When I was growing up, Friday was fish day.  We were in the midwest, far from the sea, but we were surrounded by the Great Lakes, and it was the 40’s, so the great and the less great waters were still able to support, just for starters, perch, bass, pike, white fish, lake trout, lake herring, smelt, sturgeon, and all kinds of bass.

I now live in New York and, because of the glorious ocean bounty of the fisher folk who set up stalls in my local greenmarket, fish day is now Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, every week of the year, except for those days on which I’m unable to get to Union Square.

On the days in between, while I will sometimes serve meat, I prefer to put together a dish in which vegetables have a chance to shine, although usually assisted by some form of pasta, eggs, rice, or other sympathetic medium.

This Tuesday evening the medium was bread, or toast, to be precise, and it was very good toast.  I had a chance to try a recipe which had originally attracted me because of its tempting, and very seasonal ingredients, and also, at this time, because it would include a good number of the heirloom tomatoes I had been recently accumulating on the north windowsill.  There was also the added attraction, on a very warm evening, of the fact that it could be assembled with no heat whatsoever.

• the simple recipe I used had been cobbled together by Martha Rose Shulman, and I made it serve as an entrée; my ingredients included heirloom tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm; steamed red kidney beans (Melissa’s, prepared in France, using only salt and natural flavors); organic celery stalks and celery leaves from Whole Foods (only because I hadn’t known I would need celery when I was at the Greenmarket the day before); garlic from Phillips Farm; excellent Valbreso feta cheese (which originates in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, in the Aveyron department in the south of France), also from Whole Foods; fresh spearmint from Lani’s Farm; arugula from Keith’s Farm; and toasted whole wheat (formerly called ‘Integrale’) from Eataly
• the wine was a California rosé, David Akiyoshi Sangiovese Rosé Lodi California 2014
• the music was [several of] Dauvergne’s delightful ‘Concerts De Symphony‘, performed by Concerto Köln

• one flounder fillet (.84 lbs) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, washed, dried, divided into two equal pieces, brushed with a bit of good white wine vinegar and salt, lightly floured, sautéed briefly in olive oil and a touch of butter, removed to warm plates, the pan in which they were sautéed wiped with paper towels, then butter, lemon juice and parsley from Tamarack Hollow Farm added, and briefly heated while scraping the crusty bits on the bottom of the pan, the sauce which resulted poured over the fillets
• some very sweet collard greens from a garden in Garrison, New York, a gift of a friend (and gentlefolk farmer), cut as a rough chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which slightly-crushed garlic from Phillips Farm had heated in some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• thin scallions from Tamarack Hollow Farm, sliced, heated in olive oil until pungent before some small red and orange cherry tomatoes, also from our friend’s field in Garrison, New York, were stirred in and cooked until they began to wrinkle and soften, a generous amount of chopped thyme from Phillips Farm then added, along with salt and a pinch of sugar, and heated for another 30 seconds or so
• flat-leaf kale from a garden in Garrison, New York, the gift of a friend (and gentlefolk farmer),
• the wine was a terrific California white, in a Burgundy style, Matthew Iaconis Napa Valley Chardonnay 2014 (it’s Matt’s, and it comes from Naked Wines)
• the music was Mozart’s ‘Mitridate, re di Ponto‘ (he was barely 14 at the time he composed it) performed by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques

This meal was clearly dominated by vegetables, and, as is sometimes the case in our kitchen, the meat was more or less reduced to the role of a foil for their virtues. There were three ‘sides’, rather than the usual one or two, since a friend returning from a weekend in the country had surprised us late in the afternoon with a gift of some of her garden’s bounty.

This entire dinner, in spite of the fact that it included three dressed vegetables, took only one hour to assemble!

• two thick loin lamb chops from 3-Corner Field Farm (one for each serving), thoroughly dried, cooked on a very hot grill pan for about 4 minutes on each side, seasoned just after having been seared, then removed from the pan and each topped with about 8 slightly-crushed ramp fruit from Berried Treasures, the ‘buds’ having been heated earlier in a bit of olive oil, finally the chops finished with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil
• snow peas from Norwich Meadows Farm, parboiled, drained, and dried, then re-heated in olive oil, tossed with spearmint from Lani’s Farm, seasoned with salt and pepper
• small, very tender, bicolor corn from Sycamore Farm, steamed and the kernels cut from the cob and reheated along with some warmed chopped jalapeño pepper from Garrison, New York, the gift of a friend, tossed with chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm
• flat-leaf kale from a friend (and gentlefolk farmer), torn form the stems and cut in a broad Chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which slightly-crushed garlic from Phillips Farm had previously been heated in some olive oil, finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of more olive oil

