‘Heil sei dem Tag!’ 

It was the Fourth of July. We had a nonpareil steak, ripe tomatoes, the first okra of summer, and a sturdy and particularly American red wine. While the opera was German, the music sings of liberty and justice, and the plot is particularly apposite in jailhouse America. For what it’s worth, in Beethoven’s scenario the girl rescues the boy, and there’s a happy ending.

The meal was perfectly delicious and all else was perfect as well, except for the fact that we needed the air conditioner running, which meant that we didn’t even hear the fireworks on the East River.

Also, there were shallot blossoms! Spring really does belong to the alliums.  ‘

• one 14-ounce grass-fed, grain finished culotte steak (called ‘culotte’ here, ‘coulotte’ in France, ‘picanha’ in Brazil) from Greg and Mike of Sun Fed Beef/Maple Avenue Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, brought to room temperature, halved crosswise (the cut is unevenly shaped, but I came out with two pieces weighing precisely 7 ounces each!) seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared briefly on the top, or thick, fat-covered side inside an oval enameled heavy cast iron pan, the 2 long sides cooked for 3 or 4 minutes each, then the ends and the narrow bottom side seared, each very briefly, the steaks removed from the pan, perfectly medium-rare this time, thin slices from the stem of a flowering spring shallot from Keith’s Farm, along with most of its beautiful scissored blossoms, sprinkled on top, then drizzled with a Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil and allowed to rest for about 4 minutes

• a large handful of ripe red grape tomatoes from Alex’s New Jersey Tomato Farm, found at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street (see the image above), and 4 equally ripe Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, washed, halved, the larger tomatoes cut into fourths, heated inside a medium Pyrex glass pan in a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, garnished with dill blossoms from Windfall Farms

• a few handfuls of okra from Kernan Farms, sautéed over a high flame inside a very large seasoned cast iron pan in only a little olive oil and a good part of one crushed dried dark habanada pepper, seasoned with sea salt
• the wine was a zinfandel a Califronia (Lodi) red, Karen Birmingham Reserve Zinfandel Lodi 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Beethoven’s 1805-1814 opera, ‘Fidelio’, in a performance with Claudio Abbado leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, with soloists Nina Stemme, Rachel Harnisch, Jonas Kaufmann, Christoph Strehl, Peter Mattei, Falk Struckmann, and Christof Fischesser

I was still working out what I wanted to do with this beautiful dish even after it had been arranged in the 2 bowls, but then the real surprise was that it turned out to be one my best pasta inventions.

It began with the half box of Sfolini Beet fusilli I knew was sitting in the pantry, but it really got going with some wonderful tender garlic scapes, and then it finished with a flourish of fresh dill blossoms.

• one bunch of thin, young garlic scapes from Windfall Farms, washed, dried, trimmed at either end, cut into one-inch lengths, and sautéed, with a pinch or two of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia over a low to moderate flame in a tablespoon or so of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil inside a large antique high-sided copper pan until softened, then 2 or three tablespoons of Cabot Creamery unsalted butter (12% fat) from Westside Market added along with the juice of half of an organic whole Foods market lemon, followed by 8 ounces of boiled Sfolini Beet fusilli pasta, some of the cooking water reserved (note: this pasta only takes about 5 or 6 minutes to cook, and it goes to al dente with virtually no warning), drained and stirred into the pot with the scapes over a moderate flame, along with some of the pasta water, until that liquid was emulsified, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge added and stirred into the mix, the sauced pasta arranged in 2 low bowls, some olive oil drizzled around the edges, sprinkled with a generous amount of lemon zest and some toasted home-made breadcrumbs, garnished with dill blossoms from Windfall Farms
• the wine was an Italian (Umbria) white, Barberani Orvieto Classico ‘Castagnolo’ 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was an album of Bach Harpsichord concertos performed by Andreas Staier and the Freiburger Barockorchester

There was dessert, and it was only an accident that, on that eve of the Fourth of July, it pretty much suggested the very American ‘strawberry shortcake’, only better.

• slices of a terrific ‘Sour Cream Coffee Cake’ from Bread Alone, in the Union Square Greenmarket, with some ripe chopped strawberries from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the 23rd Street sidewalk greenmarket distributed over the top, a portion macerated in a little Turbinato sugar, topped with a scoop of Talenti Vanilla Bean Gelato from Whole Foods Market

It was only the second meat entrée I’d prepared in the last 2 weeks, although that’s actually not unusual here. Neither is the quality of what I brought into the kitchen. Respecting the specialness of these occasions and honoring the excellence of the farmers’ livestock, I usually try to minimize the seasonings and condiments I use.

