The meal was a modest variation on the fried eggs, bacon, and toast we often have on Sunday morning-into-early-afternoon. The chief differences this time were the thick toast and the choice of red micro sorrel as topping and garnish.

The headline reflects the title of one of the pieces of music which accompanied the meal.

• the ingredients included 6 eggs and 8 slices of thick bacon from Millport Dairy Farm; thick slices of a day-old demi-baguette from Bread Alone, toasted on top of the stove on our very retro, ‘Camp-A-Toaster’, (the baguette augmented later by toasts from a loaf of whole wheat farm bread from Rock Hill Bakery); chopped sections of one red scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, 14 small Sun Gold tomatoes from Stokes Farm, 2 finely-chopped heatless orange Habanada peppers; Maldon salt, Tellicherry pepper, chopped fresh rosemary from Stokes Farm; a dab of an aromatic seasoning blend called L’eKama; and a sprinkling of micro red sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the music was an album of organ works of Messiaen, including, ‘Le Banquet Céleste‘ (1928), a title (and a sentiment, if not examined too closely) we thought particularly appropriate for a somewhat rich Sunday breakfast/lunch, even if it the ‘banquet’ in question was to be laid out for a very small band of atheists

Steak and potatoes. And greens. But not just steak and potatoes. And the greens were also very, very good. The thick heavily-marbled pastured and grass-fed ‘Delmonico cut’ beef was from an Amish family’s farm in Pennsylvania, the small juicy fingerlings from a friend’s garden just north of New York, and the sweet collards from the northern Vermont farm of a couple who have become Greenmarket friends

I didn’t have to travel more than a mile from home to harvest all of it.

• a one-pound Delmonico steak from Millport Dairy Farm, dried, pan-grilled to medium rare, divided into 2 pieces, drizzled on the plates with a squeeze of lemon and a little olive oil, finished with a sprinkling of bronze micro fennel from Windfall Farm
• fingerling potatoes from a friend’s garden, ‘Lower Hayfields’, in Garrison, New York, most of them halved, tossed with at little olive oil, some finely-chopped no-heat Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, crumbled dried sage and chopped fresh rosemary, both from Stokes Farm, salt, and pepper, spread, cut side down, onto a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at 375º for about 25 minutes, or until both tender and slightly browned
• collard greens from Tamarack Hollow Farm, cut as a very rough chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which crushed ‘German Hardneck’ garlic from Race Farm had been allowed to sweat with some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a California (Calveras) red, F. Stephen Millier Black Label Red Angel Red Blend Calaveras County 2014, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album of electronically manipulated musical, spoken, and natural sounds by Roger Reynolds

This time I strayed so far from the urtext of a recipe, one which I have used many times before, that I won’t even go into its antecedents.

I’ll only introduce the ingredients.

It’s a mystery to me why pollock is always so modestly priced at the fish market, because it really is a great fish, with excellent flavor and wonderful texture, and it’s really easy to prepare. It’s also amenable to any number of creative treatments, although I’d recommend not getting too fancy, or its very real virtues might end up hidden.

The other mystery is the phenomenal shape of Romanesco broccoli, normally unnaturally geometric, but this time, in parts, almost diabolically contorted, and also two-toned!

• two 8-ounce pollock fillets from Pura Vida Seafood, dried, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, placed in a buttered copper au gratin pan, spread over the top with a mixture of soft butter, lemon zest, and some chopped red scallions from S. & S.O. Produce Farms [almost any other mild allium could be substituted], and one finely-chopped habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, baked 12 to 15 minutes at 350º, removed to 2 plates, some micro red sorrel from Two Gus from Woodbridge briefly stirred into the pan juices, which were drizzled on top of the fillets, the dish finished with some more (fresh) micro sorrel
• fourteen sun gold tomatoes, from 2 different growers, Ryder Farm and Stokes Farm, heated with a little olive oil inside a small Pyrex glass pan until they had begun to soften, then seasoned with salt and pepper and added to the au gratin pan after the pollock had been removed, but before the sorrel had been added
• one magnificent Romanesco broccoli head from Berried Treasures, broken up into florets, tossed with a little olive oil (not too much, to guarantee a slightly crispy, slightly carbonized side dish), salt, pepper, and part of a seeded medium-hot red cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, finely chopped, the mix spread onto one of my several Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pans and roasted at 400º for about 25 minutes [it was necessary to juggle the fish and the vegetable inside the oven on account of the different oven temperatures required], removed from the oven, stirred, and served
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, Matt Iaconis Chardonnay Napa Valley 2015
• the music was Vivaldi’s ‘Armida’, Rinaldo Alessandrini directing Concerto Italiano

The basic recipe for this simple fresh pasta sauce, from Mark Bittman, is one I had cut out of the ‘New York Times Magazine’ 5 years ago, in the first week of August, and while I have associated it with summer, it sure looks summery in the picture, and, yes, it tasted summery, all of the vegetables and herbs were purchased at the Union Square Greenmarket in this last week of October.

