It’s simple, it takes less than a half hour to put on the table, and it feels right at any time of the year, but the ingredients should be the very best available.

By the way, forget you thought you knew about tuna casseroles: The Italians know how to incorporate [very good] canned tuna into any number of dishes, with astounding results.

• one medium roughly-chopped red onion from Norwich Meadows Farm, stirred in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over a medium-high flame inside a large enameled cast iron pot until softened, followed by a teaspoon of crushed dried Itria-Sirissi chili, pepperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, a generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons of salted Sicilian capers, thoroughly rinsed, and the contents of one 14-ounce can of Mutti cherry tomatoes (Ciliegini), the tomatoes themselves first halved, the mixture cooked, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes began to break up, the heat then lowered and the pot kept on the flame for 5 or 10 minutes more, then just before the pasta itself (8 ounces of [Setaro spaghetti from Buon Italia]), boiled barely al dente was added, 6 ounces of Ás do Mar belly meat tuna in olive oil, already slightly flaked with a fork, slid into the sauce and mixed in, some reserved pasta water added and stirred in to ensure the pasta was not really dry, arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, garnished with chopped parsley from Westside Market
• the wine was a Portuguese (Alentejo) red, Luis Vieira Montaria Gold 2016, from Naked Wines 
• the music was Wagner’s ‘Der fliegende Holländer’, Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre

A very sturdy winter dinner, with a few juicy sweet peppers to point out just how sturdy and wintry it was.

• four 4-ounce artisanal porcini, Parmesan cheese, and black garlic fresh sausages (pork, white wine, salt, Parmesan cheese, black garlic, porcini, and shiitake mushrooms, black pepper, natural casings) from Hudson Vally Charcuterie  at Raven & Boar farm, seared in a little olive oil inside an oval enameled cast iron oval pan, turning frequently, until colored on all sides, arranged on the 2 plates, garnished with micro red Russian kale from Windfall Farms and accompanied by 4 mustards, including a rich shallot, garlic, paprika and turmeric mustard, also from Hudson Valley Charcuterie
• [three different kinds of potatoes that I already had on hand, but none of them would have been sufficient by itself to serve as a side, all unpeeled, scrubbed and cut into approximately 3/4″ pieces (one large Kennebec potato from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, which turned out to be a natural for this roasting treatment; one large Japanese sweet potato from Race Farm; and 2 medium-size ‘Magic Marley’ purple fingerlings from Norwich Meadows Farm, plus 2 large halved ‘yellow shallots’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, all tossed together in a bowl with less than two tablespoons of olive oil; sea salt; freshly-ground black pepper; one crushed piece of a mahogany-colored home-dried dark, dried heatless Habanada pepper acquired 2 summers before as fresh peppers from Norwich Meadows Farm; a really tiny dusting of a dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet peppers from Eckerton Hill Farm; and the leaves from several sprigs of rosemary from Eataly, everything arranged, without touching, on a large, well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan and roasted in a 400º oven for about 35 minutes, divided onto 2 plates, garnished with micro ruby red chard from Windfall Farms
• bright red ripe shishito peppers from Norwich Meadows Farm, halved lengthwise, pith and seeds removed, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot over a medium high flame until slightly carbonized, the flame reduced, a smal amount of chopped green celery stem and several quite small chopped scallions added and heated until softened, seasoned with salt and pepper and tossed with a bit of chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm
• the wine was a French (Roussillon) red, Benjamin Darnault Roussillon Villages 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music was Johann Georg Conradi’s 1691 opera, ‘Die Schöne und Getreue Ariadne’, the Boston Early Music Festival Chorus & Orchestra, with artistic co-directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs

It was a steak, and while it looks like beef in the light recorded by the photograph above, it was tuna, and it tasted like tuna, which is to say, very good.

Looking for music to accompany the meal, Barry turned up 2 very interesting composers totally unfamiliar to either of us until that night.

• 15-ounces of yellowfin tuna steak (in 2 pieces) from Pura Vida Seafood, rinsed, dried, tops and bottoms seasoned with local sea salt processed by the fisherman, Phil Karlin of P.E & D.D. Seafood, on the grounds of his Riverside home, and freshly-ground black pepper, then ‘paved’ with a mixture of less than a tablespoon of some incredibly pungent dried Semi di Finocchietto Ibleo [wild Sicilian fennel seed] harvested in the Iblei Mountains, purchased from Eataly Flatiron, and a little dried Itria-Sirissi chili, pepperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market (both first crushed together in a porcelain mortar and pestle), plus a very small amount of dried habanada pepper, 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 California lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, garnished with micro ruby red chard from Windfall Farms, finished with a drizzle of Chelsea Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil
• some purple viking potatoes from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in a generous amount of 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 a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and sprinkled with scissored Brooklyn chives (Square Roots) from the 23rd Street West Side Market  
• one windowsill-ripened late season orange heirloom tomato from Eckerton Hill Farm, halved horizontally, the cut sides sprinkled sea salt, black pepper, a bit of chopped fresh marjoram from Willow Wisp Farm, sautéed on both sides, then arranged on the plates, garnished with more of the herb and small drizzle of olive oil 
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Tenuta Ugolino, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Piaole 2018, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Britta Byström’s ’10 Secret doors’, Johannes Gustavsson conducting the Vasteras Sinfonietta, but later we listened to work by Anders Erik Birger Eliasson, which sent both of us looking for more information on both, quickly turning up a nugget from Eliasson, writing about Stockholm’s “modernist fortress” during the period of his musical studies, and citing an example of a composer whose work has been under-appreciated (almost painfully so, for me), both during and after his early death*

