After a week away, yesterday was my first day back at the Greenmarket and last night my return to actually cooking from the ground up, but parts of this meal is actually composed of ingredients I had assembled sometime before our little long weekend.

The ‘tomato water‘ I used on the fish was processed from the tomatoes I wrote about in a post describing the meal the night before, and the garlic scapes had survived in the crisper for fully 3 weeks, in excellent shape, with nothing but some drying stringy tips to show for their wait.

The tomato water was an interesting diversion that began hours before I actually started cooking.

• two 8-ounce filets of tautog, or blackfish, from American Seafood Company [prepared following a recipe by Melissa Clark published in the New York Times 4 years ago, substituting a mix of excellent cayenne pepper and a dulce paprika for the Aleppo pepper she had indicated (Syrian trade being tragically interrupted these years), and adding a large pinch of dried habanada pepper to the tomatoes as they dripped through the cloth-lined antique tin colander], seasoned, seared, cooked with halved Gaeta olives from Buon Italia, and drizzled with ‘tomato water’ prepared earlier in the day, for which I used 2 very ripe tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, rosemary from Phillips Farm, and several pieces of habanada pepper that I had dried last fall from some of the brilliant fresh crop grown by Norwich Meadows Farm, the filets finished with a bit of torn Gotham Greens Rooftop local basil from Whole Foods, and peppermint from Stokes Farm

• garlic scapes from Keith’s Farm, trimmed at either end, tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then pan grilled, finished with a dusting of zest from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon

• a mix of ‘wild Mex tomatoes‘ and Coyote tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm heated in a little olive oil inside a small vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pan, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, then rolled in marjoram blossoms from Stokes Farm
• the wine was a California (Central Coast) white, Yian Lu Central Coast Marsanne 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album of Colin Matthews’ chamber music performed by the Brindisi String Quartet and the Haffner Wind Ensemble

Our first home-cooked meal since last Wednesday!

But it wasn’t really about cooking, only assembling, using the simple ingredients indicated in this recipe suggested on the pasta maker’s own site. I chose it because I happened to already have everything it asked for, even though we had been away 4 days.

Also, with this meal I can confirm that tomatoes actually can be stored in the refrigerator, although only under certain circumstances, and with certain important provisos: A few days before we were to leave on a long weekend trip, one of the farmers I regularly visit in town slipped  4 beautiful New Jersey tomatoes into my canvas market bag without my knowing it. I tried really hard to include them in meals before we left, but without any success, so the night before we left I looked on line to see what I might do to give them a chance of surviving until we came back. I quickly pulled up on the screen, the advice, ‘How to Keep Tomatoes Fresh for Longer”, on the Food52 site. I followed it, and, after waiting a day for the fruit to recover from the refrigerator, as it warned, I found it worked like a charm.

Actually, it turns out that the question of how or where to store tomatoes may be still more complicated, as suggested by this Serious Eats article.

Still, the refrigerator worked for me this time, and in fact on the next day as well, when I cooked with the remaining 2 tomates.

• one 10-ounce package of Rana ‘Cheese Lovers Ravioli (stuffed with ricotta, mascarpone, parmigiano reggiano, mozzarella, and pecorino romano) with a sauce composed of a little more than one seeded and de-veined jalapeño pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, roughly-sliced, and a sliced section of a red spring onion from Berried Treasures Farm, sautéed for a few minutes in a tablespoon of olive oil inside an large antique copper pot over medium heat, a cup of chopped tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Chelsea 23rd Street sidewalk market that had first been tossed with a bit of turbinado sugar (because I suspected they might need a little sweetening) tossed in, then the cooked pasta added and the contents of the pot stirred for a minute or two over medium heat to reduce the liquid before being arranged in shallow bowls, sprinkled with dill flowers from Todd and Crystal’s kitchen herb garden at their Wild Arc farm in Pine Bush, New York, and drizzled with olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Umbria) white, Barberani Orvieto Classico ‘Castagnolo’ 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Lawrence Dillon’s 2010 album, ‘Insects and Paper Airplanes’

It looks right, and it tasted very right.

I finally managed to prepare a bass filet, a very fresh bass filet (actually 2) in a way that it would show and be enjoyed in its purest form, elegantly minimal, seasoned with salt alone, and with a crispy skin, but I just couldn’t help slipping a little micro green underneath, and tossing some micro flower on top.