One of the most interesting aspects of this preparation, at least for me, is the fact that it calls for neither salt (other than that added to the water in which the pasta was boiled), nor black pepper. Does that betray the peasant origin of the dish, since contadini might have often have had to depend solely on the product of their own fields for ingredients?

I think these tomatoes are betraying their awareness the season is ending; the micro radish greens don’t seem to have a clue however, and they’re probably right if they’re thinking their kind will be around all winter, snug in their high tunnels.

• eight ounces of Setaro penne rigate, from Buon Italia, cooked al dente, then tossed in a large bowl in which 3 heirloom tomatoes, an orange and a red, from Eckerton Hill Farm and a green from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut into rough chunks, had been mixed, just after the pasta water had been places on the range, with 3 tablespoons of a decent olive oil, 3 lightly-crushed ‘German Hardneck’ garlic cloves from Race Farm, one medium-hot green Pasilla pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, a heatless orange Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, and about half of a cup of torn basil from Stokes Farm, stirred and allowed to sit until the pasta itself was ready, served in shallow bowls, finished with a sprinkling of homemade bread crumbs that had been browned in a little olive oil, topped with purple micro radish from Windfall Farms
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) white, Ioppa Vino Bianco San Grato 2015
• the music was Per Nørgård’s Symphony No. 5, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds

Lately I’ve been a little truant about visits to the Union Square Greenmarket: I’ve made dinners, on almost successive nights, using fish and meat not even produced inside our national borders. Although not anathema, it’s something I normally try to avoid.  I do have some weak excuses however.

On Monday it was Spanish sardines, and last night, Wednesday, normally a fish day for us, it was Quebec pork chops. I had wandered over to the Greenmarket around the middle of the day to pick up something with fins for dinner, but when I got there I learned that the ocean fisher people had not been able to make it that day, and that as a consequence, the freshwater guy had sold out early.

Again, as on Monday, I thought of a pasta entrée, but, again, as on Monday, it was not to be. This time I was at Whole Foods Market, essentially to pick up milk, when I came across something new in the meat case, some very fine-looking organic, pork (“Raised in open barns with outdoor access“) from a Quebec producer I had heard of. Largely because I had vegetables more suitable to a fish or meat dinner, I decided once again that the pasta could wait.

• 2 organic pork loin chops (totaling 1.05 lbs) from the French Canadian producer, duBreton, via Whole Foods, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared quickly on both sides inside a very hot, heavy enameled cast-iron pan, one small finely-chopped floral-scented orange Habanada pepper (heatless) from Norwich Meadows Farm sprinkled on the top surfaces before half of an organic lemon was squeezed over them, after which the lemon was left on the surface of the pan between the chops, the pan placed in a 425º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through, the pepper pieces repositioned on the surfaces, the lemon squeezed over the top once again and once again replaced in the pan, the finished dish removed from the oven and arranged on 2 plates, and some red micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge pushed around inside the pan before the luscious pan juices were spooned over the top of the chops
• two small red new potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in the still-warm glass pot, quartered, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with chopped thyme from Keith’s Farm
• red Russian kale from Keith’s Farm, sautéed in olive oil in which one bruised and halved German Hardneck garlic clove from Race Farm had first been allowed to sweat and barely begin to brown, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a dash of more olive oil
• the wine was a California (Santa Ynez) white, Literally Sauvignon Blanc California 2013
• the music was the album, ‘Complete Mozart Edition Vol 36‘, which includes ‘Zaide’ and ‘Schauspieldirektor’

Yeah, gorgeous.

