The meat was a leftover, from a roast, but everyone should have such leftovers! The green vegetable would have been at its best had I moved it from the crisper to the oven a number of days sooner, so, not as spectacular as it should have been, but I did manage to roast the root vegetable at just the right moment, and the chutney was better than it was the first time around.

• two ribs from a large smoked pork rib roast we had enjoyed with friends on New Years Day, heated for a few minutes in a little butter inside a large antique copper pot with some sliced Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, covered, arranged on the plates, the little bit of the juices produced, plus some more scallion sprinkled on top
• more of the really good chutney prepared for the first appearance of the Kassler (quince, fig, shallot, garlic, cherries, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, cardamon, peppercorns, candied ginger, and cinnamon stick)
• medium sized parsnips from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced as French fries, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of crushed dried habanada pepper, roasted for about 25 minutes at 400º inside 2 Pampered Chef unglazed seasoned oven pans, one large and one small, to avoid crowding them, arranged on the plates and sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• a number of quite small Brussels sprouts from Migliorelli Farm I had purchased a full week earlier, when I was afraid I wouldn’t find a green vegetable to serve over the holiday, washed, trimmed and dried, tossed inside a bowl with a little olive oil, salt, and black pepper, plus a bit of dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi, then roasted inside another  unglazed seasoned Pampered Chef pan, a medium size this time, until the sprouts were partly brown and crisp on the outside
• the wine was a French (Touraine/Loire) white, Vignoble Dinocheau, Pineau d’Aunis 2017, from Flatiron Wines, it was excellent, and an excelllent pairing; more about this interesting AOP here]
• the music was Rossini’s wonderful opera buffa, ‘Il Barbiere Di Siviglia’: Great fun, it was a 1989 recording with Giuseppe Patanè conducting the Orchestra e coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, with Leo Nucci, Cecilia Bartoli, William Matteuzzi, Paata Burchuladze, Enrico Fissore, and others

Dinner was good, very good. While we were enjoying it I thought to myself, surprisingly good, but if I had considered our routinely good experiences with the terrific fresh swordfish we can get in Manhattan, I couldn’t have been surprised.

• one beautiful 16.5 ounce swordfish steak from American Seafood Company 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 chopped fresh, slowly drying, but still very sweet and pungent tarragon from Stokes Farm, a bit of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, a small section of a home-dried habanada pepper, and the chopped white sections of one very small Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, after which the swordfish was drained, 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 barely (or, actually, 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 scallion, drizzled with a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon and garnished with a little purple micro radish from Windfall Farms
• ten or so ounces of of ‘pinto’ potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with some Whole Foods house Portuguese olive oil, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with some roughly cut lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• two mid size red chicories (radicchio), that were something like a cross between treviso and tardivo, or what Chris and Jessi of Campo Rosso Farm have dubbed, ‘Rosa di Campo Rosso’, sliced broadly, sautéed until barely wilted inside an antique medium, high-sided tin-lined copper pot with a little olive oil in which one sliced Camelot shallot from Quarton Farm had already been heated until it had softened, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, finished with a dash of balsamic vinegar, arranged on the plates, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine, totally new to us, was a wonderful Greek (Mantinia/Peloponnese) white, Troupis Hoof and Lur 2017 [for a little about newer Greek wines, including this one, look here], from Copake Wine Works, which is also pretty new to us (we expect to regularly order more from them)
• the music was Tchaikovsky’s 1892 lyric opera, ‘Iolanta’, Emmanuel Villaume conducting the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Slovenian Chamber Choir, with Anna Netrebko, Sergey Skorokhodov, Alexey Marko, and Vitalij Kowaljow

I love the idea of bringing in the first day of the year with a feast.

Feasts should be shared, and even if it’s only only 2 guests, it’s enough of an excuse for a roast of some kind. That brings us up to last Tuesday, when two good artist friends joined us for a late afternoon supper, pre-sundown, built around a large slow-cooked smoked pork rib roast, known in Germany as Kasslerbraten. The rest of the meal was pretty German as well, German in the broadest sense, since most of the wine was Austrian.

We nibbled on breadsticks, dried chickpeas, and taralli, which was not traditionally Germanic, but then neither was the sparkling.

• the wine was a California (Central Coast) sparkling white, Eponina Brut California NV, from Naked Wines

The meal proper began with a smoked fish, which is also pretty Teutonic.

