squid/conch salad; pasta, scapes, espelette, tomato, herbs

Both were definitely local, but If the ‘wild tomatoes’ were not, technically wild anymore, the seafood really was, even if it had been domesticated by the fisherman (by bringing it home) and the fisherman’s wife (by preparing the salad at home).

  • eight ounces of a squid and conch salad (including olive oil, parsley, red pepper, lemon juice) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, made by Dolores Karlin, the wife of Phil Karlin, the fisherman himself, arranged on a thin bed of arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, the seasoning of the salad adjusted only slightly, including a drizzle of juice from an organic California lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, arranged on leaves of  a head of Roxy purple leaf lettuce from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, dressed with a good olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle lemon juice too, arranged as a bed for the salad
  • slices of an organic multigrain baguette from Bread Alone

 

The main, or pasta course, included a scion of the ur-tomato, called the ‘wild Mexican tomato’, here grown on Eckerton Hill Farm, boasting the sophisticated flavors expected of a member of an ancient lineage.

  • a very simple pasta sauce begun by heating and softening in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot over a medium flame, one and a half garlic scapes, cut into very short lengths, from Phillips Farms, adding some crushed dried espelette pepper from Alewife Farm, the mix tossed with 9 ounces of an Afeltra pasta artigianale di Gragnano I.G.P. 100% grano Italiano biologico that had been cooked al dente and drained, almost an entire cup of its cooking water also added, everything stirred over a high flame until the liquid had emulsified, then 4 ounces of fantastic, sweet tiny ‘wild’ Mexican tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm were stirred in, followed by a mix of chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm, chopped parsley from Jersey Farm Produce Inc. in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market, and torn peppermint leaves from Alex’s Tomato Farm, also in the Saturday market, and finished with more herbs and a little olive oil drizzled around the edges