Month: March 2010

March 29, 2010

dinner, March 28, 2010

thin-sliced La Quercia speck from Iowa, purchased today at The Meat Hook in Williamsburg, along with arugula from Garden of Eden dressed in oil and balsamic vinegar, and slices of ciabatta from Sullivan Street Bakery also purchased at Garden of Eden
ravioli all’ortica (small nettle-filled ravioli) from Buon Italia, sauced with hazelnut butter and grated parmesan cheese
wine: white Tuscan, Villa Antinori Toscana 2005 from Philippe Wines, composed of 70% Trebbiano, 30% Malvasia, and 12% Pinot Bianco
bosc pears from Migliorelli Farm at the Union Square Greenmarket

March 27, 2010

dinner, March 27, 2010

This meal wouldn’t have begun as it did if I hadn’t spotted those fava beans.

While shopping at Buon Italia this afternoon I happened to see two or three still-unopened bright green pods on plates lying on the wooden dining table near the back of the store. This was the corner where the owner’s own family and workers take their mid-day meal. Along with half a loaf of one of those familiar Italian Easter breads with the embedded eggs, the fava were among the remains of what appeared to have been a beautiful seasonal lunch just ended. I assumed the beans had come from the large greengrocer across the hall, and immediately headed over there to find out.

Every year at the greenmarket I discover I’ve somehow missed out on the earliest tender beans (which require no cooking) and I have to resign myself to the long preparation process needed to enjoy the pleasures of this ancient legume. This spring it may look like I’ve finally gotten ahead of the game, but I think the folks who bring our local bounty to Union Square will still be keeping the youngest, tenderest stock all for themselves.

raw fava beans from Manhattan Fruit Exchange in the Chelsea Market, for shelling at the table, eaten with salt and pieces of Pecorino Romano cheese and accompanied with a select olive oil and slices of ciabatta from Sullivan Street Bakery, both the cheese and the bread purchased at Garden of Eden
wine: 2007 Corvo (Sicily) Insolia in from Philippe Wine in Chelsea
rolled pork belly from Dickson’s Farmstand in the Chelsea Market, roasted with garlic and rosemary; accompanied with sauteed slices of Yukon Gold potatoes from Garden of Eden, finished with balsamic vinegar; and wilted leaves of young cavalo nero from Norwich Meadows Farms in Norwich, New York, purchased at the Union Square Greenmarket
wine: Navarra red, Javier Asensio Reserva 2000 from Wine Messenger
Turkish dried figs from Garden of Eden

March 25, 2010

dinner, March 24, 2010

pan-grilled sea scallops from Blue Moon Fish at the Union Square Greenmarket , finished with lemon juice and olive oil ; accompanied by Spinaci Rifatti (spinach wilted, then pan-sauteed with garlic) finished with red pepper flakes
wine: Galician, Albariño, Esencia Divina 2008 from Rias Baixas from K & D Wines
hazelnuts cracked at the table
Wine with the nuts; Cossart Gordon Rainwater Madeira

March 24, 2010

dinner, March 22, 2010

This was the last dinner to include any ingredients from the modest cache of fish, meat and vegetables I brought home from the Greenmarket last Wednesday. I planned the meals in an order related to the perishability of the individual parts of the larder I had gathered that day. On Monday I had finally gotten to the parsnips, and they were definitely the sweetest roots I’d ever tasted: New England candy.

pork chops from deBreton in Quebec, purchased at Garden of Eden, seared, then oven-roasted with lemon, covered with pieces of torn radicchio minutes before being removed from the oven; accompanied by roasted parsnips (fresh-dug, overwintered, from Windfall Farms at the Greenmarket) sprinkled with cut parsley
wine: Willm Pinot Gris 2008 Vin d’Alsace from Phillipe Wine
two Basque cheeses, Garroxta from Spain and Petite Basque from France, accompanied by slices of Ciabatta from Sullivan Street Bakery, everything purchased at Garden of Eden
Turkish figs and almonds
wine with the last two courses: Cossart Gordon Rainwater Madeira

March 22, 2010

dinner, March 21, 2010

It may be difficult to assemble a meal from a “greenmarket” at this time of year, but it’s not impossible. All of the major ingredients of the main course of this dinner were purchased in Union Square last Wednesday, March 17.

one roasted small (14 oz.) rack of goat from Lynn Haven Dairygoats of Pine Bush, New York, purchased at the Union Square Greenmarket, which had been marinated in garlic, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, juniper, pepper and oil, and finished with a pan sauce of white wine and stock; accompanied with simple roasted chunks of Robertson’s Golden Ball (Brassica Rapa) turnips, mixed into a bowl after removal them from the oven with oil, garlic, parsley, lemon juice and ground coriander, from Windfall Farms of Montgomery, New York, purchased at the Greenmarket as well; and, also from the Greenmarket, a halved tomato from Shushan Valley Hydro Farm which was briefly pan-roasted with the goat
cheese course: slices from a very special artisan Parmigiano Reggiano Vache Rosse from BuonItalia, in the Chelsea Market, and some Garroxta from Garden of Eden, served with toasted thin slices of Whole Wheat Pan Loaf from Our Daily Bread in the Union Square Greenmarket
wine: Le Couvent de Chateau Peyros 1995 Madiran (Corbère-Abères), from Wine Messenger

March 20, 2010

dinner, March 19, 2010

chargrilled quail, “natural and drug-free” (love that), from Georgia’s Plantation Quail and purchased at Garden of Eden, marinated in oil, rosemary, thin slices of lemon, red onion and garlic, the recipe from “Angela Hartnett’s Cucina” ; accompanied by rosemary-roasted Adirondack Blue potatoes from the Union Square Greenmarket; and a salad of torn purple-leaf lettuce and radicchio, both from Garden of Eden, tossed with good olive oil and a Chardonnay wine vinegar
dried Turkish figs from Garden of Eden
wine: Barolo, Terre di Bo 2005, the gift of a friend

March 2, 2010

dinner, March 1, 2010

Roberto’s grissini
pan-grilled young goat loin chops (purchased from Uphill Farm, in Clinton Corners, New York, at the Union Square Greenmarket) which had been marinated an hour or so in a tempranillo wine, with chopped garlic, rosemary, bay leaf and peppercorns, and finished with drops of lemon, oil and chopped parsley; accompanied by oven-roasted potato chips (very-thin-sliced Keuka Gold, from Ulster County’s Healthway Farms, at the Union Square Greenmarket – the image above indicates I arrived late in the day); and thin spears of California asparagus from Garden of Eden, baked at 450 degrees in one layer, with a sprinkling of oil and some salt and pepper, for 8-10 minutes, as suggested at least several years ago in a food column in Newsday by Erica Marcus (she’s one of my favorite things about the paper)
dried Turkish figs
wine: red, from Roussillon, Le Vignes de Bila-Haut, Côtes du Roussillon Villages 2008, M. Chapoutier, from K & D wines