..and also a bit of peperoncini.

I think I’ve come to prefer chevre over mozzarella as an accompaniment to the best tomatoes, especially when the cheese is as good as that produced by Ardith Mae.

For the purposes of this meal at least, which, even without buffalo mozzarella (we have buffalo pasta instead), is more Italian than French, I’m going to call this fresh cheese ‘caprino’.

• slices of 3 different colored heirloom tomatoes from Berried Treasures Farm, served with an Ardith Mae chevre (or, humor me here: ‘caprino‘), Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper, some torn basil leaves that had been pulled off of a live plant from Stokes Farm, both tomatoes and cheese drizzled with an excellent olive oil, Alce Nero DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto’ from Eataly
• slices from a loaf of Orwasher’s Multigrain bread

I just noticed that the main course was as vegetarian as the first one. In fact, this pasta dish was almost vegan.

• Japanese cucumbers [It. cetriolo], about a pound, from Berried Treasures Farm, sliced about 1/2″ thick, dried, sautéed inside a very large cast iron pan in a little olive oil over a fairly high flame until they had begun to color, then joined by 2 whole small dried red Calabrian peppers from Alewife Farm and 2 chopped red scallions [It. Scalogno] from Rise & Root Farm, and cooked until softened, tossed with some fennel [It. finocchio] buds from Berried Treasures, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black peppers, after which 8 ounces of Sfoglini’s Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk pasta, cooked al dente, and some of the reserved pasta water were added to the vegetables, stirred over a low-to-moderate flame for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors and the ingredients, transferred to shallow bowls, finished with a drizzle of olive oil and some homemade breadcrumbs scattered on top, micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge sprinkled over all
• the wine was an Italian (Veneto) rosé, Bardolino Chiaretto Corte Gardoni 2016, from Eataly Vino
• the music was Johann Wilhelm Hässler’s ‘360 Preludes in All Major and Minor Keys’, performed by Vitlaus von Horn [much more information about the composer here]