It’s a fantastic pasta, not quite like any other I’ve ever tasted, and its texture, and rich neutral flavor almost beg a cook to come up with different ways to show it off (we’ve never repeated a meal using this wonderful local product, and a ‘search’ on this blog tells me we’re enjoyed it at least 5 times).

The starting point this time was what was left from a basket of beautiful mostly-green plum tomatoes that I at the Windfall Farms stand at the Greenmarket the previous Wednesday.

• a simple fresh sauce for a dried pasta which began with 3 one-inch sections of garlic scapes from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut into 2-inch lengths, and one stalk of celery from celery from Lucky Dog Organic Farm cut into very short sections, sautéed together gently in olive oil for 3 or 4 minutes, one chopped habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm added, and then the remaining half of a one-pound package of pasta that had been cooked barley al dente, specifically, a New York spaccatelli made by Sfoglini (local organic durum semolina and organic hard red wheat flour, New Jersey Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk, local water), the pasta purchased from the buffalo farmer’s own stall in the Greenmarket, one fourth of a cup or more of reserved pasta cooking water added to the pan and cooked, over moderately high heat, tossing until combined well and the sauce had emulsified, served inside shallow bowls, topped with chopped garlic chives from Keith’s Farm and toasted homemade breadcrumbs, a bit of olive oil drizzled around the edges
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Karen Birmingham Clarksburg Pinot Grigio 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was a largely neglected vestige of the very late romantic era of ‘classical’ music, Franz Schmidt’s opera, ‘Notre Dame’ (written between 1904 and 1906 but not premiered until April, 1914), the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christof Perick, with a cast that included Gwyneth Jones, Hans Helm, Hartmut Welker, Horst Laubenthal, James King, Kaja Borris, and Kurt Moll; this world premiere recording was released only five years ago, in 2013; we chose the work for its obscurity, but it was much more beautiful than we had expected