And everything was minimal before I started.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (the ingredients are crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley), seared/heated in a cast iron pan, 2 to 3 minutes for each side, served on 2 plates on top of a salsa composed of roughly-chopped heirloom tomatoes from Stokes Farm, a little chopped red scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a bit of homemade French Basque piment d’Espellate purchased in a small town north of Baie-Comeau, Quebec last year from the producer’s daughter, one heatless orange Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, a very small amount of dried Itria-Sirissi chili, peperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia, chopped julip mint from Stokes Farm, topped with a scattering of purple micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge; the salsa was itself placed on a ‘nest’ of wild arugula from Paffenroth Farms, which had been seasoned with a little oil, salt, pepper, and drizzled with lemon juice
• one not-very-large radicchio from Campo Rosso Farm, quartered, placed in a small unglazed ceramic oven pan (Pampered Chef, long ago well-seasoned), drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, roasted at 400º for about 12 minutes, turning once, finished with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and, scattered with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse from Buon Italia
• unfortunately this time we’ve lost track of the information on the wine and the music (I’m embarrassed)

On Monday morning I didn’t feel like springing from bed early enough to have a decent chance at the selections offered at P.E. & D.D, Seafood, so I skipped the market altogether (that doesn’t happen very often) and decided my fallback would be pasta that night.

Later in the day however, while visiting Chelsea Market to pick up some staples at Buon Italia, I naturally found myself peeking in, first at Dickson Farmstand Meats, to see what they had to offer, and then at The Lobster Place, where I found some beautiful Spanish sardines. They sardines weren’t local, but they were clearly very fresh, a fish which is something of a novelty for us, and definitely in seafood territory, which is where we almost always expect to be on Mondays.

The image below is of the sardines and trimmings just before they were put into the oven.

And of course there were sides.

• six Spanish sardines from The Lobster Place, cleaned in front of me while I waited at the counter, cleaned by the staff at The Lobster Place, seasoned, placed inside an oiled ceramic dish exactly the size for accommodating them in one layer, sprinkled with lemon zest, Gaeta and black oil-cured olives from Buon Italia, pitted, a handful of sun gold tomatoes from Ryder Farm which were first pricked then baked beforehand for 15 minutes, and one small finely-chopped floral-scented orange Habanada pepper (heatless) from Norwich Meadows Farm, all drizzled with more olive oil, baked for 10 minutes in a 400º oven, served with a slight drizzle of olive oil and lemon segments
• two red potatoes (white flesh) from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, boiled, drained, dried in the pan, rolled in olive oil, scattered with a bit of sliced red scallion, a bit of crushed dried rosmarino di sicilia of Azienda Agricola Gandolfo Filippine, from Buon Italia, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground pepper, then sprinkled, once on the plates, with purple micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• wild arugula from Paffenroth Farms, dressed with a good Campania olive oil (Campania D.O.P. Penisola Sorrentina ‘Syrenum’), freshly-squeezed lemon, salt, and pepper
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Corvo Insolia 2014
• the music was Ferruccio Busoni’s ‘Doktor Faust’, performed by the Bavarian State Opera

As good as it looks, every time, although the cast changes, as does the hour of the performance.

The last time I put something like this together it was for the first meal of the day, a Sunday, in early spring. The first time it appeared on our table was three months earlier, just before the winter solstice, when it had been a dinner. This time it was in the middle of autumn, again a dinner.

The somewhat rough formula has worked beautifully each time, even if it’s now farther than ever from the original inspiration.

The image above represents one of two servings each of us enjoyed; it ended up as the entire meal: we were more than satisfied, continuing to the cheese course I had prepared to serve.

• the ingredients this time were, in order of their appearance inside a glazed ceramic oven dish: a little butter; 2 heirloom tomatoes from Stokes Farm; some wilted red Russian kale from Keith’s Farm; finely-chopped pieces of a Creminelli Campania Italian salami from Whole Foods; chopped Japanese red scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm; 8 eggs from Millport Dairy; sea salt; freshly-ground black pepper; one finely-chopped small orange (heatless) Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm; a finely-sliced section of a hot cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation  dabs from a small jar of an aromatic seasoning blend with the name, L’eKama, on top of the eggs once the portions were on plates; and purple micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, David Akiyoshi Reserve Chardonnay 2015
• the music was the complete Richard Strauss/Hugo von Hofmannsthal extremely entertaining masterpiece, ‘Ariadne Auf Naxos’, with Voigt, Heppner, Dessay, and Von Otter, Giuseppe Sinopoli directing the Dresden Staatskapelle, in his valedictory (we lingered)

 

I think I’m running the risk of being too obsessed with the aesthetics, neglecting the relative simplicity I have always wanted to dominate in these meals.

