This isn’t a German dinner, in spite of what appear to be some reasonable cues to the contrary.

More like American, or, specifically, more like my kitchen.

I used my imagination to assemble a meal which would enjoy the accompaniment of the quince chutney left over from our Thanksgiving duck feast, and smoked pork (Kassler) seemed like it would do the trick, especially on a weekday, as it requires no real cooking.

We finished off our plates, but ironically it was the little service bowl of chutney once again that remained when we were done. It’s no reflection on the delicious condiment, since we’re not really big on sweets, and sugars were an important element in 3 of the 4 items on the plate.

Maybe I’ll spread some on toast, or Bread Alone’s very Germanic Fruit and Seed Brød, tomorrow morning.

• a tablespoon or more of rendered duck fat heated inside an large antique tin-lined copper heavy skillet, where it had softened the chopped white section of a medium size scallion from Stokes Farm, the green section reserved for later, 2 smoked loin pork chops from Schaller & Weber added, the pot covered with a universal copper lid, kept above a very low flame (just enough to warm the chops through, as they were already fully-cooked), turning the meat once, then, near the end of the cooking time (I went 8 or 9 minutes this time), the green parts of the onion, which had been set aside earlier, now also sliced, added on top of the chops for a minute or so before they were removed, arranged on the plates, brushed with a little horseradish jelly from Berkshire Berries, sprinkled with both the white and green sections of the scallion

• a bit of quince chutney made last week, using this theKitchn.com recipe, incorporating a red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, a Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, quince  from Troncillito Farms, dried sweet cherries from Manhattan Fruit Exchange in the Chelsea Market, fresh ginger from Lani’s Farm, and a local apple cider vinegar from Race Farm

• two very small Honey Butternut squash from Lani’s Farm, scrubbed, halved, the seeds removed, placed cut-side up in a baking dish, and a mix of almost 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, an equal amount of fresh water, the zest and juice of less than half of a lemon, part of one fresh habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, and a pinch each of sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper brushed or poured over the top, then dotted with less than 2 tablespoons of butter, placed in a 375º oven and baked for 15 or 20 minutes, the squash flipped over and continued cooking, basting halfway through, until caramelized and tender, or 20-25 more minutes (serving as edible sauce boats really)

• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, dressed with a little Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper (although I now think it would have been better to leave this excellent cress naked)
• the wine was a French (Burgundy) red, Bourgogne Rouge, Dom. des Meix Poron 2015, from Astor Wines
• the music was Thomas Arne’s 1740-1745-1753 sung stage work/masque/oratorial about Alfred the Great, ‘Alfred’, Nicholas McGegan conducting the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, with David Daniels, Christine Brandes, Jennifer Smith, Jamie MacDougall

I’ve cooked all 3 parts of this meal before, in fact each of them many times, but there were subtle differences last night.

The swordfish was introduced to tarragon in my kitchen for the first time; the potatoes were graced with some beautiful dried red shishito pepper, which I’ve never used on anything before; and although the greens, a mustard, were familiar, this time they were truly a baby mustard, and so were a first on our table.

• one 15-ounce swordfish steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, halved, marinated on an ironstone platter for about 45 minutes, turning once, in a mixture of a few tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of fresh chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm, a small amount, chopped, of a yellow grenada seasoning pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, a bit of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and the chopped white section of 2 very small scallions from Berried Treasures Farm, after which the swordfish was drained well, both sides covered with a coating of homemade dried breadcrumbs, and pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until just barely (or not quite) cooked to the center, then removed from the pan and arranged on 2 plates, sprinkled with a little Maldon salt, some of the chopped greener parts of the 2 scallions, and several large whole tarragon leaves, drizzled with a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon and garnished on the side with a little red micro mustard from Windfall Farms

• eleven ounces or so of La Ratte potatoes from Berried Treasures, scrubbed, boiled in salt water, drained, dried in the pan, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sprinkled with some chopped fresh oregano from Stokes Farm and one small crushed dried red shishito pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm

• a few handfuls of very tender baby mustard greens from Lani’s Farm, wilted in a little olive oil in which 3 roughly-chopped rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a Greek (Fteri, Mantinia, Tripolis, Arcadia) white, Troupis, Moschofilero ‘Fteri’ 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Handel’s 1734-1735 opera seria, ‘Ariodante’, Nicholas McGegan conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

I wasn’t even sure I’d  make bacon and eggs this past Sunday, since I had been thinking of the 2 roti from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company lying inside the freezer, but then I also remembered I had some extra fresh stuff on hand that I’d be unlikely to incorporate into anything other than an improvised plate of eggs and things.