 

• there was a cheese course:  slices of pepper-covered 3-Corner Field Farm Brebis, and toasts of whole wheat bread (or ‘Integrale’) from Eataly

 

• the wine throughout was a California red, Matt Parish Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2013
• the music was Lully’s ‘Bellérophon‘, Christophe Rouset conducting Les Talens Lyriques & Choeur de Namur

We had returned from Rhode Island the night before, where we had been immersed in locavore creative cookery, so my visit to the Union Square Greenmarket the next day was even more burdened with the weight of responsibility than usual.

I should have been intimidated by the fantastic meals we had enjoyed from the kitchens of Derek Wagner (Nick’s on Broadway, as well as the oyster farm dinner the day before), and Ben Sukle (Birch).  In fact I wasn’t, mostly because, after five days away from my own kitchen, I was so anxious to re-visit the bounty of our home counties.

Among the many pleasures we encountered in Rhode Island which were uncommon or unheard of on our New York table, was the appearance, several times, of sweet corn, even more sweet husk cherries, and somewhat sour tiny cucumbers, shaped and colored like watermelons.  At the Greenmarket on Saturday my only deliberate purchase, other than the fish, was some corn (a vegetable whose origins are Mexican); the fact that I also brought home husk cherries and sour gherkins (both of Mexican origin) was totally fortuitous.  I had no plans to put them together with the maiz, but when I looked on line for ideas for serving corn (off the cob, of course), the first suggestion was to combine it with Physalis pruinosa and the little gherkins, or ‘Sandita‘.  It looked like a natural, and I had just the right amount and proportion of each ingredient.

As far as the fish portion of this meal is concerned, while cod is not found in the warmer waters of either the Gulf or the Pacific, there are a number of other white fish in those oceans.

I had also picked up less than two ounces of chantarelle (girolle) mushrooms at the Greenmarket, not knowing until later in the evening what I would do with them (Mexico does have an exact equivalent to the chanterelle mushroom). Mexican cuisine would be more likely to incorporate cilantro than parsley, but I used Italian Parsley here because I had not planned ahead.

My dinner was now fully conceived.

Even the wine had a Mexican connection, the parents of the vintner, Dalia Ceja, were field workers who became the first Mexican-American winery owners in Napa and Carneros.

• a one-pound cod fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, halved, then prepared more or less according to Martha Rose Shulman’s recipe in the New York Times, but I sautéed the cod, and used a rosé wine instead of a white with the mushrooms (to avoid having to open a fresh bottle, and because it was pretty), and I used a knife, mortar and pestle in making the parsley sauce; the mushrooms were from Violet Hill Farm, the garlic from Berried Treasures, and the parsley from Tamarack Hollow Farm
• three small ears of bi-colored corn from Sycamore Farms, pan-grilled, cut off of the cobs, mixed with husk cherries from Tamarack Hollow Farm, and halved tiny Mexican gherkins, or ‘Sandita’, from Norwich Meadows Farm, tossed with a vinaigrette composed of olive oil, lemon juice, torn leaves off of a Full Bloom Market Garden basil plant from Whole Foods, excellent cayenne from Spices and Tease in Chelsea Market, salt, and ground black pepper
• the wine was a California white, La Tapatia Chardonnay Carneros 2013 by Dalia Ceja
• the music was Antoine Dauvergne’s Hercule Mourant

 

 

[lower image, by Franz Eugen Köhler, from Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen, in Wikipedia]

These traditional little Lombardy ‘dumplings’, shaped, as described in a Wikipedia entry, as ‘sweet wrappers’ (the filling is generally slightly sweet), were displayed in the fresh pasta glass case at Eataly when I stopped by on Friday to tell Luca how much we had appreciated his wonderful gnocchi the night before.  I already had plans for dinner that evening, but I decided I’d come back for them the next day.

I did, and we were not disappointed.

