beer pasta, spring garlic, radish/greens, dandelion, lemon

yes, they look just like strawberries

 

It was a very satisfying meal, and it would have worked at least as well on a cold day, mostly because of the rye flour and ale barley malts in its origins, and the dark breadcrumbs with which it was finished.

There were radishes.

  • between a fourth and a third of a cup of homemade breadcrumbs added to a cast iron skillet in which a tablespoon of olive oil had been heated over a medium flame, toasted, stirring frequently, until golden and crisp, probably only a minute or two, transfer to a small bowl and mixed with a teaspoon of zest from an organic Whole Foods lemon and some (half a teaspoon?) peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia,  and set aside while preparing the pasta: 8 ounces of Sfoglini Pasta Shop‘s Bronx brewery BxB radiators (“organic semolina flour, organic rye flour, water, Bronx Belgium Pale Ale barley malts (Muntons Maris Otter/Tipple, Wyermann , Castle Chateau Biscuit, Weyermann Caramunich I, Bries Malted Re, Bries Flaked Rye’, according to the package, and I’m like the fact that the mix differs a little from the one indicated on last package I used) cooked inside a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente (usually a challenge with Sfoglini products, probably on account of ingredients beyond what are usually a part of artisanal pasta). drained, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking liquid, and added to a sauce which began with 6 ounces of beautiful red radishes from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Chelsea 23rd Street farmers market, their greens removed and set aside, sliced into 1/4″ rounds, sautéed in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat inside a large antique copper high-sided pan until they had become tender and browned in spots (about 2 minutes), then removed to a small bowl and another tablespoon of oil added to the pan together with one sliced stem of spring garlic from Berried Treasures Farm, the allium stirred until fragrant, which was basically a matter of seconds, and the radish greens, which had been washed in several changes of water, plus some ‘Italian dandelion from Berried Treasures Farm, both roughly chopped, added to the pan, along with some of the reserved pasta cooking water, stirred until only beginning to wilt, the cooked pasta itself now added and mixed with the greens, stirring, more pasta water added as necessary until the liquid had emulsified, the reserved radishes now returned and mixed in, followed by a half tablespoon or so of juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon and some freshly-ground black pepper, the sauced pasta arranged in 2 shallow bowls, and sprinkled with the breadcrumb mixture prepared earlier 
  • the wine was an Italian (Tuscany) white, San Felice Vermentino Toscana 2017, from Philippe Wines
  • the music was Jordi’ Savall’s 1994 album, ‘La Lira D’Esperia: The Medieval Fiddle