Even then I wasn’t sure I’d post about it, until I looked at the picture I’d snapped that afternoon; I decided I’d like to both remember it and do a little sharing.

• there were small pullet eggs from pastured [green] Americauna chickens and thick slices of bacon from pastured pigs, both products of Millport Dairy Farm; local (regional) Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ from Whole Foods Market; chopped pieces of several garlic scapes from Berried Treasures Farm: a fresh yellow grenada seasoning pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm and a fresh habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, both finely chopped; shiitake mushroom stems from Bulich Mushroom Company, thinly sliced; Maldon salt; freshly-ground black pepper; tarragon from Stokes Farm; Keiths’s Farm’s collards left over from Thanksgiving dinner, with olive oil and a tiny bit more salt and pepper added; a garnish of a bit of red micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge; and (untoasted) slices of an earthy She Wolf Bakery toasted sesame wheat loaf
• the music was a 2-disc collection of Campra and Couperin motets, William Christie conducting is ensemble, Les Arts Florissants

There are seafood dishes that both evoke and hail summer. Probably less familiar are those that suggest and welcome the colder months of fall, or even of winter. This past Saturday fell within one of those colder months, and this hardy dish did its seasonal thing very well.

Fortunately the vegetable chosen, also a seasonal thing, mostly, wasn’t the least bit shy either.

It was all really, really good.

• an interesting mix of 4 different alliums, born of necessity, but consumed with great pleasure, consisting of one shallot from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, joined, because there was only one of its kind in my larder, by 10 really tiny (an early harvest) Stuttgarter yellow onions from Keith’s Farm, themselves also the only ones I had (as well as the first I’d ever seen, at least identified as such), plus one small red onion from Quarton Farm, and one sweet walla walla onion from Alewife Farm, all peeled and, but the Stuttgarter, which were left whole or halved, cut into equal, roughly half-inch sizes, sautéed inside an oval tin-lined copper gratin pan in 3 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium-high flame, stirring occasionally, until they had begun to soften, joined by 8 ounces of whole shiitake mushrooms from, from Bulich Mushroom Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, adding a good pinch of sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, continuing to sauté everything, stirring occasionally, until all were nicely browned (about 7 or 8 minutes), at which time one third of a cup of good Spanish Rioja wine vinegar was added, cooked, stirring, over medium high heat for about a minute, while scraping up any browned bits stuck on the bottom, the pan removed and set aside, wiped clean inside with paper towels and returned to a flame, now turned high, and two 8-ounce haddock fillets from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, with skin on, that had already been rubbed on both sides with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, added to the pan when it was very hot, skin side up, and seared until a good brown crust had developed, or for about 3 minutes, the fillets turned over, the reserved onions, mushrooms, and pan juices arranged around fish, everything scattered with fresh rosemary branches from Alewife Farm, the pan placed inside a 400º oven and roasted for about 12 minutes or so [the original haddock recipe appears here]

• two very different-sized heads of treviso (one small, one medium to large) from S. & S.O. Produce, washed, drained and wiped off, cut lengthwise into sections, their various sizes and numbers of leaves pulled apart and reassembled into 4 stacks which were then tied up with butchers string before they were arranged on a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan, covered with a good number of fresh thyme branches from Phillips Farm, seasoned generously with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, drizzled with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and baked 10 minutes or so in the same 400º oven prepared for the haddock, flipped to the other side and returned to the oven for another 10 minutes,
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) white, Erath Pinot Gris 2016, from Philippe Wines
• the music was Donizetti’s 1835 [very] dramma tragico, ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’, in a recording with Jesús Lopez-Cobos conducting the Munich Opera Orchestra and the Munich Opera Chorus

I don’t have a picture of our Thanksgiving dinner.

I guess we were too distracted by our guests: I forgot to snap the first course, and then, although I remembered to photograph the second, I forgot there isn’t quite enough light in the dining area we use for special occasions: Even with the light raised, the pictures came out blurry,

I do however have this image above, of one of the best parts of this dinner, a very simple sweet potato gratin, and I’ll use the lack of others as an excuse to upload more before pix than I usually do.

The potatoes were probably as close to anything that is conventionally served on this holiday, although they were very spicy. Otherwise, there were no marshmallows, there was no turkey, no stuffing, no gravy, no cranberry sauce, no celery sticks, no mashed potatoes, no butter rolls, no creamed onions, no Brussels sprouts, no pumpkin pie, and no Republicans.