The fish was wonderful, but after it was served I had to admit to myself (and Barry) that there a little too much going on in the presentation. I sometimes find it hard to ignore adding colorful ingredients like those tomatoes and the purple micro radish when a better decision might be to put them aside for another meal.

I should probably have stopped with the cayenne and paprika dusting, but it’s really hard to shut a sun gold tomato outside of any meal.

• two 8 or 9-ounce fillets of Tautog (known in New York as ‘Blackfish’), Seatuck Fish Company, in the Union Square Greenmarket, more or less prepared using this recipe by Caroline Rossock, with the exception of heating inside the pan before the fish was added one finely-chopped small orange (heatless) Habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, and substituting for the sage, a mixture of thyme, rosemary, and marjoram from Stokes Farm plus winter savory from Keith’s Farm, using, specifically, pitted Kalamata olives from Whole Foods, dusting the fillets with a 50/50 mix of an excellent cayenne pepper and a good dulce paprika instead of the Aleppo Pepper, now unobtainable, and finally, halfway through the cooking, throwing into the pan a handful of pricked sun gold tomatoes from Ryder Farm, and finishing the fillets on the plates with some micro purple radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge and a drizzle of olive oil

• flowerets from a ten-ounce white cauliflower from Norwich Meadows Farms, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and part of a cherry pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, finely-chopped, scattered on an unglazed ceramic oven pan, roasted at the same 425º used for the fish, finished with parsley from Keith’s Farm, chopped, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) white, ROX Scott Peterson Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2015 from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Music of Poul Ruders, Vol. 6‘, from Bridge Records

I’ve finally found a seasoning pepper I will actually be able to spend some money on.

Each year I’m amazed (well, overwhelmed) by the huge variety and numbers of hot peppers displayed by Greenmarket farmers, a bounty which begins in mid-summer and continues until the frost. While I bring them home regularly, it’s normally in very small amounts if I’m going to use them fresh.

That means we enjoy these particular capsicums for mere pennies, and that never seemed quite fair.

Recently I came across something very different, a small, very attractive, yellow-orange, very ‘floral’ pepper which has absolutely no fire. It’s delicious, and I expect that I will be using it in quantities – and in more dishes – than I could ever before have imagined.

It’s not expensive, but I will be buying them in unfamiliar quantities.

It’s called a Habanada pepper. I first came across it 2 weeks ago in Union Square, under the canvas of Norwich Meadows Farm. It’s a fairly new hybrid, “the first truly heatless habanero (hence the haba-nada)”, according to the Cornell Small Farms Program. It was developed by a good man some consider a wizard, Cornell professor Michael Mazourek, who reportedly had asked himself, “what if there was a pepper I could share with my friends who didn’t like hot peppers so they could taste what I love without the heat?”.

We’re so glad he wanted to know, and that he created the answer, although this does not mean that I’m going to cut down on full-heat peppers.

At her vegetable (and Chicken) stand last week, Haifa, half of the couple which founded and runs Norwich Meadows Farm, told me that she also dries these peppers, using them all through the winter after the fresh are no longer available.

After being so impressed with what they had done with this simple pasta, when I returned to the market on Saturday, I took home a large bag. The contents are now in a wooden basket on a north windowsill, but I’m thinking of sewing them on a string.

• two slivered ‘German Hardneck’ garlic cloves from Race Farm and one Habanada pepper, seeded, sliced thinly, and cut crosswise into small strips, heated inside an enameled cast iron pan in olive oil until both were pungent, a little sea salt and freshly-ground pepper added, before a 12-ounce package of cooked Rana spinaci e ricotta [spinach and ricotta] ravioli from Eataly, was introduced into the pan and carefully mixed, 2 sliced ripe heirloom tomatoes (different varieties, in 2 shades of red) from Norwich Meadows Farm added to the pan and gently stirred, the pasta finished in bowls scattered with portions of a small handful of pan-roasted pine nuts, a drizzle of olive oil, and chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm.

Later there was fruit.

• Concord grapes from Troncillito Farms

• the wine was an Italian (Friuli-Venezia) white, Scarpetta Frico Bianco delle Venezie 2014
• the music was a George Lewis album, ‘Hexis’, Lewis with The Monash Art Ensemble