(now everyone knows that I remove my ring and my watch while working in the kitchen)

 

The vegetables were beginning to pile up, and I had a little prosciutto on hand, so I decided to make a dinner of antipasti alone.  A bonus: whatever cooking would be involved could be done in advance, plus, because nothing was going to have to be warm on the table, we could linger as long as we wished, as we do with our regular ‘picnics‘.  This time it was with Monteverdi.

• Colameco’s prosciutto from Whole Foods; pan-grilled baby yellow squash from Berried Treasures, finished with spearmint from Phillips Farm; one pan-grilled quartered spring red onion from Tamarack Hollow Farm; pan-grilled baby fennel from Eckerton Hill Farm, finished with the fennel fronds, chopped; Tuscan kale, braised with crushed fennel seed and dried chile pepper; Korean cucumbers from Bodhitree Farm, sliced thinly and tossed with olive oil, Chianti wine vinegar, crushed red pepper, and a bit of sugar; heirloom tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm and Bodhitree Farm, along with two tiny golden cherry tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm, dresssed with good olive oil and tossed with chopped fresh oregano; and slices of Balthazar’s ‘Potato-Onion Fendu’, purchased at Whole Foods
• the wine was a French rosé, Château Soucherie, Rosé de Loire, Cuvée L’Astrée 2014
• the music was Claudio Monteverdi’s ‘Orfeo’, led by Jordi Savall