What was shared on this Thanksgiving were smoked Atlantic mackerel with a Columbia County crème frâiche and Suffolk County fresh horseradish root mayonnaise, seared Hudson Valley duck breasts, spicy chutney of Ulster County quince fruit, helpings of Dutchess County sweet potatoes in a chipotle au gratin, Delaware Valley collards, and, for dessert, a 23rd Street pecan pie

The mid-afternoon meal began with smoked fish.

• four 3-ounce servings of Ducktrap River of Maine‘s ‘smoked peppered’ wild mackerel fillets from Chelsea’s Whole Foods Market, served drizzled with with a little excellent Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, and accompanied by dollops of local Ronnybrook Farms crème fraîche that had been mixed with a generous amount of grated Holy Schmitt’s local homemade fresh horseradish, both some zest and juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a bit of a finely-chopped grenada verde pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, and some chopped fresh dill from Stokes Farm
• a number of leaves from 2 small heads of lettuce, one from Tamarack Hollow Farm, the other a miniature romaine from Stokes Farm, dressed lightly with Frankies 458 olive oil, a sprinkle of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• slices of a She Wolf Bakery toasted sesame loaf of whole wheat bread
• the wine was a very good California sparkling, W. Donaldson 6th Anniversary NV, from Naked Wines

The main course at least referenced many of the traditional dishes that are served on this holiday.

• two 15-ounce duck breasts from Hudson River Duck Farm, the fatty side scored in tight cross hatching with a very sharp knife, the entire breast rubbed, top and bottom, with a mixture of sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a little turbinado sugar, then aside for about 45 minutes before being pan-fried, fatty side down first, inside a small oval enameled cast iron pan over medium heat for a total of about 9 minutes, turning once, draining the oil after the first few minutes (the fat strained and used in cooking at another time, if desired), the breast removed when medium rare, cut crosswise into 2 portions and checked for the right doneness in the center, which means definitely no more than medium rare, and maybe even a bit less, left sitting for several minutes before it was finished with a drizzle of lemon juice, sprinkled with roughly chopped rosemary from Alewife Farm, and drizzled with a little Portuguese house olive oil from Whole Foods Market

• quince chutney, made the day before, to more fully develop its flavors, using this theKitchn.com recipe, using a red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, a Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, quince from Troncillito Farms, dried sweet cherries from Manhattan Fruit Exchange in the Chelsea Market, fresh ginger from Lani’s Farm, and a local apple cider vinegar from Race Farm

• in order to simplify my job when guests were around, on the day before the feast I took 2 pounds of fairly small Japanese sweet potatoes from Alewife Farm, washed and scrubbed well, left unpeeled and sliced thinly, seasoned with salt and pepper, arranged in 4 layers, each separated in succession by a quarter portion of 2 cups of Ronnybrook Dairy heavy cream that had been mixed in a blender with one canned chipotle pepper (plus a bit more this time around, which made the gratin fairly spicy) and a small amount of adobo sauce, inside a 8″x12″ glazed ceramic casserole dish, baked inside a 350º oven for about one hour, or until the cream had been absorbed and the potatoes browned, then placed it inside the refrigerator [this gratin recipe, one I’ve used many times, is from ‘Bobby Flay’s Bold American Food]; on Thursday I removed the pan from the refrigerator and allowed it to come nearly to room temperature before placing it again inside a 350º oven and heating it for about 20 minutes

• one large bunch of collard greens from Keith’s Farm, stemmed, washed and drained 3 times, (some of the water retained and held aside to be added, as necessary, while the greens cooked), cut roughly and braised gently until softened/wilted inside a large, heavy enameled cast iron pot in which 4 cloves of Keith’s Farm rocambole garlic had been heated until softened, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, finished with a small drizzle of olive oil

• the wine was a California (Napa) red, Matt Parish Napa Valley Cabernet Magnum 2014, from Naked Wines

Dessert was simple, and southern, as were other parts of the meal, in a nod to our guests who had grown up in Kentucky, and to Barry as well, who had sort of fled Arkansas, now long ago (also. this time the image is almost in focus).

• I had expected to serve another course or 2 first (various potential combinations of cheeses, maybe toasts, fresh and dried fruit, all accompanied by appropriate liquids), but the vote was to go directly to the pecan pie we had all been anticipating; I can’t say much about it, other than that it was incredibly delicious, that it was gently heated, that each slice was served with a scoop of Ciao Bella ‘Madagascar Vanilla’ gelato from Whole Foods Market, and that it was baked only a few doors down from our own, at Big Booty Bakery

 

• the music throughout the meal was from a Spotify playlist that Barry had assembled, of American composers, most of it composed within one or both of our lifetimes

I had gotten bored with my usual approach to a very handy staple we’ve enjoyed so often, and I wanted to better identify the artichoke flavor, so I tried introducing this store-bought ravioli to some new things. Also, I really didn’t have any tomatoes.

