It was the Saturday before the feast of Easter, the middle of the Easter Triduum. Although we don’t observe the religious parts of any religious holidays, we usually enjoy the celebrations, and especially the feasting.
Last night, more or less unwittingly, we almost honored the Catholic tradition of a restrained ‘Paschal feast’: The main course was vegetarian, but the antipasto definitely was not.
- three ounces of fresh Salumeria Biellese finocchiona salame from Eataly, drizzled with some Frankies 457 Sicilian olive oil, the gift of a friend
- some wonderful ‘wild arugula’ from Lani’s Farm, dressed with more of the olive oil, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
- slices of French sourdough levain from Bread Alone
- one 10-ounce package of Rana portobello-mushroom-and-ricotta-filled ravioli rounds from Eataly, boiled inside a large pot of well-salted water for 2 minutes and drained, slipped into a large vintage tin-lined copper pan in which two sliced Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s farm, a sliced section of green garlic from John D. Madura Farm, one small sliced red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, some crushed dried orange/gold habanada, and a handful of pitted Kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, otherwise left whole, had been briefly sautéed in olive oil, then a bit of reserved pasta water added and the liquids emulsified, the mix placed in shallow bowls, finished with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts, and garnished with micro scallions from Two Guys from Woodbridge
- the wine throughout the meal was an Italian (Umbria) red, Falesco Vitiano Rosso 2014, from Landmark Wines
- the music was Carl Heinrich Graun’s ‘Osteroratorium’ (Easter Oratorio) (composed late 1720s-early 1730s), performed by Michael Alexander Willens conducting the Cologne Academy