There wasn’t any lemon in sight, but sorrel has something of a lemon-ish thing going for it.

The technique is from a page I found on line, ‘Perfect Seared Fish‘, written by Hank Shaw, who describes himself as a former line cook, but who, it becomes obvious, is much more than that. I was afraid of what seemed some very precise cautions in his instructions, but last night I made it all the way through his prescriptions, and the result fulfilled all my expectations.

Oh, and because Barry knew he’d need many glasses of water during dinner, because of the heat, he let me have the rest of his bottle of Gerolsteiner, which is naturally carbonated. It’s probably my favorite for-profit water, although the fact that it has to be shipped all of the way from my family’s Heimat is problematic, and also makes it only a special occasion indulgence.

• two 8-ounce striped bass filets from American Seafood Company removed from refrigeration, salted a little, allowed to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes, and while a seasoned steel pan was heating up above a high flame, the skin side scraped with a butter knife to remove excess moisture, both sides patted dry with a paper towel, a tablespoon, or a little more, of Mac Nut  macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market poured into the pan and swirled to cover the bottom and heat the oil, the filets placed skin side down inside it, immediately jiggled to ensure that the fish doesn’t stick, the flesh side of the filets salted and the heat turned down to medium-high, the filets pressed down lightly with a spatula for 30 to 60 seconds, to ensure that the skin browns evenly, cooked without moving them for 3 or 4 minutes, then, the pan shaken to see that the filets moved easily, the bass turned over with the spatula while stabilizing them with the help of a free hand, and cooked  for another minute, maybe a bit more, and the heat turned off, roughly half of the way through, a tablespoon and a half of rich 12% fat butter added to the pan, swirled so it melted swiftly, and a generous bit of micro sorrel from Windfall Farms tossed into the butter and mixed with it, the pan tilted and the sauce poured onto the plates, the filets placed on top of the sauce, sprinkled with some scissored spring shallot blossoms from Keith’s Farm

• a few stems of spring flowering shallots from Keith’s Farm, chopped, sautéed lightly inside an antique medium copper pan in a little olive oil,followed by two handfuls of very ripe red and golden grape tomatoes from Alex’s New Jersey Tomato Farm, at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, washed, halved, heated, sprinkled with sea salt and freshy-ground black pepper, tossed with some beautiful summer savory from Alewife Farm, chopped

• some second-growth asparagus from Berried Treasures Farm, in many lengths and thicknesses, trimmed, the stems of the few larger ones peeled, tossed gradually, the thickest spears first, in a tablespoon of butter and less than a tablespoon of olive oil heated inside a large enameled rectangular cast iron pan, then sautéed over medium high heat while frequently rolling or turning them until they were beginning to brown (about 15 minutes), finished with a sprinkling of Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sprigs of lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge tossed in with the asparagus part of the way through their cooking
• the wine was an American (Long Island) rosé (from grapes and a winery near the home port of the boat that brought in the bass, Wolffer Estate, Long Island Rose, 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Counterstream Radio, streaming

salad days

I went to our neighborhood Lobster Place on Monday because I had learned, from the Union Square Greenmarket app, that our neighborhood fish monger usual to that day would not be there this week. Their booking out gave me an excuse, if one were needed, to pick up a few baby octopuses that had flown into New York all the way from Spain (or, more likely, from the waters of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, if not those of Morocco itself). Our huge distance from their place of origin should be a caution, if not actually a prohibition of their purchase, but I will occasionally overcome my scruples and briefly broaden my carbon footprint in order to enjoy the delicacy: we really, really love octopoda, and it’s not like there are any swimming within thousands of miles of New York.

The meal was delicious.

All of this brings me to the subject, or rather one of the subjects, of this delicious dinner, which we enjoyed the following day.

While I was at the Lobster Place on Monday I thought also of picking up a container of some kind of seafood I might use as a part of a special salad supper the next day (bonus: no hot stove). Crab meat had first come to mind, but once I was at the shop I saw that my choices were broader than I’d imagined.

Crawfish! I decided it would be Louisiana crawfish, and I’d probably prepare it in some kind of simple remoulade.

Eventually I assembled 2 other salads as well.

Everything was a little red.