• a composed smoked fish salad using local fish caught by Karl Karlin, the husband of Dolores Karlin, who made it, of more than one white species, mayonnaise, red onion, and celery, from P.E. & D.D.Seafood, spread on soft toasts of a rustic Pain d’Avignon seven grain bread (whole wheat, honey, sesame- sunflower-flax seed, oats) from Foragers
• nasturtium leaves from Union Square Grassman (the only thing green visible in the market on Monday)
• the wine was an Austrian (Wagram) white, Roter Veltliner, Wimmer-Czerny 2016, from Astor Wines

• one six and three quarter-pound smoked pork rack [Ger: Kassler, or Kasslerbraten, once roasted] from O. Ottomanelli and Sons on Bleecker Street in the West Village, trimmed by Joey Ottomanelli, rubbed with a mix of salt, pepper, and a little of both picante and dulce Spanish paprika, placed inside a large enameled cast iron dutch oven with 5 diced yellow onions from John D. Madura Farms and 4 diced garlic cloves from Quarton Farm, 5 or 6 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, 8 or 10 juniper berries, 6 cups of water and 2 cups of a decent red wine, covered with its lid (imperfectly, because of the size of the rack, so some tin foil had to be summoned to assist), cooked in a preheated oven 375° for about an hour, the cover removed and the pork continued cooking for another possibly another hour (I didn’t time it, but it took much longer than I had expected, so we have to rely on our own judgment next time) basting occasionally, until the internal temperature was around 160º, removed from the oven, the meat cut into chops, one rib each, and kept warm while a simple sauce was prepared, starting by transferring some of the cooking liquid to a smaller saucepan where, if necessary, it was first reduced, then stirred with a mix of about 4 tablespoons of water stirred with 2 tablespoons of arrowroot to bind it, the ribs served on pre-heated plates with some of the sauce on the top, the remainder poured into a footed glass sauceboat which was added to the table
• a rich chutney prepared the day before with 2 quince that had been in the refrigerator for what should have been an unconscionable time (but which seems to have only made them more interesting) using this theKitchn.com recipe, incorporating a few dried Calabrian (Amantea) figs from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market (to make up for the fact that I had less quince than specified in the recipe), a red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, a Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, quince from S. & S.O. Produce, dried sweet cherries from Manhattan Fruit Exchange in the Chelsea Market, chopped candied ginger from Whole Foods Market (I didn’t have the fresh ginger the recipe asked for), and a local apple cider vinegar from Race Farm
• prepared the day before, refrigerated, and then reheated for 12 to 15 minutes the next afternoon: a little over 2 pounds of russet potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, peeled, and thinly-sliced, tossed in a large bowl with a teaspoon of freshly-ground black pepper, a quarter teaspoon or so of freshly-ground nutmeg, 3 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, half of a cup of shaved fresh horseradish from holy Schmitt’s Horseradish (in Riverside, Long Island), and two and a half cups of Ronnybrook heavy cream, all arranged inside a buttered 3-quart enameled cast iron baking dish, the liquid pressed to submerge the potatoes completely, covered in aluminum foil and baked in a 400º oven for 25 minutes, the foil removed and the dish allowed to bake further, until the potatoes were tender and the top is golden, about another 50 minutes
• just under a pound of Savoy cabbage from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, quartered, cored, sliced into one-half-inch ribbons, sautéed inside a medium antique heavy high-sided copper pot over medium heat in about a tablespoon of olive oil and a quarter cup of cold water, cooked for a few minutes, or until the cabbage had wilted slightly, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a little more than a teaspoon of cumin seed that had first been toasted inside a small cast iron pan, and a teaspoon of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, the cabbage stirred, cooked for a few more minutes, or until tender
• the first wine with the main course was an Austrian (Burgenland) red, Blaufränkisch, Meinklang 2016, from Astor Wines
• followed by a part of another Austrian (Carnuntum) red, Blaufränkisch, Markowitsch 2016

Although there’s no photo of it, there was a cheese course. The choices I had made while shopping at the Greenmarket were with German styles in mind.

• two Alpine-style cow cheeses from Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, Connecticut: ‘Dairyere‘ (aged six months), and ‘Dairyere Reserve‘ aged for a year
• slices of a sturdy Shewolf Bakery miche, reminiscent of a great German bread
• the wine was the remainder of the Burgenland Blaufränkish enjoyed at the end of the main course
• followed by a return to a white, still another Austrian (Weinviertel), Riesling ‘Falkenstein’ Dürnberg 2015, also from Astor Wines

After the cheese, we sipped a port-like wine with nuts and dried fruit.