• casoncelli alla bergamesca [filled pasta in the tradition of Bergamo] from Eataly (ingredients: durum wheat, eggs, ‘oo’ flour, pears, prosciutto, hot capocola, walnut, breadcrumbs, parsley , butter, and sage), stirred into a pan where ramp fruit from Berried Treasures had been warmed in a little butter, then some additional butter added, along with freshly-ground black pepper [an alternative sauce would be al burro e salvia, or, as per Luca’s suggestion to me, flavoring the butter with a bit of Gorgonzola Dolce]
• the wine with the pasta was an Italian (Veneto) white, Boirá Veneto Pinot Grigio 2014

 

Although primi, before the primi (which in this case had no secondo), we enjoyed a simple salad of tomatoes and herbs.

• deep golden/red cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, halved, then tossed with chopped lovage from Berried Treasures, parsley from Tamarack Hollow Farm, some good olive oil, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, proper Malden sea salt, and pink peppercorns, arranged in bowls on a bed of very flavorful organic arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm
• slices of ‘Rustic Classic’ bread from Eataly
• the wine with the tomato was French (Provence) rosé, with the humble, and quite serviceable description, ‘Vrac Rosé 2014‘

• the music throughout the meal was a [may I say ‘splendid’ here?] Harmonia Mundi album, ‘La Musique De Watteau’

I was originally not going to write about this meal.  Even though it would seem to have been a good candidate for publication, if for no other reason than its modest exoticism on these shores, I wasn’t feeling well while I was putting it together, and I didn’t think much better of it once I was done.  I think I was too out of it to judge its merits, but Barry said at the time that he liked it, and when I had a taste of some leftovers today, two days later, I decided that, even still cold from the refrigerator, it was actually very good; In fact I’d say it was delicious.

I’ve decided the pasta that remains will be the primi in our dinner this evening, a meal featuring grey sole and grilled ‘pink’ plum tomatoes.

I had a good photograph of the dish, and I remembered how I had assembled it, so I decided to include ‘nettle tagliolini with oyster mushrooms’ in a post after all. Unfortunately neither of us can remember the music we listened to while eating, so feel free to hum whatever tune you wish while reading this.

• an antipasto of thinly-sliced prosciutto from Eataly, simply-dressed organic arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, and slices of ‘Rustic Classic’ bread, from Eataly
• Morelli Tuscan artisanal nettle tagliolini, or tagliolini all’ortica, from Eataly, served tossed with a sauce composed of roughly-chopped oyster mushrooms from Blue Oyster Cultivation which were sautéed until lightly-browned in a pan (in which ramp fruit had first been heated a little), two tablespoons of white wine added and briefly stirred with the mushrooms over heat, finished with torn leaves from the usual home basil plant sitting in a south window, finished with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Italian white, Villa Antinori Toscana 2012

Very simple, pretty classic, and perfect.

 

The sauce was conventional, at least by Italian convention, but it was combined with the very best gnocchi I have ever had, anywhere, so it had to be the really wonderful handmade little potato dumplings that made the dish so great.

I’ve been dealing with a really bad head cold over the last two days, so on the first of them I had produced a not particularly good meal (I’m now thinking that a combination of nettle pasta and oyster mushrooms really needs a clear head in order to succeed); for the second, I had avoided even trying to cook (an excellent pizza source is our go-to in such cases).

But I took a chance today, buoyed in the perhaps ill-judged confidence that my condition could only improve, and that, in any event, there was no way that I wouldn’t be able to put together a pretty simple sauce for a very good fresh prepared pasta I might pick up at Eataly while I was in the neighborhood.

I still have the cold, but I’m feeling much better now.

• ricotta gnocchi, which also included parmesan and goat cheeses, made by Luca Donofrio, the pastaio at Eataly, with a sauce of Japanese eggplant from Berried Treasures, seasoned, patted dry and sautéed until slightly browned, removed and allowed to drain in paper toweling, before being combined with two ‘Striped German’ heirloom tomatoes from Queens County Farm which had been chopped, sautéed in a little olive oil in which sliced garlic from Berried Treasures had been heated and allowed to color, then seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little sugar, and tossed with basil leaves off of a Full Bloom Market Garden plant from Whole Foods, torn
• there was also a cheese course (I mean, pasta is called a ‘primi’, and for good reason)
• the wine was an Italian white, La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna 2013
• the music was Antoine Dauvergne’s “Hercule Mourant’

The swordfish recipe is a Sicilian masterpiece, the vegetables were also Italian, and treated as such, perhaps in a generally mid-peninsular manner; the wine was from La Marche, and the music was Lombardy-Venetian.  The table was Chelsean.

I don’t think I’ve ever before prepared swordfish in the Sicilian style (Trancia di Pesce Spada alla Siciliana), as described by Kyle Phillips, but I now regret my neglect, and I resolve to make up for it, but with the inclusion, whenever possible, of the very American ingredient, ramp fruit.

It was damn good.

• one inch-thick, one pound swordfish steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood (note to purse: it was on sale this Monday), cut into two pieces, briefly marinated in a mixture of olive oil, crushed ramp fruit from Berried Treasures and chopped fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm, then drained well and rolled in dried bread crumbs, fried in a hot cast iron pan for about 4 minutes on each side, salted, sprinkled with a little lemon juice and drizzled with olive oil before serving
• two tightly-curved Japanese eggplant from Berried Treasures,, split ‘lengthwise’, scored, brushed with a mixture of oil, finely-chopped early garlic, also from Berried Treasures, and basil leaves torn from a Full Bloom Market Garden plant from Whole Foods, then seasoned with salt and pepper, and pan-grilled, turning once, arranged on plates almost as yin and yang
• one seasoned Sheboygan ‘pink paste’ tomato from Queens County Farm, pan grilled, finished with a dab of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar, placed on the plates in the middle of the eggplant
• the wine was a white Italian, Le Salse Verdicchio di Matelica 2014
• the music was a mid-seventeenth century Venetian masterpiece, Francesco Cavalli’s ‘La Calisto‘, conducted by René Jacobs

I’ve prepared this dish before, and often, but this was the first time I included ramp fruit in the finish.  It was wonderful twist on a favorite, introducing even more complexity to it, especially because it was paired with chopped lovage.

• a small duck breast from Pat LaFrieda at Eataly, the fatty side scored, rubbed with a mixture of salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar, left to rest for about half an hour before it was pan-fried, removed, cut into two servings, then finished with a sprinkling of ramp fruit from Berried Treasures which had just been heated in olive oil for a minute, some lemon juice, chopped lovage, also from Berried Treasures, then drizzled with olive oil
• zucchini trifolati, made with baby zucchini from Berried Treasures, heirloom tomatoes from Queens County Farm, fresh garlic from Berried Treasures, basil leaves pulled from plants of Full Bloom Market Garden, purchased at Whole Foods, torn, the preparation allowed to rest 15 minutes before serving with the duck
• the wine was a California white, Jim Olsen Fair Angel California 2012
• the music was Gluck’s ‘Orfeo & Euridice’, in  a performance by  René Jacobs, the Berlin RIAS Chamber Chorus, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

I just got carried away with the vegetables and herbs this time, including lemon verbena; because it was there.

A generous and very thoughtful farmer shared a sampling of herbs with me the other day when I was at the Greenmarket, and among them were a few sprigs of lemon verbena, something I hadn’t used in the kitchen for years. Last night I decided to substitute it for the basil I usually use when I want to grill stuffed scallops, or stuffed monkfish medallions.  The results were pretty luscious, as I had expected.

The only other thing I have to say about this delicious plate is that those little ‘scallop sandwiches’ in particular would make a great finger food at some fancy catered event, especially if skewered on little bamboo picks.

 

• scallops from P.E. & D. D. Seafood, rinsed, dried, and inside a slit made in the side of each, stuffed with a finely-chopped mixture of a small amount of ramp fruit along, with lemon verbena, both from Berried Treasures, black peppercorns, and salt, a tablespoon of olive oil added to make a paste, the assembly then rolled around on a plate with a little more olive oil, pan grilled about 2 minutes on each side, removed to plates, where lemon juice and olive oil were drizzled over the top
• a combination of golden cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, halved, and one red heirloom tomato from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut into wedges, all mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper, a little balsamic vinegar, and tarragon from Stokes Farm
• baby fennel from Paffenroth Gardens, quartered, mixed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, pan grilled until soft, then tossed with green fennel fronds
• yellow Romano beans from Berried Treasures, parboiled for a few minutes and dried, reheated in a heavy cast iron pan with some ramp fruits which had been briefly sautéed in oil, the vegetable then finished with salt, pepper, chopped copper (or bronze) fennel fronds, and lovage, both also from Berried Treasures
• the wine was a great German pinot rosé, Becker, Petit Rose, 2013, from Flatiron Wines & Spirits
• the music was Antonion Salieri, ‘La grotta di Trofonio‘