• one sliced garlic scape from Berried Treasuress Farm heated in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot until pungent and partly softened, then a small yellow grenada seasoning pepper and a very small green aji dulce pepper, both from Eckerton Hill Farm, neither of them hot, both thinly sliced, added and stirred for a minute, then a 10-ounce package of Rana artichoke-filled ravioli from Eataly Flatiron that had been boiled for barely 3 minutes and drained before some of the cooking water was reserved, was tossed into the pot and carefully stirred with the rest of its contents, also adding over half a cup of the reserved pasta water, over medium-high heat until the liquid had emulsified, then ten or so pitted kalamata olives and some chopped peppermint from S. & S.O. Produce tossed in and the mix stirred before being arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, more mint and some pea shoots from Lani’s Farm tossed on top, olive oil poured around the edges of the pasta

There was a small cheese course, but it didn’t manage to get photographed.

• a bit of Coach Farms fresh goat cheese (the package had been in the refrigerator for some time, having been purchased for exactly the eventuality in which it saw use last night: a bite to extend a meal that would otherwise have been too small), on a plate sprinkled with a little freshly-ground black pepper and some chopped dill fronds
• thin toasts from small slices of a Bread Alone miche that had been in the bread box for  a few days

 

• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Karen Birmingham Clarksburg Pinot Grigio 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music throughout was four Bach and Mozart works for small ensemble, performed by the Haydn Sinfonietta Wien

There were 8 of them, but combined they weighed only about 13 or 14 ounces, which is even less than I sometimes buy for the two of us. Because they were tiny and thin, they took up a lot of the surface area of even a large pan. I didn’t have room on the stove top for another, so they ended up crowded; this is not ideal on any count, including the processes of turning them over and of removing them from the pan when they were done.

As a result, they ended up looking a bit disheveled on the plate, but they were delicious.

It seems that the cauliflower liked it, since it decided to imitate the appearance of the sole, and it too was delicious.

• eight very small grey sole fillets from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, a total of 13 or 14 ounces, dried thoroughly, salted on both sides and brushed with a little good Italian white wine vinegar, sautéed over a medium-high flame inside an enameled cast iron pan in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil, turning once, the fillets removed, the pan wiped with a paper towel, 2 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, 2 tablespoons of juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, and and a loose handful of pea greens from Windfall Farms, allowed to warm inside of it for a minute or so, either over a low flame or none at all, before the sauce was drizzled onto the sole

• one 15-ounce head of white cauliflower from Alewife Farm, separated into florets and par-boiled in salted water for 2 minutes, drained and set aside while 2 finely-chopped Keith’s Farm rocambole garlic cloves were heated in 2 tablespoons of olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron skillet until pungent and beginning to soften, then 2 salted Sicilian anchovies, rinsed and filleted, added and stirred briefly until ‘melted’, the reserved cauliflower, and the more tender leaves (which had not been blanched) thrown in, along with a decent bit of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, everything stirred together and cooked until the cauliflower softened (in this instance, very quickly), served with chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) white, ROX Scott Peterson Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2017, from Naked Wines

• the music was the entire album, ‘Dussek: Concerto for Two Pianos & Chamber Works’, with Alexei Lubimov, Olga Pashchenko, and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra; the eighteenth-century Bohemian composer Jan Ladislav Dussek‘s compositions sound somewhat proto-romantic, and very charmingly so)

Color has returned to the table, especially in this appetizer.

• a couple handfuls of delicious, very juicy ripe shishito peppers (normally sold before they are mature, and still green in color, they move toward orange and then red as they mature) from Berried Treasures Farm, washed, drained, dried, then sautéed over medium high heat in a seasoned 13.5″ cast iron pan for a few minutes, stirring, until they had blistered nicely, then seasoned with Maldon salt
• slices of a farmer-ground half white and half whole wheat She Wolf Bakery miche, to help soothe the impact of the hotter of the peppers

The main course was also simple enough, but also no less exciting for being so, and it was pretty easy to assemble.

