Sunday breakfast this time was pretty minimal, but still pretty, and delicious.

My only indulgence was including a bit of habanada pepper, and then a micro radish flourish at the end.

• there were eggs from Millport Dairy Farm, fried in Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, a bit of a dark heatless habanada pepper purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm last fall and dried at home, chopped herbs (a mix of parsley from Lani’s Farm, lovage from Windfall Farms, oregano and thyme from Stokes Farm), a bit of micro purple radish from Windfall Farm, and slices of toast from 2 different breads, (a local grain ’12 Grain & Seed’ from Bread Alone in the Union Square Greenmarket, and a Tribeca Oven ‘Seeded Jewish Rye’ from Whole Foods Market
• the music was Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, ‘The Rosary Sonatas’ (rosaries are not my thing, but the music’s wonderful, all 2 hours of it)

Because the spring beetroot themselves were still so small, I had bought 2 bunches of gorgeous chioggia beets on Friday rather than just one. That meant that I ended up  with 7 small beets, but an enormous collection of their leaves. Last night I placed more than half of those greens on an altar adorned with some very good pasta.

Under no circumstances should you discard any greens brought home from the market, regardless of the identity of the vegetable: They’re at least as exciting as the roots themselves, and they may be even more nutricious.  I would say this is especially true in the case of turnips and beets.

Normally I would have begun this dish by heating some garlic cloves, but last night I had some spring garlic in the kitchen, and that’s what went into the pot.

• 500 grams (8+ ounces) of Rigorosa di Gragnano Penne Rigate from Eataly, boiled until barely al dente, drained, some of the liquid reserved,   tossed into a large enameled cast iron pot in which three spring garlic bulbs from Lani’s farm, thinly sliced, placed, along with much of one crushed dried Sicilian pepperoncino from Buon Italia, had been allowed to soften and begin to become fragrant, the pasta and sauce joined by roughly-chopped beet greens which had been cut off from most of 2 bunches of chioggia beets from Norwich Meadows Farm, the mix braised over medium heat until the greens had wilted, the zest and the juice of half of a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island added along with some reserved pasta water, the pasta stirred until the sauce had emulsified, before some roughly-chopped ramp leaves from Berried Treasures were tossed into the mix, which was then seasoned with sea salt, divided into 2 shallow bowls, and some olive oil added around the edges, finally topped with homemade breadcrumbs which had been browned in a little olive oil along with a pinch of salt
• the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Benito Ferrara Greco di Tufo 2014, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Carson Kievman: ‘The Temporary & Tentative Extended Piano’

I continue to experience Porgy (sometimes called Sea Bream) as a great fish. Wow, sounds pompous (like the name, ‘Sea Bream’), but it’s very late at night as I sit leaning over the keyboard.

I’ve now used this basic recipe many times, always changing the lineup of ingredients. On Friday I took advantage of our local ramp season, then I tossed in most of the herbs sitting inside the refrigerator.

Because I had forgotten how long it had been heating, the butter started turning brown almost as soon as I had placed it in the pan. This was not part of the recipe, but, having caught it in time, I decided that I would make it so, at least for once. It was delicious, and the flavors definitely seemed more complex than usual.

There’s a shot of purple in the picture at the top. It was a last minute call, and arrived there because it was purple and I thought a bit of a third color was in order.

But there definitely was enough green, much of it from this very tender kale.

• four porgy fillets (a total of 20 ounces, more than we usually share) from Pura Vida Fish Company, patted dry, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, placed inside a hot rectangular enameled cast iron pan in 2 1/2 tablespoons of already melted butter, and the white parts of half a dozen ramps, chopped thinly, sprinkled all over the top, sautéed, the alliums and butter occasionally brushed over the fish, for 2 or 3 minutes, the fillets then carefully flipped, the heat reduced to low and the pan covered in tin foil for another 2 minutes, at which time it was uncovered and a mix of chopped herbs (here parsley from Lani’s Farm, lovage from Windfall Farms, oregano and thyme from Stokes Farm, and some roughly chopped ramp leaves) added to it, with the basting continuing for another minute or so, the fillets arranged on 2 plates, garnished with the placement of a bit of micro red radish from Windfall Farms between each of the 2 fillets
• one large bunch of tender red Russian kale from Windfall Farms, washed, drained, wilted inside a large enameled cast iron pot in a tablespoon or so of olive oil in which 2 bruised and halved Christopher Garlic Ranch garlic from Eataly had first been allowed to sweat and begin to color, the greens seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and arranged on the plates and a little more olive oil drizzled on top
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany) white, Fattoria Sardi Vermentino 2015, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Handel’s 1738 opera, ‘Serse’, performed by William Christie directing Les Arts Florissants and the soloists Anne Sofie von Otter, Sandrine Piau, and Ferruccio Furlanetto

We decided to have a picnic [Ger. ‘Picknick‘], a very simple picnic, for several reasons: 1. It wasn’t a Union Square Greenmarket day, so it couldn’t be seafood; 2. It was going to be very warm in the evening and we didn’t want to challenge the air conditioner; 3. We had originally thought we’d be busy much of the evening, which meant there wouldn’t be a lot of time to cook a real meal.