• *four lamb loin chops, weighing 18 ounces altogether, from Shannon Brook Farm, dried thoroughly, cooked on a very hot enameled cast iron grill pan for a total of about 10 minutes, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, but only after they were turned over (twice), finished with a squeeze of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, scattered with chopped rosemary from Phillips Farm, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• three Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, halved, seasoned with salt and pepper,  briefly grilled in the same pan just as the chops were finishing cooking, arranged near them on the plates and drizzled with a little olive oil

• one yellow summer squash from Lani’s Farm, plus 2 different kinds of green squash from Campo Rosso Farm, all sliced lengthwise approximately 1/4″, tossed with a little olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and placed in/on a well-seasoned 2-burner seasoned cast iron grill pan above medium-high flames, cooked until softened, and scorched by the pan ribs, having been turned at least once, arranged on a plate, scattered with chopped spearmint from Keith’s Farm and chopped parsley from John D. Madura Farms, half a dozen or so pitted and halved kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, and drizzled with a little olive oil, served at room temperature [a warning: the grilling process definitely filled the kitchen area with smoke, so I should remember to go very easy on the oil next time, perhaps merely rubbing the ribs of the pan with a little oil on a paper towel]
• the wine was an Italian (Puglia) red, Aglianico Polvanera 2013, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Antonio Salieri’s 1784 tragédie lyrique‘, ‘Les Danaides’, Michael Hofstetter conducting the Ludwigsburger Festspiele Orchestra and the Ludwigsburger Festspiele Chorus

It was a very hot afternoon, and the bass lying on ice inside the fisher’s plexiglas-top display case at Saturday’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street caught my eye. Even though we’d enjoyed some only 2 weeks earlier, it’s a fine fish and I knew I’d be able to cook these filets on top of the gas range, so they came home with me.

We got along very well.

• the preparations began with a salsa, assembled about 30 minutes in advance inside a small bowl, which incorporated one cup of a mix of halved red and golden cherry tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, about half a cup of pitted and halved kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, a little crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a pinch of crushed dried golden/orange habanada pepper, and a little olive oil, the mix set aside while the fish was cooked: four 4.5-ounce black sea bass fillets from American Seafood Company, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sautéed over a fairly brisk flame in a little Mac Nut  macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market inside a large enameled cast iron pan, skin side down, turned after about 2-3 minutes, the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed to 2 plates when done, 2 tablespoons of butter added to the pan and allowed to melt, a couple tablespoons of chopped spearmint from Keith’s Farm and chopped parsley from John D. Madura Farms then tossed in, along with a tablespoon or more of Whole Foods Market organic lemon juice, and stirred into the butter for a few seconds, the sauce spooned on top of the bass, the salsa set aside earlier arranged in a cascade between the filets, and both fish and salsa garnished with some wonderful pungent dill flowers from Windfall Farms
• two whole, integral spring fennel bulbs from Alewife Farm, washed, the stems removed, trimmed of their fronds (the finest chopped and set aside) and cut into one-inch lengths, the bulbs themselves, cut into wedges, the stem sections sautéed for a few minutes over medium high heat with half a tablespoons of dry Sicilian fennel seeds, the bulb wedges following, along with a sliced young, or spring onion bulb from Berried Treasures Farm, until the pieces had all begun to color, the heat then lowered, the pan covered and the fennel cooked for another 10 minutes, maybe less, or until softened, the reserved fronds added at the end
• 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 an album we had first enjoyed almost 2 years ago, a superb performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s 1733 opera, ‘Motezuma’, Alan Curtis conducting Il Complesso Barocco, with Vito Priante, Marijana Mijanovic, Inga Kalna, Roberta Invernizzi, Romina Basso, Maité Beaumont, et al. [as I wrote then, the synopsis of this rendering of the historical Cortez-Montezuma encounter describes a totally unhistorical shappy ending for the Aztec imperial couple that reminded me of the charming fantasies Melina Mercouri maintained in the film, ‘Never on Sunday‘, about the happy denouements of all of the Greek tragedies: “And then they all go together to the seashore!”