• one 11-ounce steak (a cut called ‘culotte’ here, ‘coulotte’ in France, ‘picanha’ in Brazil), from Sun Fed Beef/Maple Avenue Farms in their stall at Saturday’s Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, just down the block from us, brought to room temperature, cut into 2 pieces, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared for less than a minute 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, removed from the pan at the moment they had become perfectly medium-rare, arranged on 2 warm plates, each topped with a pat of defrosted ramp butter made last April using some small, first-of-the-season woodland ramps from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, a bit of juice from an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, and some Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, the steaks then allowed to rest for about 4 minutes before being served

• just under a pound of Japanese sweet potatoes, from Lani’s Farm, left unpeeled but washed thoroughly, cut as for short french fries, tossed inside a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, 3 large unpeeled cloves of rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, and a pinch or two of crushed dried habanada pepper, roasted in a 425º oven in a  large much-treasured very-well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan for about 35 minutes, or until crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and a little chewy on the edges, some Maldon salt thrown onto the pan after it was removed from the oven, the frites arranged on the plates with some sunflower greens from Windfall Farms arranged at their side
• the wine was a California (Lodi) red, Karen Birmingham Reserve Zinfandel Lodi 2015, from Naked Wines

• the music was a magnificent new recording of the complete cycle of Mahler’s ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’, in a piano transcription by the composer, with the coloratura soprano Diana Damrau and the baritone Ivan Paley beautifully accompanied by Stephan Matthias Lademann; the 2-CD set is billed as the first to present Mahler’s piano version of his Knaben Wunderhorn songs with two voices

 

[image of boy with horn, uncredited there, is from BBC radio]

Maybe it’s just the season, but without intending it, lately I seem to be coming up with almost monochromatic meals. Sometimes I don’t realize this until I’ve snapped the picture, and then of course it’s too late.

Especially before I added a rasher of bacon, the breakfast/lunch I put on the table today, while not quite limited to a single color, certainly didn’t look as parti-colored as the ones we enjoyed this summer.

Fortunately neither the eggs nor the ‘ham’ were actually green.

• the ingredients of the meal were, eggs from pastured [green] Americauna chickens and thick bacon from pastured pigs, both products of Millport Dairy Farm; local (regional) Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ from Whole Foods Market; finely-chopped pieces of a green scallion from Stokes Farm, chopped sections form one Berried Treasures green garlic scape, and a fresh green aji rico pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm; Maldon salt; freshly-ground black pepper; a pinch or so of a dry seasoning (not green) called L’ekama from Ron & Leetal Arazi’s New York Shuk; chopped green dill from Stokes Farm; and pieces cut from an organic multigrain baguette from Bread Alone, and not toasted, that, surprisingly, had survived for several days without turning green after its purchase in the Union Square Greenmarket on Friday
• the music was Handel’s ‘Music for Queen Caroline’, William Christie directing the Choir and Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants, after which we listened to the incredibly gorgeous, ethereal, ‘Missa Videte miraculum’ of Nicholas Ludford (c. 1485-c. 1557), a little-known composer of the English renaissance (with works of Tudor polyphony) who grew up during the reign of Henry VII and died on the cusp the Elizabethan age

 

[the second image, a cartoon used to advertise the Dr. Seuss TV series adaptation, is from Netflix]

I now prefer cooking bass in a pan, using a more minimal approach, to let more of the goodness of the fresh fish shine, and subjecting it to high heat on top of the stove, to produce the crispy skin usually associated with professional chefs, but last night I needed to work quickly and with no stress, so I returned to the oven.

• two striped Bass fillets (about 7 ounces each) from Catherine at the Seatuck Seafood Company’s stand in the Union Square Greenmarket, each scored with several very shallow slashes on the skin side, to prevent curling, placed inside a glazed ceramic oven pan skin side down, scattered with a little chopped thyme from Keith’s Farm and oregano from Stokes Farm, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, a light sprinkling of some homemade dry bread crumbs, and drizzled with a little olive oil, placed in a 425º oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through, the fillets removed from the pan, arranged on 2 warm plates, a little juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon squeezed over the top
• eight small satina potatoes (like carola, with yellow skin and yellow flesh) from Keith’s Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in heavily-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with a tablespoon or more of rich some rich Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• late-season cavolo nero [what originally appeared to be only a small stash of loose leaves and small bunches, from Tamarack Hollow Farm, but ended up as a generous vegetable side, because I was careful not to let it reduce too much] wilted briefly inside a heavy antique medium size tin-lined copper pot in a tablespoon or so of olive oil after one halved rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm had first been heated there until fragrant and softened, the greens seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and drizzled with a little more oil
• the wine was a California ( ) white, Jac Cole Unoaked Chardonnay Alexander Valley 2017, from Naked wines
• the music was Haydn’s’ 1779, ‘L’isola Disabitata’, another 18th-century opera with a fantasy island setting (and Haydn once went to the moon with one),  Antal Doráti conducting the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra