This was rich, but a spring, Mediterranean kind of rich.

Everything was juicy, although I hadn’t started out with that objective. It was more of a quest to choose and prepare 3 things that would contrast with but still complement each other.

The very ripe grape tomatoes were at their peak juiciness, but I worried a little about the Japanese eggplant, because it had been started inside a greenhouse, because of its unaccountable piebald appearance, and because of its rotundity (they were going to be pan grilled), but they were really tasty, and possibly the juiciest I’d ever had.

• two thick 5 1/2-ounce tuna steaks from American Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, tops and bottoms seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, brushed or paved with almost 2 tablespoons of a mix of some incredibly wonderful dried Semi di Finocchietto Ibleo [wild Sicilian fennel seed], harvested in the Iblei Mountains, from Eataly Flatiron and a little dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, both first crushed together in a porcelain mortar and pestle, the steaks pan-grilled above a medium-high flame for little more than a minute or so on each side, finished on the plates with a good squeeze of the juice of an organic lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of Chelsea Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil, garnished with a scattering of a wonderful spring treat, tiny bursting seeds from inside a blossoming onion found at the Norwich Meadows Farm stall in Union Square
• a decent amount of very ripe grape tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, located in Carlisle, New Jersey, at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, washed, halved, heated inside a small copper skillet in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and black pepper, garnished with basil leaves removed from a live plant sold by Central Valley Farm in the Greenmarket
• three ‘dappled’ Japanese eggplant from Norwich Meadows Farm, each halved lengthwise, brushed all over with a mixture of a little olive oil, 2 finely-chopped spring garlic cloves from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, NJ, a pinch of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, salt and black pepper, pan-grilled on an enameled cast iron ribbed pan above a brisk flame, turning twice, adding more of the material from the marinade the second time, then arranged on the plates, sprinkled with torn spearmint leaves from Keith’s Farm and drizzled with a small bit of olive oil
• the wine was a New York (long Island) rosé, Wölffer Estate Rosé 2018, from Philippe Wines
• the music was a great recording of Alessandro Stradella’s gorgeous early 1670s opera, ‘La Doriclea’, performed by the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro

It was a splendid meal, and extremely satisfying. Barry really loved it. I’m thinking of referring to it in the future as ‘the little magic meal’, since, aside from its other charms, it also betrays physical hints of the original.

Everything came together beautifully, and surprisingly easily.

My idea was to use some of my stock of 4 heads of radicchio (It had felt like I’d been hoarding these treasures) but doing something fairly simple with it. A search of this blog didn’t give me any ideas, because I’d only used small amounts of radicchio in pasta dishes until now.

I found good prospects on 2 other sites, and they turned out to be basically the same recipe, the main variable being the livestock sort from which the cheese, one of the principal ingredients, originated. I ended up cribbing most of both, while copying out my own, third version. The Result?  ‘Spaghetti with Radicchio and Ricotta’/’Spaghetti with Radicchio and Chevre’ became ‘Rigatoni with Radicchio and Feta’.

• little more than one tablespoon olive oil poured into a medium size antique copper pot and heated over a medium flame before adding 2 minced spring garlic cloves from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, N.J. and cooking them until soft but not browned, adding a fourth of a cup of mixed finely chopped fresh parsley from Phillips Farms and lovage from Keith’s Farm, and 1/4 of a cup homemade breadcrumbs, stirring frequently until breadcrumbs were golden, or about 3 minutes, the mix allowed to rest while the basic sauce itself was being assembled with 8 or 9 ounces Setaro Torre Annunziata Napoli Penne Rigatoni from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, cooked al dente and drained, the hot pasta transferred to a large bowl, where it was followed immediately by 4 ounces of a crumbled feta from from Lynnhaven Dairy Goat Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, the mix tossed gently to melt the cheese, much of a cup of reserved warm pasta water added gradually until the rigatoni was accompanied by a liquid of a good sauce consistency, being careful not to add too much water, then mixing in one and a half small heads of variegata radicchio di lusia from Eckerton Hill Farm, quartered top to bottom and thinly sliced crosswise, and half of the breadcrumb mixture, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, the contents of the bowl now gently tossed to coat in the sauce evenly, the pasta transferred to shallow bowls and sprinkled with the remaining breadcrumb mixture [NOTE: depending on how dry it may be when placed inside the bowls, a little olive oil drizzled around the edge might not be out of line; also noting that I had also intended to sprinkle on some onion blossoms (mostly because I had them), but I forgot, and, as it turned out, I think it would have been like gilding a lily]
• the wine, ordered directly from the winery, was an Oregon (Williamette Valley) white, Erath Oregon Pinot Gris 2016
• the music was Johann David Heinichen’s 1720 opera, ‘Flavio Crispo’ [tragically, while today we can appreciate its great beauty, the world had to wait 300 years, and for the Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra, Il Gusto Barocco, to learn this (the ensemble resurrected it and premiered it in 2016), because of the slightly outrageous circumstances of its stillbirth: the opera was never performed in its own time, or in the 3 centuries after, “due to an incident”)

It was a phenomenal dish.

Because it was a great recipe, really very easy to put together (if you have most of the suggested ingredients), and because it welcomes variations and improvisations. This time I included feta cheese for the first time, which wasn’t really an improvisation, since it’s suggested in the original, very sketchy recipe (I had just never had some around when I was assembling this entrée before).

Of course it meant the preparation would be even more Greek than before, so we looked around for a Greek wine and found something that would have been a perfect pairing whatever its heritage.

By the way, the bluefish is a magnificent prize, even if not fully appreciated everywhere, even today (it still remains one of the best bargains available at the market). I suspect it’s because most people don’t know how to cook it to take advantage if its almost singular virtues.

Also noting here, for the record, that boiled potatoes are not unknown in Greece.

• one 17-ounce beautiful, very fresh bluefish fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, rinsed, rubbed with olive oil and a little Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed inside a vintage 13″ tin-lined low-sided copper pan, sprinkled liberally with a very pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia and a bit of crushed dried Calabresi peperoncino secchia from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, covered with thin slices of one small-to-medium red onion from Quarton Farm, halved very ripe grape tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market a block west of us, some chopped fresh oregano from Phillips Farms, 8 or 9 pitted Kalamata olives from Flatiron Eataly, a few ounces of feta cheese from Lynnhaven Dairy Goat Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, crumbled, and 6 very thin slices of a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, the pan placed inside a 425º oven and baked for 15 minutes, the fillets arranged on the plates and garnished with roughly chopped bronze fennel from Space on Ryder Farm
• one pound of red Adirondack 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 inside the pot in a little more than a tablespoon or so of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, garnished with onion blossoms from Norwich Meadows Farm

• the wine was a quite unusual Greek (Macedonia) white, Domaine Tatsis, Xinomavro White ‘Xiropotamos’, 2015, from Flatiron Wines, [“Less than 50 cases are made of this killer biodynamic white each year. It’s made from the free-run juice of Xinomavro (a red variety similar to Nebbiolo) before the rest of the grapes are made into a rose.” – seller’s notes]

• the music was glorious, if not Greek, a stunning 2006 recording of Handel’s 1715 ‘magic opera’, ‘Amadigi di Gaula’, performed by Al Ayre Español, conducted by Eduardo López Banzo 

Sometimes we order pizza. We rotate among several really excellent shops, and they’re their styles are totally individual. They are not all Italian.

This past Sunday seemed to have been wrapped up in one thousand and one days. I’ll explain.

We ordered pizza in the evening, but it felt even more special than usual.

We had begun around noon with a breakfast accompanied by music incorporating Jewish, Christian and Muslim Psalms from the 16th & 17th centuries, performed by an ensemble formed specifically to bridge the geography of those cultures.

That afternoon we were in Sunset Park for a theatrical performance, ‘News of the Strange’, whose inspiration came from the medieval Arabian fantasies of ‘One Thousand and One Nights‘, a collection of folk tales associated with the middle east. The work may not actually have originated in the Middle East, and it can speak to a much broader, multicultural world today, an assignment which guided the theater company’s mainstage season as well as the ‘lab’ works associated with it.

When we got home, we ordered a Waldy’s pizza.

The pizza is literally out of this world, or at least somewhat out of Italy: Waldy Malouf was blessed with a Sicilian grandmother, a Lebanese grandmother and grandfather, and a mother he has described as a New England farm girl. It seems to have worked, and some of his work fit nicely into a day in which we enjoyed opening a number of cultural borders.

By the way, it’s not a round pie, not a square pie, but a beautiful, very thin crust, rounded rectangular pie, with spectacular ingredients.

The music that night continued the theme running through the day, having been described in 2003 by the New York Times as:

A Western period instrument group jams with a Turkish band, setting off sparks and shedding delightful light on whole musical ages and cultures.

• the wine, moving further west, was a Portuguese (Península de Setúbal) red, José Maria da Fonseca JMF Tinto 2017

• the music was the DGG album, ‘The Waltz – Ecstasy and Mysticism’, a collaboration between Concerto Köln and Sarband (“Waltzes by Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss sound positively exotic when placed alongside music by 18th-century Ottoman Turkish composer Dede Efendi and his contemporaries.” – from the album notes); glorious, great fun

 

[the second image is from the DGG site]

and one piece of egg (actually two, but at least they’ve been arranged as they were in the pan)

• the ingredients were relatively few (few at least for our breakfast room table): 6 fresh eggs from pastured chickens and 4 slices of bacon from pastured pigs, all from Pennsylvania’s Millport Dairy Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, the eggs, while they were being fried, seasoned with a newly-introduced local Long Island sea salt (P.E. & D.D. Seafood), freshly ground black pepper, sprinkled with chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm, and tiny buds from an onion flower stem from Norwich Meadows Farm; a few very ripe tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market only one block west of us, punctured first, then heated inside a small antique blue Pyrex skillet in a little olive oil and a small amount of thinly sliced rocambole garlic scapes from Keith’s Farm until the tomatoes were a little more than warm, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, mixed with some chopped dill from Stokes Farm and arranged on the plates with a few leaves of a small head of red and green lettuce from Campo Rosso Farm already dressed with salt, pepper, a few drops of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, and even fewer drops of organic lemon from Whole Foods; and lightly toasted slices of Pain D’Avignon ‘seven grains bread’ from Foragers Market

• the music, consciously chosen to relate to a Target Margin Theater performance we were attending later that afternoon, was the album, ‘Sacred Bridges: Psalms of David’ (Jewish, Christian and Muslim Psalms from the 16th & 17th Cent.),  performed by the remarkable group, Ensemble Sarband, directed by Vladimir Ivanoff  

 

[the image at the bottom is from Sarband]

Pretty in pink.

How did Americans get saddled with the celery equivalent of supermarket tomatoes or apples? It seems it’s for pretty much the same reasons, as I learned this week:

In the 1930s growers shifted to varieties derived from Giant Pascal, such as Tall Utah, that were more resistant, productive and kept well. This “Pascal celery” was also cheaper to grow because it produced high-quality green stalks without blanching, similar to what we eat today,…

[today] Just a few California farms produce heirloom or unusual celery. Martin’s Farm in Salinas grows Giant Red, an heirloom that looks like rhubarb, and Dorato Gigante, a yellowish-green variety from Italy. “They have profound, intense flavor only hinted at with the current kind of celery,” said farmer-owner Martin Bournhonesque. – from a recent article in the Los Angeles Times

Last night we learned a little about one alternative, thanks to Chris Field & Jessi Okamoto of Campo Rosso Farm.

I think it’s a pretty spectacular illustration of what cannot be found in an the American supermarket:

And then the fun began.

(continuing while waiting for the spring garlic to soften)

• one medium size minced shallot from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on West 23rd Street, heated, stirring, over a moderate flame in a couple tablespoons of olive oil inside a large antique copper pot until softened and fragrant, then one bundle of small Chinese pink celery from Campo Rosso Farm, trimmed, the stems cut into pieces on average an inch long, some of the more tender leaves chopped and set aside to be added near the end, stirred in and cooked until softened to the table’s preference and a pinch or so of some of the (now powdered) remains of some light-colored home-dried habanada pepper that had been purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm in 2017, followed by the addition of 10 ounces of Afeltra Spaghettone (a long Neapolitan pasta slightly fatter than spaghetti), cooked only until al dente, along with most of a cup of its cooking water, stirred over high heat until the liquid had emulsified, the pan removed from the heat, some zest and a little juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon gently introduced, seasoned with some local Long Island sea salt (from P.E. & D.D. Seafood), and freshly ground black pepper, tossed with a dozen or so pitted Niçoise-style coquillo olives (Spain/Murcia, sweet, slightly smoky!) from Whole Foods and some of the reserved celery leaves, transferred to shallow bowls, some toasted pine nuts from Flatiron Eataly scattered on top, and sprinkled with more celery leaves, the edges drizzled with olive oil
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) rosé, 2018 Oregon Rosé of Pinot Noir, ordered from Erath  
• the music was the album, ‘Dream of the Orient’, with performances by Concerto Köln and Saraband

When I’m shopping at any of the fish stalls at the Union Square GreenmarketI’ll I usually zero in on whatever I consider the most unusual catch of the day, so of course I brought home some of the shark steak on display on Friday afternoon.

• two thick 9 or 10-ounce thresher shark [alopias vulpinus] steaks from Pura Vida Seafood, halved, rubbed on both sides with most of a mixture of fresh herbs (parsley from from Phillips Farms, tarragon from Lani’s Farm, and spearmint from Keith’s Farm), chopped together, using a chef’s knife, with sea salt, some partially smashed whole black pepper, some fresh spring garlic from from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, NJ, a bit of zest from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, a bit of olive oil added to moisten the mix, reserving a little of the herb mixture for basting, the shark pan-grilled, basted throughout the cooking process with some of the reserved mixture and removed, ideally, while barely fully cooked in the center (exactly as I managed it this time), arranged on the plates, finished with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil, garnished with chopped bronze fennel from from Space on Ryder Farm (of Betsy Ryder’s family farm)

• fourteen small ‘red fingerling’ potatoes from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in some  generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm medium vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, tossed with chopped fresh oregano from Phillips Farms

• one large bunch of impressively big, ‘Big Red’ mustard leaves from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, washed and drained several times, wilted inside a large antique copper pot in a little olive oil in which 2 halved spring garlic cloves from Michisk’s Farm had been allowed to sweat, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) rosé, De Angelis Marche Rosato IGT 2018, from Foragers Wines
• the music was a very beautiful album of Francesco Durante Concertos, Nos. 1-8 (7 for strings, one for keyboard), performed by Concerto Köln

It’s beautiful, and the recipe I used this time let me keep the skin on, but then the steak had to end up on the plates skin side down, so there was that.

• one beautiful section of salmon fillet, a piece of a wild, almost rainbow trout-like flanked, bright red fleshed, 16-ounce Copper River sockeye, fresh, never frozen, MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified (the story is  complicated), a delight from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, placed unseasoned, skin side up, inside a heavy enameled cast iron pan in which a little more than 2 tablespoons of a rich butter (Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, now almost the only one I ever use) 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 over after 5, removed, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with some local Long Island sea salt (P.E. & D.D. Seafood/Phil Karlin’s own), freshly-ground black pepper, chopped fresh dill from Stokes Farm, and the tiny flower buds of a blossoming onion from Norwich Meadows Farm, allowed to rest for a couple minutes before serving

• two small red spring onions from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, sliced, heated in olive oil inside a heavy large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pot until softened, several small Korean cucumbers from Campo Rosso Farm, chopped into one-inch sections, added and sautéed until beginning to brown on each side, seasoned with salt and pepper and  garnished with lovage from Keith’s Farm

• two handfuls of beautiful red-vein tender spring spinach from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed in several changes of water, drained, very gently wilted (not reduced too far) inside a heavy small antique copper pot in a little olive oil in which one large clove of spring garlic from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, NJ, quartered, had first been allowed to sweat, seasoned with salt, black pepper, drizzled with a little organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, and a bit more of the olive oil
• the wine was a German (Mosel/Trier-Saarburg/Longuich) red, Thomas Schmitt 2015 Private Collection Estate Bottled Qualitätswein Pinot Noir, from Copake Wine Works
• the music was Eötvös’ extraordinarily rich 2013 opera, ‘Paradise Reloaded (Lilith)’, discussed here on Opera News

The squid was delicious, as it always is with this very familiar recipe (and with virtually any other), as was the kale, a particularly tasty redbor (brassica oleraceae ‘redbor’), whose appearance could more accurately be described as ‘frilly purple and green kale’.

The big deal for us however was the farm where the vegetable was grown, especially since we’re now in the month of June, and this one happens to be the 50th June since Stonewall. The the farm is TransGenerational Farm, and farmer’s name is Jayne. Here’s a bit about the farm and the farmer, from Grow New York, the group responsible for New York’s Greenmarket Farmers Markets, and many other initiatives.