• there was a delicious ‘Pâté with Goose’ from Schaller & Weber, and a little German mustard [Semf] on the side, which really wasn’t needed at all; a ‘Strauß‘ of upland cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge, dressed with a good Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O.) and a squeeze of an orange-colored sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper; 4 halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, dressed with more good olive oil, salt, pepper, and a sprinkling of chopped garlic mustard from Windfall Farms; 3 cheeses: a raw cow’s milk cheese, from Isny, in the south German Allgäu, ‘Adel Egger’; a ewe’s milk cheese, ‘Gutshöfer Ziegenkäse’, from Twenteland, a green region of in the eastern Netherlands closely bordering Germany’s Münsterland; and a Harvati, a semisoft Danish washed-curd cow’s milk cheese; all of them from Schaller & Weber; slices of Tribeca Oven ‘Seeded Jewish Rye’ from Whole Foods Market [there were second servings of pâte and cheese]
• the wine was a German (Mosel) white, Weingut Axel Pauly Riesling Trinkfluss Trocken Mosel 2014, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s 1693 opera, ‘Médée’, with a libretto by Thomas Corneille, William Christie directing Les Arts Florissants

Absolutely delicious. Everything came together perfectly; even the simple halved cherry tomatoes were stars tonight.

• two 7-ounce tuna steaks from Blue Moon Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket (caught on Scott Rucky’s fishing vessel, ‘Dakota’), tops and bottoms rubbed with a mixture of a heaping tablespoon of wonderful dry Sicilian fennel seed from Buon Italia and a little crushed dried crushed dried Sicilian pepperoncino, also from Buon Italia, the two having been ground together with mortar and pestle, the tuna surfaces also seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper, before they were pan-grilled for only a little more than a minute or so on each side and finished with both a good squeeze of the juice of a local sweet orange-colored heirloom lemon from Fantastic Gardens of New Jersey, a bit of chopped oregano from Stokes Farm, and a drizzle of olive oil
• four halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market heated, cut side down, inside a tin-lined copper skillet, sprinkled with sea salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and chopped lovage from Windfall Farms
• eleven thick asparagus spears from Stokes Farm, trimmed, their stems peeled, and an equal number of ramp bulbs from Berried Treasures Farm that had been separated from their green leaves, rolled together inside a large enameled cast-iron pan with a couple tablespoons of softened butter and about a tablespoon of olive oil, sautéed over medium high heat, rolling or turning them frequently, until they were all tender and some parts had begun to brown (about 10 or 12 minutes), at which time the reserved green ramp leaves, roughly chopped, were added to the pan and stirred until they had wilted, the dish finished with a sprinkling of Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper
• the wine was a Spanish (Galicia) white, Pionero Mundi Albariño Rias Baixas 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was chamber music of Vagn Holmboe, Per Norgard, and Carl Nielsen, performed by Anders Nordentoft and the ensemble Trio Ondine, from the Chandos album, ‘Passage: Piano Trios’

I love the small challenge of building a meal around pasta, and it’s particularly easy when I can start with a filled pasta from a good local source.

Regional specialties, new inventions, or just out-of-the-ordinary ones are always good.

• ‘caccio e pepe’ ravioli from Luca Donofrio‘s fresh pasta stand inside Eataly Market, finished in a pan with olive oil, generous amounts of freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, part of one dried dark habanada pepper, crushed, some of the reserved pasta water added and the sauce emulsified over low heat, then 6 or 8 roughly chopped ramp leaves from Berried Treasures added, gently tossed with the pasta, the mix placed in two shallow bowls, a couple tablespoons of the juices remaining from a tomato salsa prepared for a meal we enjoyed a few days earlier, spooned over it, some roughly-chopped garlic mustard [Brit: ‘Jack-by-the-hedge’], both flowers and the smaller, more tender leaves, from Windfall Farms, scattered on the top, followed by a bit of olive oil and slivers of a Parmigiano-Reggiano Vache Rosse from Eataly
•  the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Stefano Antonucci Pignocco Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was the String Quarter No. 1, Piano Trio, and Sinfonia Da Camera of Joonas Kokkonen

It’s a wonderful recipe, and it lends itself to some subtle variations(and maybe some less than subtle, but I haven’t gone there yet). This time I included dried habanada peppers, as I had at least once in the past, but I finished it with a small fresh green I had only encountered once before, garlic mustard.

Stinging nettles, the accompaniment last night, aren’t new to me, but they are rare, and not just in my kitchen.