 

*”It was a time of unbearable self-denial. Metrical rhythms, melodies, even particular intervals were all taboo in contemporary music. This was a catastrophe for the human voice and the human ear – was then, and still is.” Anyone stepping out of line, he said, was immediately banished. He mentioned an example from Sweden, Allan Pettersson.” – Anders Erik Birger Eliasson (1947-2013) [from his Wikipedia entry]

 

[the image of Allan Pettersson, via my blog, from a site that no longer exists]

“squid | skwid |

noun (plural same or squids)

an elongated, fast-swimming cephalopod mollusk with ten arms (technically, eight arms and two long tentacles), typically able to change color.

But that’s always only a part of the story.

• exactly one pound of fresh squid, mostly bodies, because someone else had just bought all the tentacles, from American Seafood Company, rinsed and very carefully dried, quickly arranged inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until quite hot and its the cooking surface brushed with a little olive oil once it had, sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, local Long Island waters sea salt from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, freshly-ground black pepper, and 4 or 5 quite small chopped aji dulce seasoning peppers from Eckerton Hill Farm, followed by a full 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods California lemon and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside a 400º oven and the squid roasted for just 5 minutes, by which time their bodies had ballooned somewhat, removed and arranged on 2 plates and ladled with the cooking juices that had been transferred from the pan to a sauce boat
• 10 ounces of small Masquerade 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 a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and tossed with micro ruby red chard from Windfall Farms
• tender collards from Tamarack Hollow Farm, leaves and stems roughly cut, washed several times and drained, transferred to a smaller bowl very quickly in order to retain as much of the water clinging to them as possible, braised inside a large, heavy antique tin-lined copper pot in which 2 halved cloves of rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm had first been allowed to sweat in some olive oil, finished with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Lombardy) white, Lugana, Ca’ Lojera 2018, from Astor Wines
• the music was Lully’s 1677 tragédie en musique, ‘Isis’, performed by Christophe Rousset and his Talens Lyriques

We weren’t interested in a big deal meal, so I thought I’d put together a pasta.

Barry said he would like one with which we could enjoy a red wine, so I gathered some ingredients that would please that choice. It was far more interesting, and delicious, than we had expected, and a second helping was even better, which is always the case with a good pasta.

• a little chopped garlic and chopped shallot heated until fragrant inside a large antique tin-lined copper pot, some small chopped sections of very small celery stems added and also heated briefly before the introduction of a few small pieces of dried habanada, a handful of pitted black oil-cured olives and a small amount of chopped celery leaves, then 9 ounces of Setaro Torre Annunziata Napoli Penne Rigatoni from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, cooked al dente, mixed in, and almost a cup of the reserved cooking water added and stirred until the liquid had emulsified, the sauced pasta placed in shallow bowls, sprinkled with lovage, finished with a sprinkling of pine nuts (accidentally toasted beyond the stage I had  intended, but the carbonization seemed perfect for this dish), garnished with c from Two Guys from Woodbridge, with a bit of olive oil drizzled around the edges
• the wine was an Italian (Pedmont/Alba) red, Barbera d’Alba, Produttori di Govone 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Mendelssohn’s, his 1837 Piano Concerto No. 2  and the 1824 Symphony No. 1, Kristian Bezuidenhout on fortepiano, and the Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Cas directing

Somebody else said it, but it totally makes sense: Swordfish belly is to swordfish as pork belly is to pork.

Which means it’s absolutely wonderful, and explains why I’ve gone home with some every time I’ve found it in the market. Because it doesn’t show up at our local fish stands very often, this was only the fourth time I’ve been able to prepare it.

• one 1½-inch-thick 14-ounce belly steak from a local, Long Island waters, swordfish (noting there’s a significant shrinkage in the cooking process, so this amount represented 2 modest portions) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, brought to kitchen/room temperature, cut into 2 segments, the skin not sliced off this time, as it’s perfectly edible and it helps hold together the shape of the belly meat, briefly seared, 30 or so seconds on the first side, 15 or a little more on the second, inside a totally dry (no oil or butter whatsoever) enameled cast iron oval pan which had been pre-heated above a high flame until quite hot, the swordfish seasoned, as it was turned, with local Long Island sea salt, also from P.E. & D.D., and freshly ground black pepper,  removed and arranged on warm plates, the heat under the pan reduced to medium and a tablespoon or so of olive oil added, slices from one rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm placed inside and sautéed until softened, and then a couple dozen or so halved, very ripe golden cherry tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm, punctured with a small trussing steel, which added and pushed around inside the pan briefly, after which all of its contents were arranged on and around the seared swordfish, both fish and vegetable finished with a squeeze of a small organic Californian lemon from Chelsea While Foods Market and sprinkled with chopped marjoram from from Willow Wisp Farm
• slices of a crusty She Wolf Bakery baguette to soak up all the juices

• red mustard from Norwich Meadows Farm washed and drained in several changes of water, wilted in a little olive oil in which several cloves of rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon
• the wine was an Italian (Sicily) white, La Segreta Il Bianco Sicilia D.O.C., from Philippe Wines
• the music was an entire album of symphonic music by David Matthews, followed by a recording of Beethoven’s second Piano Concerto, with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle, and Mitsuko Uchida