This was a pretty conventional, or at least straightforward, meal, with the possible exception of the appearance of a baby leek, and the treatment of parsley root as pommes frites.  I chose the cress and the tomato almost as much for the color and freshness which they could add to a mid-winter meal as for their taste and their qualities as compliments to the meat and ‘potato’.

• two lamb chops form 3-Corner Field Farm, marinated for about half an hour in olive oil, smashed garlic from Lucky Dog Organic, roughly-chopped thyme from Manhattan Fruit Exchange, then cooked on a very hot grill pan, finished with a squeeze of lemon, sliced baby leek from Rogowski Farm, and a drizzle of olive oil
• Maine Backyard Farms cocktail tomatoes from Eataly, slow roasted with olive oil, dried Italian oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper
• Upland Cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge, squeezed with a bit of lemon and drizzled with a little olive oil
• medium size parsley roots from S.&S.O. Produce Farms, scraped, cut as for French fries, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary leaves from John D. Maderna Farm, roasted in a ceramic pan for about 35 minutes at 400º
• the wine was a very good Spanish red, Nocedal Rioja Reserva, Bodgas Fuenmajor 2001
• the music was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 3