Once again I was afraid that I might have bought more vegetables and herbs at the Greenmarket than I was likely to use, at least without a well-planned campaign for the weekend.

I made a plan, and it’s working.

Last night I managed to include some or all of 4 of them in one meal.

 

Fortunately the small amount of each vegetable, added to the modest size of the duck breast, made it possible.

• one 12-ounce Pat LaFrieda boneless duck breast from Eataly, the fatty side scored by a very sharp knife with cross-hatching, then sprinkled with a mixture of sea salt, ‘India Special Extra Bold’ Tellicherry peppercorns, and a bit of turbinado sugar (infused over time with a vanilla bean), the duck left standing for much of an hour before it was pan-fried over medium heat with a very small amount of duck fat remaining from an earlier meal, removed when medium rare (cutting it into the two portions at that time to be certain), finished with a drizzle of organic lemon, sprinkled with purple micro radish sprouts from Windfall Farms, and dressed with a bit of Campania olive oil
• two small heads of green cauliflower from Norwich Meadows Farm, separated into florets , sautéed in olive oil which had heated slices of fresh garlic from Stokes Farm, a little crushed dried Itria-Sirissi chili from Buon Italia, garlic, a little crushed dried fennel and coriander seed, then braised with 4 small halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, their juices first removed, and finished with torn calamint from Berrid Treasures
• tiny fairy eggplants from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced in half, tossed with oil, chopped fresh garlic from Stokes Farm, salt, pepper, chopped lovage from from Tamarack Hollow Farm and chopped basil from Campo Rosso Farm, quickly grilled on a ribbed cast-iron pan
• the wine was a fantastic treat, a California (Napa) red, Scott Peterson S.P. Drummer Napa Red Blend 2014
• the music was Alphons Diepenbrock, ‘Symphonic Suite ‘Elektra’ and ‘Hymne an die Nacht’ (think 1900 late romanticism); after the meal, we enjoyed the Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips performing ‘Sicut lilium inter spinas’ on Yle Klassinen, streaming

 

Images of the fairies grilling: