’t inside a fancy boite, even if I included all of the perfectly edible leaves and the upper stem, my little Brassica bud probably wouldn’t be enough vegetable for both of us. Maybe a garnish, but not really a proper ‘side’.

My solution was to dip into the paper bags where the boiling potatoes hid out.  There weren’t enough red ‘new’ potatoes (which I felt I should sacrifice before they grew into ‘old’), so I added to the pot a few yellowish Kartöffelchen I had picked up that day.

• an almost perfect one-pound rectangle cut from a cod fillet, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, brought to room temperature, divided into two equal pieces and seasoned with salt on both sides, the top (the former skin side) brushed with a little French dijon mustard which had been mixed with a very small amount of water to make it easier to spread (on that side alone), the pieces dipped in a mixture of the very last of my current stash of homemade breadcrumbs mixed with some finely-chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms, then after a few crumbs were sprinkled on the other, open flesh side mostly for appearances, browned briefly, but only on the mustard and breadcrumb mix side, in a little olive oil inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish began to flake (about 8 or 9 minutes) [the recipe is based on Thomas Keller’s ‘Wild Cod en Persillade‘]
• one clove of garlic heated until pungent in a cast iron pan, over medium-low heat, then one rinsed, and filleted salt-packed anchovy stirred in until it ‘melted’, followed by the addition of some crushed dried peperoncino, one small Italian green cauliflower, or broccoflower, from Stokes Farm, separated into florettes, the top, or tender part of the stem sliced thinly, cooked until the vegetable had almost softened, and finally the outer leaves (which had been cut into one or two-inch sections), added, and the mix cooked for another two minutes
• three small oval red (inside and out) potatoes from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, and four small round yellow (inside) German Butterball potatoes from Berried Treasures, boiled in salted water inside one of my old glass pots, drained and dried in the still-warm pot, rolled in a little olive oil, and sprinkled with chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm and chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms
• the wine was a Spanish (Rueda) white, Naia D.O. Rueda 2014, from Verdejo old vines
• the music was Schubert’s ‘Rosamunde, Fürstin von Cypern, incidental music to Helmina von Chézy’s Play’, D. 797 (Op. 26), performed by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Kurt Mazur, with Elly Ameling and the Rundfunkchor Leipzig

so very Puglian, and that’s a very good thing

It’s a classic pasta preparation from Puglia, and I’ve prepared it many times, but last night when I began to revisit orecchiette con cime di rapa I had almost forgotten that this particular recipe, which I had started working with with many years ago, calls for fresh bread crumbs rather than dry. Unfortunately, at the time I was reminded of this, because I was looking pretty closely at the printed text of a dish absent for some time from our table, I didn’t have a single fresh crumb in the kitchen.

I haven’t been buying bread as often as I used to, so, for the same reason why there was no bread, there were barely enough homemade dry breadcrumbs in the overhead cabinet.

The dish works very well with the dry, but fresh crumbs, briefly sautéed like these, would be more fun, just as crunchy, but with a little bounce in the bite.

And then there was some excellent cime di rapa.

• half of a pound of an excellent artisanal Puglian pasta, Benedetto Cavalieri ‘Single Orecchiette’ and half a pound of broccoli rabe from Lani’s Farm, bottom stems removed and the rest of the greens roughly chopped, all boiled together in a large pot of salted water until the pasta was al dente, a cup of the water reserved just before the orecchiette was drained and tossed into a separate deep heavy pot in which 3 garlic cloves, 3 salted anchovies (rinsed and filleted), and more than one not-so-very-hot Cayenne thin red pepper from Oak Grove Plantation had been slowly heated until the garlic had colored lightly, everything (including a judicious amount of the reserved pasta water) then tossed/stirred over a low-to-moderate flame for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors and the ingredients before being served, sprinkled with half of a cup of dry homemade breadcrumbs which had been browned earlier in olive oil with a pinch of salt
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) red, Corvo Nero d’Avola 2012
• the music was Sibelius Symphony No.5, Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic

Everything here was at the peak of its flavor, and, since the prep was pretty simple all the way around, I would have found it pretty hard to mess up anything.

Technically the triad included two cruciferous vegetables, but they were different enough from each other to be treated as two distinct ‘greens’, and they were a terrific accompaniment to the fish.

The swordfish steak was buttery, lemony, and herbal, the Brussels sprouts crispy and nutty, and the kale was sweet and almost chewy before it almost melted in the mouth.  There wasn’t a great deal of color in this entrée, but I remember that’s pretty much the deal once fall arrives.

The swordfish recipe came from a ‘Bon Appetit’ in 20015.  The treatment of the Brussels sprouts and the kale is my own.

• one 9-ounce swordfish steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, cut into two pieces, dried, sprinkled with salt and a mix of different peppercorns, coarsely ground, browned in olive oil on one side (about 3 minutes) inside an enameled cast iron pan, then turned over and transferred to a 400º oven for maybe about 7 or 8 minutes, or until barely cooked, placed on warm plates while a seasoned butter (2 tablespoons of softened butter, a mix of ground pepper, a bit of salt, some finely-chopped garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, and chopped parsley from John D. Madura Farm) was added to the pan and, over medium heat, and scraped together with the cooking juices to collect the brown bits from the bottom before the sauce was poured over the steaks
• Brussels sprouts from S. & S.O. Farms, tossed with salt, pepper, and some olive oil, and roasted in a 400º oven for about half an hour, finished with a squeeze of lemon and some more olive oil
• loose curly purple kale leaves from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, wilted with olive oil in which two slightly-crushed Calabrian Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to heat until pungent, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil
• the wine was a Spanish (Rioja) white, Monopole Cune white Rioja wine 2014
• the music was a profound performance of Sibelius, Symphony No.4, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, and it was played twice!