Both the garlic mustard and the nettles were foraged, which is pretty special when considering that they found their way into a meal prepared in a home kitchen in the center of a great metropolis.

• a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan heated on top of the stove until quite hot, its cooking surface brushed with olive oil, and once the oil was also quite hot, one pound of rinsed and carefully dried squid from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, mostly bodies but a few tentacles, quickly arranged inside, immediately sprinkled with some super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, part of one dried Sicilian pepperoncino, also from Buon Italia, and an entire section of a home-dried heatless, orange Habanada pepper (the fresh peppers had been purchased from Norwich Meadows Farm last fall), some sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, followed by a drizzle of a few tablespoons of juice from a local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and some olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for only 5 minutes, then removed, the squid distributed onto 2 plates, ladled with a bit of their cooking juices, which had been transferred into a sauce pitcher, and scattered with a little roughly-chopped garlic mustard [Brit: ‘Jack-by-the-hedge’], both flowers and the smaller, more tender leaves, from Windfall Farms
• half a dozen bulbs selected our of a bunch of ramps from Berried Treasures Farm, chopped, heated inside a large enameled cast iron pot along with a little Sicilian pepperoncino until they were fragrant and beginning to soften, then a bunch of stinging nettles from Norwich Meadows Farm, leaves stripped from their stems, added and sautéed over medium high heat, stirred almost continuously until the greens had withered, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground Tellicherry pepper, some roughly-chopped ramp leaves mixed into the nettles, and a tablespoon or so of the local sweet lemon juice described earlier added to the pot, the greens arranged on the plates and drizzled with olive oil
• a few slices of ’12 Grain & Seed bread’ from Bread Alone, in the Union Square Greenmarket, were added to the table to ensure that none of the piquant squid juices would remain on the plates
• the wine was a Spanish (Galicia) white, Pionero Mundi Albariño Rias Baixas 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Kimmo Hakola’s 1996 Piano Concerto, performed by soloist Henri Sigfridsson, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds

It was another anniversary, this one even more difficult to explain than most, so I’m not going to try.

I will explain what we celebrated it with.

Sweetbreads.

I’ve cooked them before, but always as a braise, incorporating a number of aromatic vegetables and ending up with a real sauce. This time I decided I wanted to go for a minimal treatment, meaning, breaded and sautéed, finished with butter, lemon, and an unusual aromatic micro green.

Looking around for a basic treatment, I basically transcribed the routine that James Peterson shows to Martha Stewart in this video.

They had the taste and texture of veal cutlets good enough to be served to the angels, if angels ate. Fortunately we both do.

I accompanied them with asparagus because, well, ..asparagus, and there were also ramps, for the same reason. Both were delicious, even if we had to deal with the fact that I forgot to snap off the tough bottoms of the asparagus (even peeled, they can be pretty chewy).

The tomatoes were introduced for color, but their acidity was a good complement to the richness of the sweetbreads.

• one frozen package of veal sweetbreads (.65 lbs), from Consider Bardwell Farm, defrosted slowly and soaked in salted water overnight, the next day, covered with cold water, slowly brought to the simmer and kept inside the pan for maybe about 5 to ten minutes), the sweetbreads then drained and spread out on a sheet panon top of a piece of parchment paper large enough to be drawn over it and another sheet pan, weighted (I used some filled cans), placed on top, the whole contraption allowed to rest in the refrigerator for 6 or 7 hours, after which the meat was placed on the counter and any little pieces of fat and tissue removed, the sweetbreads then sliced into sections about half an inch thick, dipped in local North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour, then in a bowl in which one local egg from Millport Dairy Farm had been beaten with salt, and finally coated with some fine homemade crumbs from a variety of local breads, gently sautéed in clarified butter over a medium hot flame, keeping them at a medium sizzle (shaking them as they were first placed into the pan, to keep them from sticking), removed to 2 plates, where they were drizzled with a little melted butter in which some cut garlic mustard (flowers and the smaller, more tender leaves) from Windfall Farms, had been tossed, and a little juice of a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island
• four halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market placed, cut side down, into the pan for a couple minutes after the sweetbreads had been removed, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and arranged on the plates
• eighteen or so stalks of moderately-thick-stemmed green asparagus spears from Stokes Farm, trimmed, the thicker sections of the stems peeled, mixed with the white sections of 8 or so ramps from Berried Treasures rolled with a handful of thyme branches from Eataly in a little more than a tablespoon of olive oil, a little sea salt, and a bit of freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper inside a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan and roasted at 425º for about 20 minutes removed to 2 plates and drizzled with more juice from the sweet local lemon
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, David Akiyoshi Reserve Chardonnay 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Paul Hindemith’s 1956-1957 opera, ‘Die Harmonie Der Welt’, performed by  Marek Janowski conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Chorus [the piece is based on the work of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), astronomer, astrologist, theologian, philosopher and mathematician]

Super.

This was one of the best swordfish entrées I’ve ever had. I can’t account for the reason, taste, texture, and a good appearance came together to present us with a certain kind of perfection. It must have started with the fish’s extraordinary freshness, since I’m aware of the large variable in the number of days between a swordfish catch in deep waters and its arrival in a market stall, even when the fishmonger can be depended on for freshness and the stall is close to the fisherman’s port.

The other obvious variable is the competence – or, often as not, the luck – of the cook. I cook swordfish regularly, and know what I’m doing, but I was really lucky this time.

I had on hand a few tiny potatoes, and I thought this was as good an opportunity as any to make good use of them before they would, so to speak, return to the earth. Even more of a recommendation for adding them to the dinner was the delicate garnish (actually, more than a garnish) of young garlic mustard [alliaria petiolata] which I had picked up the same day as the swordfish.

The green vegetable was something I had never come across before Saturday, but I’ll now be keeping my eye out for it. In addition to its general rareness, Japanese mustard spinach (or Komatsuna)  is apparently unable to withstand summer heat, so it’s available only in the spring and the fall, but it’s well worth the hunt. My Greenmarket purveyor was Gorzynski Ornery Farm, owned, together with his wife and family, by John Gorzynski, a local farmer whose integrity is famous, second to none, for decades a powerful advocate for organic agriculture and small-scale growers.

Mustard spinach is neither mustard, nor spinach, but a member of the enormous Brassica rapa family.

• one 13-ounce swordfish steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, halved, then marinated for half an hour in a mixture of olive oil, the white sections of 2 thin scallions from Tamarack Hollow Farm, chopped, fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm, and a very small amount of crushed dried Sicilian pepperoncino from Buon Italia, the steaks drained well, covered on both sides with a coating of homemade dried breadcrumbs, pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, removed to 2 plates, seasoned with sea salt, some sweet local lemon juice from Fantastic gardens of Long Island squeezed on top, sprinkled with some of the green scallion leaves, chopped, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• four small Red Norland Potatoes from Berried Treasures, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in their still-warm vintage Pyrex glass pot, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, sprinkled with flowers and some smaller leaves of several stems of garlic mustard from Windfall Farms
• one bunch of mustard spinach from Gorzynski Ornery Farm, wilted inside a large enameled cast iron pot in a little olive oil in which one halved clove of very good Christopher Garlic Ranch garlic from Eataly had been allowed to sweat, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and a very small amount of the same crushed dried Sicilian pepperoncino used in the swordfish marinade, finished on the plates with a drizzle of juice from the same sweet local lemon used on the fish, and a bit of olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Tejo) white, Casa Cadaval Padre Pedro Tejo 2014, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was the the gorgeous 1918-1920 Walter Braunfels opera, ‘Die Vogel’ [Ger: The Birds], “..a lightly touched allegory loosely based on Aristophanes, in a performance of Lothar Zagrosek conducting the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Berlin Radio Chorus, with soloists  Wolfgang Holzmair, Hellen Kwon, Matthias Goerne, Michael Kraus, and others

This meal is mostly a lesson in improvisation, born of the need to scour both a freezer and a refrigerator to come up with a meal almost at the last moment. We had expected to be out until very late on Friday night, so I had not purchased anything that could be used for an entrée, or even a fresh green vegetable. Still, when our plans changed at the last minute, meaning now we would be home, I was able to recover the field, thanks to electrical refrigeration.

The potatoes and the leeks were both a little long in the tooth, but they cleaned up nice, and neither had lost any of the goodness they’d originally promised.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley), defrosted earlier in the evening, heated inside a heavy oval enameled cast iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes to each side, served on a salsa composed of 8 chopped Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods,c sea salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, a bit of a powdered seasoning blend with the proprietary name, L’eKama, chopped thyme from Stokes Farm, 2 small chopped scallions from Tamarack Hollow Farm, both crab cakes and salsa finished with a sprinkling of chopped green stems from the scallion
• a small handful of baby arugula from Lani’s Farm, drizzled with a good olive oil, Alce Nero DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto’, from Eataly
• eight small red potatoes from Phillips Farm, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in the still-warm vintage Pyrex glass pot in which they were cooked, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, then introduced into a heavy tin-lined copper pan in which 3 leeks from Phillips Farm, cut into half-inch segments, had been sautéed in olive oil until tender, the mix tossed with some chopped parsley from Lani’s Farm
• the wine was a French (Loire) white, Château la Berrière Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Viktor Ullmann’s 1940 Concerto for Piano, composed in Prague, with soloist Moritz Ernst, Gabriel Feltz conducting the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, and his 1944 Piano Sonata, composed in Terezín, with Moritz Ernst the soloist in that piece as well