• seven ounces of cooked and cleaned Louisiana crawfish from The Lobster Place, in the Chelsea Market, served as a remoulade, using this very easy and delicious recipe that I found on line when I was rushed that evening, and fortunately I already had everything I needed, except for the scallions, for which I just substituted chopped small spring leeks from Neversink Organic Farm, arranged on a bed of some well-washed leaves of a small head of spring purple romaine lettuce from from Echo Creek Farm of Salem, NY, in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market (on the north sidewalk of 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues), lettuce dressed with a little olive oil, Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a squeeze of lemon, the salad garnished with micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge [Note: there was no capsicum to be found anywhere in the meal: the remoulade was delicious, but it could have used at least a little hotness, if only to salute the crawdaddies’ origins; a little chili pepper would not have been out of place in any of the other parts of the meal, particularly since it was a hot summer day, and evening]
• one awesome sweet ‘Badger Flame’, beet from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, scrubbed, dried, and sliced as thinly as I could, layered inside a low bowl with a little Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and chopped summer savory from Alewife Farm, stirred gently and arranged on the plates where they were garnished with spring shallot blossoms from Keith’s Farm
• two dozen very ripe, very sweet grape tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, halved, mixed inside a small bowl along with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, 3 chopped spring red onions, a few drops of white balsamic vinegar, garnished with chopped fennel fronds from Alewife Farm
• slices of a wonderful Balthazar sourdough rye, purchased that afternoon from Schaller & Weber
• the wine was a California (Santa Lucia Highlands/Monterey County) rosé, 99 Barrels Derek Rohlffs Santa Lucia Highlands Rosé, from Naked Wines
• the music was Michael Haydn’s only opera, ‘Andromeda e Perseo’ (1787), Reinhard Goebel conducting the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Cologne Vocal Ensemble

Baby octopus always makes a good-looking plate, but it also makes a delicious dinner, and last night the vegetables were a particularly colorful, and tasty, supporting cast for one of our favorite leads.

• four Spanish baby octopuses (a total of 18 ounces, previously frozen) from The Lobster Place, from our neighborhood Lobster Place, marinated in the refrigerator for about 3 hours (although even a much shorter period really doesn’t hurt) in a mixture of 1/4 cup olive oil; one teaspoon of dried Italian oregano from the Madonie Mountains in Sicily; the zest and juice of half of an organic Whole Foods lemon; 1/4 teaspoon of crushed peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia; 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt; and one finely-chopped medium clove of an immature head of Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm chopped thinly, the octopus removed from the mix and brought to room temperature (or the marinating octopus removed from the refrigeratorand brought to room temperature in its liquid), drained a bit and grilled over a high flame on top of a seasoned double-burner cast iron grill pan for 10 or 12 minutes mouth or beak side down first, then placed on 2 of its sides (optionally, with a piece of aluminum foil loosely covering the grill pan throughout, because of their moderate thickness in this case), served with a squeeze of the zested lemon and some olive oil, and garnished with spring shallot blossoms, also from Keith’s Farm

• two medium Japanese eggplants from Norwich meadows Farm, each cut in half, lengthwise, and brushed with a mixture of olive oil, a little finely-chopped immature Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, chopped fresh oregano from Phillips Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, then grilled, on a second, smaller grill pan, turning once, and arranged on the plates, sprinkled with a little chopped peppermint from Keith’s Farm, and drizzled with a little olive oil

• more than a dozen golden grape tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the 23rd Street Saturday Market, tossed onto the grill pan just before or after the eggplant had been removed and heated, briefly, just enough to warm them through, after which they were strewn about on top and around their pan mates, accompanied on the side by a small collection of micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms, included mostly for the complexity of the color they would add to the plate [I was a bit rushed near the end of the cooking, normally I would have halved the tomatoes, or at least punctured them before throwing them on the grill, but leaving them whole this time meant that they, or their interior flesh, remained warm for a very long time once they were on the plate]
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Vurria… Grillo DOC Sicilia, from Eataly Vino
• the music, in memory of Oliver Knussen, whose death was reported earlier in the day, was the album, ‘Knussen’, which includes his Symphonies No. 2 & 3; Trumpets; Ophelia Dances for orchestra, Book 1; Coursing for Chamber Orchestra; and Cantata for oboe & string trio

The pork chop was as superb as it looks, as was the vegetable, which was half root and half green, and both roasted and fresh.