• dried Calabrian (Amantea) figs from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, and some almonds from Foragers Market on 8th Avenue
• the wine was a California (Jackson Valley/Amador County) Port-style fortified wine, using traditional Portuguese varietals, Ana Diogo-Draper Amador County Doce + Forte 2016, from Naked Wines

• the music throughout the afternoon and evening was this Spotify playlist assembled by Barry

And Champagne of course.

The picture above was taken in the subdued light of the dining gallery, which I normally can’t trust to be bright enough for an unblurred image. It worked this time, but I didn’t trust it for a second shot, so I took a picture of the pasta while it was still on the kitchen counter (nearly photobombed by a very old twisted wire trivet I’ve had for almost 50 years that I brought with me from Rhode Island in 1985).

It was New Years Eve, one of my favorite holidays (made it through another year!), and one we usually prefer to celebrate quietly at home with a simple supper and a complex champagne, each as elegant as possible for their respective attributes.

This year it involved, truffles, a beautiful radicchio, and an Aube sparkling (Champagne, but a younger vignoble, located south of the Marne).

The first course would have involved sea food in some form, had I been able to find something special, but this year’s holidays fell on days unfriendly to the local Greenmarket suppliers, and I didn’t want to chance the crowds in the 2 retail stores where I could have found something.

Instead, I splurged in the very best prosciutto I could find, and it happened to boast a rich red which anticipated the color of a chicory that literally jumped out of the main course that would follow it.

• roughly 6 ounces of a 24 month prosciutto DOP Dall’Ava  D.O.K di San Daniele, of friuli, from Eataly Flatiron, drizzled with Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil
• local Bowery arugula from Foragers Market, dressed with the same olive oil, a bit of juice from an Whole Foods Market organic lemon, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• a demi-baguette from Eataly I’d purchased just as it came out of the oven on 23rd Street
• the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Casa d’Ambra Ischia Bianco 2017, from Garnet Wines

The main course just sort of came together, almost by itself, once I spotted the black truffle agnolotti at Eataly: Great butter, black pepper, yes, and a generous amount, plus a good Parmesan (best slivered), and then the torn leaves of 2 tiny gorgeous crimson very late season chicories, and a drizzle of fine olive oil

• thirteen ounces of black truffle agnolotti from the fresh pasta shop inside Eataly’s Flatiron (black truffle, porcini mushrooms, pecorino and romano cheeses), cooked very briefly, or until they had just popped to the surface of the water, drained and slipped into a large antique high-sided copper pot in which more than 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ had slowly been melted, arranged, half of it at a time, inside shallow bowls, finished by inserting leaves of 2 very small ‘heads’ of ‘Rosa di Campo Rosso’ radicchio (like the northern Italian tardivo) developed this year by Chris Field and Jessi Okamoto of Campo Rosso Farm, drizzled around the edges with a bit of Frankies 47 olive oil
• the wine was more of the Ischian white, and then some from the bottle of another Italian (and again a Campania) white, Benito Ferrara Greco di Tufo 2017, also from Garnet Wines

• the wine was a split of a French (Abe/Champagne) champagne, Pierre Gerbais, ‘Grains de Celles’ Extra Brut Réserve NV, from a producer in the Côte des Bars, a younger vignoble than those in the Marne, from Astor Wines

• the music throughout the evening, until midnight, was the final hours of live streaming of  the octonary WKCR Bachfest 2018 (at midnight, the live programmers let us down easily with another hour of Bach, and then ‘Jazz Til Dawn’ reminded me that I really loved cool jazz in the late 50s-early 60s (although we didn’t call it that then), and that I could go there again

These regular bacon and egg breakfasts are a little like snowflakes: no two are ever the same. If they did actually repeat themselves, I wouldn’t have to post so many of them.

• this one included smoked bacon from Flying Pigs Farm; some very fresh eggs laid by pastured chickens at Millport Dairy Farm, sprinkled with Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, ground fenugreek from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company in the Saturday Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on West 23rd Street, garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge; 3 halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market heated in a little olive oil before adding salt and pepper, a bit of chopped Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, a little finely chopped Keith’s Farm rocambole garlic, a finely chopped portion of a small stem of a Campo Rosso tardivo-type radicchio, a pinch of gram masala from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company; local (regional) Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’; and both fresh and lightly toasted slices of 3 different local breads (a buckwheat baguette from Runner & Stone Bakery plus a crusty dark rye and a seven grain loaf, both from Foragers)
• the music was more live streaming, on its penultimate day, of the awesome WKCR Bachfest 2018