Until late this afternoon we had expected to be leaving for Portugal tomorrow and I had only expected to throw something together with eggs for our supper.   Then we learned that Air France cancelled our flight, making it necessary for us to pull the plug on our entire holiday.  I had to go to Whole Foods for some milk anyway, and when I got there I saw some beautiful wild Coho salmon fillets and decided something more special was in order. I had no greenmarket vegetables on hand, other than a few cherry tomatoes, so I looked for something that might at least be from a local farm.  I found some excellent New Jersey zucchini from a farm whose name was not indicated.

• Coho salmon fillet from Whole Foods, roasted in butter, finished with dill from Lani’s Farm
• zucchini trifolati with cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil (the zucchini from Whole Foods, the tomatoes from Berried Treasures, the garlic from Phillips Farm, the basil from Gotham Greens at Whole Foods)
• the wine was a medium French red, a Cabernet Franc, Domaine Delesvaux Anjou Le Roc 2013

I know, it looks like we’re eating micro portions of duck and huge helpings of vegetables these days. While this particular image is pretty much all about the camera lens, we really are very fond of vegetables.

• duck breast from Pat LaFrieda at Eataly, the fatty side scored, then covered with salt, pepper and a bit of sugar, left standing for about half an hour before it was pan-fried, finished with lemon, oil, and chopped fresh rosemary from Stokes Farm, and scattered with chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• small red, orange and purple bell peppers, together with one poblano pepper, from Norwich Meadows Farm, each halved or quartered and sautéed over high heat until slightly caramelized, finished with torn basil leaves from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm and a splash of balsamic vinegar
• the wine was a phenomenal Portuguese red, Esporao Quinta dos Murças ‘Assobio’

The label above this tub of green and colors seen resting on a table at Lani’s Farm read, “Mixed Baby Greens”;  I’d say that’s an entirely inadequate description of what was one of the most seductive displays in the Union Square Greenmarket yesterday.

 

 

 

Yes, I know, more cherry tomatoes, and more lovage, not to mention more fish.  Can’t help it, especially at this time of the year.

• sea bass fillets from Pura Vida, marinated for half an hour in olive oil and lemon juice, then sautéed over high heat for a few minutes, and served with a slightly-spicy tomato and black olive salsa (red and orange cherry tomatoes from Tamarack Hollow Farm, Kalamata olives from Whole Foods, basil from Gotham Greens at Whole Foods, dill from Lani’s Farm, a chopped half of a yellow Thai pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, lemon juice and olive oil)
• yellow Romano beans from Norwich Meadows Farm, finished with lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• The wine was a white Portuguese, Aveleda Douro D.O.C. 2012

Very easy, and quickly-assembled.

• 6-ounce mackerel fillets from Blue Moon Fish, brushed with olive oil, seasoned, pan-grilled over high heat for 5-6 minutes, then transferred to a plate and half-covered with a Sicilian-style salsa of halved cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, capers, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and a bit of finely-chopped yellow Thai pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm
• young, tender broccoli rabe from Hawthorne Valley Farm, wilted in olive oil flavored with bruised garlic from Berried Treasures, seasoned with salt and pepper, then put on the plate and drizzled with more olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese Alentejo, Herdade do Esporao V Verdelho 2013

A simple expedient if the larder is nearly empty or if there is little time for assembling a meal from scratch (and especially if confronted with both situations), a package of store-bought filled pasta lying in the freezer is a boon, and it doesn’t have to be routine.  In this case I was lucky to have saved a bit of the juices from yesterday’s braised fennel and tomato.  I also had a ripe and singularly-beautiful green heirloom tomato, some Thai peppers in four colors, and good basil.  Spinach and ricotta-filled ravioli has rarely had it so good.

• Rana spinach and ricotta-filled ravioli from Eataly, sauced with just the right amount of chopped hot yellow Thai pepper heated in some olive oil and joined by the juices remaining from a vegetable braise which had been a part of the previous evening’s meal (the ingredients were fennel, yellow and red heirloom tomatoes, garlic, chiles, lemon juice, and chopped fennel fronds), a sliced green heirloom tomato from Berried Treasures, then all of it finished with torn basil from Gotham Greens at Whole Foods
• the wine was an Italian white, Santa Cristina Umbria 2013

This entrée was a triumph of fresh local, natural food sources.  Absolutely everything which was not actually fresh (like oil, salt, pepper, vinegar, flour) – other than the lemon juice and the wine – was brought home from the Union Square Greenmarket in the last few days.

• flounder fillets from PE & DD, washed, dried, brushed with a bit of good white wine vinegar and salt, floured, browned in olive oil, then removed to the plates, the pan wiped with paper towels, then butter, lemon juice and parsley from Paffenrath Farms added quickly and briefly heated, the resulting sauce poured over the fillets,  which were finished with chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• bulb fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm, slowly braised with sliced garlic from from Berried treasures, roughly-chopped heirloom tomatoes (also from Berried Treasures), crushed hot chiles (dried Santaka Peppers from Keith’s Farm), then finished with lemon juice, and chopped fennel fronds
• radish greens from John D. Madura Farms, wilted in oil seasoned by heating a small garlic clove from Lani’s Farm which had been sliced in two
• the wine was a French Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, Château des Eyssards Bergerac 2012

• loin lamb chops from Ottomanelli’s, spice-and-herb-rubbed (cumin, dried thyme, coriander, pimento picante, black pepper), sautéed, finished with oil and chopped parsley
• yellow heirloom plum tomatoes from Berried Treasures, sliced in half, seasoned, then pan-grilled, finished with oil and balsamic vinegar
• yellow summer squash from Berried Treasures, sliced into disks, and slivered tiny red bell peppers, both caramelized, finished with toasted pine nuts and lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• a Spanish red, Salbide Rioja 2012 

 

Most of the prep for this meal is involved in cleaning the mussels, but it’s worth every minute.  It’s a terrific, sophisticated combination of flavors.  I may be a sucker for anything lovage, but I may not be the only one tempted to forget every other formula for steaming mussels.  The simple recipe created by Jerry Traunfeld, was described by Sarah Dickerman in the New York Times in 2006.

• two pounds of scrubbed mussels purchased from Pura Vida in the Union Square Greenmarket, combined in a large heavy enameled pot with two cups of a variety of halved heirloom cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, half a cup of good white wine, a few tablespoons of chopped shallot from Eataly, three tablespoons of butter, a good amount of freshly-ground black pepper, and some coarsely-chopped lovage, also from Berried Treasures, everything steamed over high heat for a few minutes, then served with thick slices of Trucio from Sullivan Street Bakery (a superb rustic sourdough country bread with a dark crust)
• the wine was a Loire, a perfect compliment to the mussels, Domaine de La Fruitière Vignes Blanches 2012

Perfection.

Everything was really, really good.  I think it was largely because of the fresh, local and unadulterated ingredients.  Also, as with the sea bass fillet in the last post, this entrée could be described as a “a good date dinner”, if for a slightly different reason.  Here it was because the simple steps in its preparation demand very little attention.

I’ve prepared this dish twice, and Barry and I both want to savor it more often.   Aside from serving as a platform and seasoning for the monkfish, I can imagine the braised couscous and vegetables working with other fish or crustaceans (maybe lobster tails?), or as a side to fish or meat quickly (or slowly, lazily) prepared separately.

Couscous is Italian? Yes, and very traditional in Sicily, where, like so much else we love about its food, it began with the Saracens.

• a monkfish tail from Pura Vida, cooked in what I can only describe as a couscous casserole, a recipe from David Pasternak;  its ingredients included olive oil, sliced garlic from Berried Treasures, some superb Mutti baby Roma tomatoes from Eataly, cracked Sicilian-like olives from Whole Foods, and one crushed dried chile
• yellow flat beans, otherwise known as pole beans, or Romano beans, from Berried Treasures, which were parboiled and then finished with chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• a Sardinian white, La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna 2013

Note: After I tripped the shutter (do digital cameras actually have a ‘shutter’?) for the image above, I scattered some more chopped lovage onto the beans, so imagine there’s more green in that area of the picture.