The root, which lay on a few leaves of a purple lettuce, amounted to segments of a single beet, but it was a very special, new orange-yellow mild and sweet varietal, the ‘Badger Flame’, created by Irwin Goldman, a horticulture professor at the University of University of Wisconsin-Madison (hence the ‘Badger’ in the name). It’s broadcast and production was undertaken by Row 7 Seed Company, itself the creation of New York’s Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the seedsman Matthew Goldfarb, and the plant breeder Michael Mazourek. I found it on Friday, at Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh‘s Norwich Meadows Farm stall in the Union Square Greenmarket.

The beet is described as being as delicious raw as it is cooked. Having tasted a slice before roasting one of the two that I had brought home with me, I can attest to that. On Tuesday I will be serving the second one as a part of what will probably be a room-temperature meal, mostly of salads.

• two thick, bone-in loin pork chops (approximately 12 ounces each) from Flying Pig Farms, dried thoroughly, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-rough-ground black pepper, seared on both sides inside a dry heavy enameled cast-iron pan, half of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon squeezed over each and left sliced side down in the pan between them while they roasted in a 400º oven for about 12 or 13 minutes altogether, but flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over their surfaces once again, arranged on 2 plates, the pan juices, to which had been added a couple tablespoons of sweet tomato juices from Saturday’s meal, first heated and partially-reduced, ladled over the top from a sauce boat, which was brought to the table for further service, the chops garnished with micro red amaranth from Windfall Farm

• one ‘Badger Flame’ beet from Norwich Meadows Farm, trimmed, washed and scrubbed, cut into 16 or so wedges, placed on a small unglazed Pampered Chef oven pan, tossed with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, one halved clove of an immature head of Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, all of the leaves shredded from several branches of thyme from Stokes Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground pepper to taste, covered loosely with foil and baked for 20 minutes or so inside the same 400º oven, after which the foil was taken off, the beets turned on another side and roasted for 25 or 30 minutes longer, or until they were tender, when they were removed from the oven and arranged on 2 plates on top of the well-washed outer leaves of a small head of purple romaine lettuce from from Echo Creek Farm of Salem, NY, in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market (on the north sidewalk of 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues), a little olive oil and drops of a good Spanish Rioja vinegar drizzled on the beet segments and lettuce, but with the greens also sprinkled with salt and pepper, the beet salad finished with some horseradish root from Gorzynski Ornery Farm freshly grated on top [I added more horseradish after snapping the picture, and note that the recipe mostly follows one on page 36 inside the hard copy of the excellent book of simple kitchen formulae, ‘Italian Easy’; Recipes from the London River Cafe‘]
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve White Blend Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Ludi Musici – The Spirit Of Dance 1450-1650‘

I intended it as something in honor of the full onset of summer, but I almost went overboard with the flowers and micro greens – and micro reds – in today’s breakfast.

• the ingredients were 2 slices of thick smoked bacon and 6 very fresh Americauna chicken eggs from Millport Dairy Farm, 4 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, Maldon salt and pungent freshly-ground Whole Foods Market black pepper, the last of a small bottle of a dry seasoning called L’ekama from Ron & Leetal Arazi’s New York Shuk, micro red amaranth and micro sorrel from Windfall Farms, shallot blossoms from Keith’s Farm, and lightly-toasted slices of Orwasher’s dark wheat-based wine bread, made with a Long Island vineyard Chardonnay starter
• the music was Morton Feldman’s 1981 piece, ‘Triadic Memories’, performed by John Snijders

Cauliflower’s back, and so is summer flounder.

And summer.