• after the oven had been heated to 400º (it was a warm humid night, but not to worry, they only had to be in there for 5 minutes, and our new AC system is up to the challenge), just over a pound of very fresh squid, bodies and tentacles, from American Seafood Company, rinsed and very carefully dried, were quickly arranged inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until hot and its the cooking surface brushed with olive oil once the oil itself had become quite hot, then immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, a good section of a peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and a pinch of the now powdered remains of some light-colored home-dried habanada pepper (purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm back in 2017, and still awesome), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by 3 full tablespoons of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside the hot oven and the squid roasted for just 5 minutes, by which time their bodies had ballooned somewhat, then removed and the bodies and tentacles arranged on 2 plates and ladled with the cooking juices that had been transferred to a footed glass sauce boat

• one bunch of redbor kale, finely-curled and a striking dark purple-red in color, from TransGenerational Farm, wilted with olive oil in which one thinly-sliced fresh garlic clove from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, NJ had been allowed to heat until pungent, seasoned with salt, black pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil
• thin slices(one falling off the plate in the picture at the top) from a quarter section of a miche from Bread Alone, purchased in the Union Square Greenmarket
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, Corvo Bianco 2017, from Philippe Wines
• the music was an album of 2 septets by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, performed by Consortium Classicum, with soloists Dieter Klöcker, clarinet, and Florian Uhlig, keyboard

 

[the image of Jayne is from the GrowNYC Blog]

Making do.

I mean that I had a choice of pasta, and more than one interesting ingredient to make it shine, and I decided the day before not to look further. When I found that even with the special element I had picked it would not really be much food, and realizing that we would have the time to enjoy two courses, I turned to a package of a salumi we had also been living with for a while.

The interesting ingredient I chose was agretti, because it was there, and because I imagined it would be very interesting, even unadorned, mated with a very good pasta.

Looking on line, I came across a discussion of the plant, one which also included a very simple recipe, ‘Spaghetti with monk’s beard’. I added some toasted breadcrumbs at the end, partly because I didn’t have near as much agretti as the recipe specified. It was delicious, and I don’t think we missed the agretti that wasn’t there. Still, it should be even  more interesting the next time, when I hope to have more ‘monk’s beard’ to toss with the pasta.

It was because the dish would be a pretty slight meal by itself in any event that I added an antipasto.

• two ounces of La Quercia’s Ridgetop Piccante Prosciutto (rubbed with fennel seed and red chili) from pastured pigs in the Missouri Ozarks
• the last of the small head of variegata radicchio di lusia from Eckerton Hill Farm that we now had enjoyed across 4 meals, and the leaves of a small head of lettuce from Campo Rosso Farm, which very much resembled the chicory, both ‘greens’ dressed with olive oil, local sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cut spruce tips from Violet Hill Farm
• slices of Pain D’Avignon ‘seven grains bread’ from Foragers Market

The spaghetti could hardly have been easier, or more fun, to assemble.

• about 2, maybe 3 ounces of agretti from Campo Rosso Farm, cleaned by “..pulling off any tired looking strands and chopping off the pink roots.”, as the recipe advises, washed a couple times in a large bowl of water and drained, tossed, along with some crushed dried Calabresi peperoncino secchia from Buon Italia, into an antique high-sided copper pot, over low-medium heat, in which 2 fresh garlic cloves from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, N.J. had been gently cooking in 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil until they had softened and become fragrant, a pinch of salt added along with half a cup or so of water, the mix stirred for about 5 minutes or until the thickest part of the agretti stems had been cooked through, then half a pound of Setaro spaghetti from Buon Italia, cooked al dente, was added to the pot, with at least half of a cup of pasta cooking water, and everything stirred over high flame until the liquid had emulsified, when it was served in shallow bowls, a squeeze of juice from a Chelsea Whole Foods Market organic lemon added, olive oil drizzled around the edges, and toasted homemade breadcrumbs sprinkled on top

 

• the wine throughout was a very unusual, and I think stunning, Italian (Emilia Romagna) white, Caviro Sono Famoso 2017, from Foragers Market Wine [until fairly recently, the grape, famoso di Cesena, was thought to be extinct]
• and the music throughout was Salieri’s 1787 opera, ‘Tarare’, with a libretto by Beaumarchais, in a recording by Les Talens Lyriques directed by Christophe Rousset, which has not yet been released (we heard it via Spotify)