• two 8-ounce flounder filets from American Seafood Company placed inside an oval tin-lined copper au gratin pan, skinned side down, the top surface spread with a mixture of at least one tablespoon of zest from a Whole Foods organic lemon; one teaspoon of pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, where it’s sold dried and still attached to the stem; one teaspoon or more of balsamic vinegar; 3/4 of a tablespoon of olive oil; almost a teaspoon of lightly-crushed black peppercorns; a quarter to a half of a teaspoon of sea salt; and most of one fresh garlic head from Berried treasures Farm, chopped finely, baked for about 15 minutes in a 350º oven, removed and arranged on two plates, drizzled with some juice from the lemon which supplied the zest earlier, micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge sprinkled on top

• florets of a medium orange cauliflower from Norwich Meadows Farm sautéed in a pan in which 3 roughly-sliced cloves of an immature, not-yet-dried head of garlic from Lani’s Farm, some crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and more than a teaspoon of Italian fennel seeds had first been heated, the cauliflower sautéed for a few minutes until beginning to soften, at which time it was joined by 5 or 6 ounces of halved and seeded orange and red grape tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, and some sea salt, the pan covered and the cooking continued, gently, until the tomatoes had been wilted a bit and become a part of the mix, the vegetables finished by stirring in some powerful chopped peppermint from Keith’s Farm
• the wine was a California (Carneros) white, La Tapatia Chardonnay Carneros 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was the Erkki-Sven Tüür album, ‘Illuminatio; Whistles and Whispers from Uluru; Symphony No. 8’

I love silver, and especially the silver skin of Spanish mackerel (also really like those yellow dots).

• four Spanish mackerel fillets (a total of about 15 ounces), washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled on a seasoned cast iron double-burner grill pan over high heat for a total of about 6 or 7 minutes, skin side down first, then turned half way through, removed, arranged on the plates, and a salsa that had been assembled just before spooned on or between the filets, the salsa consisting of 7 ounces of 3 sliced Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market and a few ounces of halved red grape tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the 23rd Street Saturday Market, tossed in a small bowl with a teaspoon or more of rinsed and drained Sicilian salted capers, half a tablespoon of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, a pinch of sea salt, and a bit of freshly-ground black pepper, the mackerel finished and a drizzle of the juices that remained from some tomatoes heated for a meal 2 nights before, the salsa garnished with a bit of flowering spring shallot from Keith’s Farm
• the tender greens cut from 2 ‘Badger Flame’ beets from Norwich Meadows Farm (their beautiful roots remain in the vegetable bin for now), gently wilted inside a heavy tin-lined medium copper pot after 6 or 8
  young Rocambole garlic scapes from Keith’s Farm, cut into one-inch sections, had first been allowed to sweat in a bit of olive oil, softening, the greens, once softened themselves, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, and drizzled with fresh olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Lisbon) white, Dory Branco 2016, from Garnet Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Le Parnasse Français‘, featuring early-eightenth-century works by Jean-Féry Rebel, Jean-Marie Leclair,  François Couperin, Michel Blavet, Michel Corrette, and Marin Marais, with Reinhard Goebel conducting Musica Antiqua Cologne

I was prepared to make a frittata last night, because I already had so many good things I could put into one, but then I saw the sign in the iced fish case at the Chelsea Whole Foods Market, “Fresh & Wild Sockeye Fillet: $14.95 per pound”.

• *I decided the eggs could wait.one 16-ounce never-frozen wild Coho salmon filet from Whole foods Market, cut into two pieces, placed unseasoned, skin side up inside a heavy enameled cast iron pan in which a little more than 2 tablespoons of a rich Belgian butter, Beurre de Chimay, from Ardennes (like the other butters I use, has fully 12 grams total fat, more than the 11 in almost all other butters available in the U.S.) had been allowed to heat until the foam began to recede, the fish then placed inside a 425º oven until barely cooked, or about 8 minutes, flipped after 5 minutes, removed, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge, garnished with thin slices from the stem of a flowering spring shallot along along with most of the beautiful flowers scissored off of the blossoming ball at the top of that stem, drizzled with a Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil and allowed to rest for about 4 minutes
• *red new potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm boiled with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while still in the still-warm vintage medium size Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, rolled around in a little more than a tablespoon or so of Cabot Butter from Westside Market, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms
• *sugar snap peas from Windfall Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, washed, their stems and strings trimmed, parboiled for just over a minute inside a large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot, drained, dried in the same pot, shaking it over a low flame, then set aside, and just before serving, warmed inside a heavy, broad, tin-lined copper pot in which a small sliced stalk of spring garlic from Berried Treasures Farm had first been softened with a little olive oil over a moderate flame, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with chopped peppermint from Keith’s Farm
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) red, Richard Bruno Clarksburg Pinot Noir 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was Gluck’s 1777 opera, ‘Armide’,  Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre