A head of lettuce may be a head of lettuce – but sometimes it’s a rose – here, specifically, either Boston, Butter, or Bibb lettuce (I forgot to ask Tyler), seen yesterday at the Alewife Farm Union Square Greenmarket stand.

Heirlooms, specifically, the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes seen at the Union Square Greenmarket stand of Lani’s Farm September 26.

I know that the quantity of heirloom tomatoes might seem pretty extravagant, but then every thing about this dish is pretty extravagant, including the richness of the flavors.

• about one pound of very-thinly-sliced Satina potatoes from Tamarack Hollow Farm, seasoned with salt and pepper, mixed with most of a mix of 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 cloves of thinly-sliced German Hardneck garlic from Race Farm, salt, and pepper, roasted in a pan for 15 minutes in a very hot oven until starting to crisp, the potatoes then covered with a seasoned one-pound bluefish fillet from Pura Vida Fisheries which was itself covered with a mix of another thinly-sliced garlic garlic clove, one more tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and lovage from Keith’s Farm, after which slices of several different kinds of heirloom tomatoes from various Greenmarket farms, seasoned, and about 10 halved Kalamata olives from Whole Foods were scattered over the fish and the potatoes, the pan returned to the oven for another 15 minutes, before it was finished, on the 2 plates, with more chopped parsley and lovage
• the wine was a California (Lodi) rosé, Karen Birmingham Rosé Lodi 2015
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming early Steve Reich compositions, ending with his 1967, ‘Violin Phase’ (dinner ran very late, in fact I’ve only just finished the dishes and it’s now one o’clock in the morning, and as I’m writing this, listening to his 1970 ‘Four Organs‘)

The beautiful colors weren’t the half of it.

Ultimately it was the taste that we remember.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (the ingredients are crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley), seared/heated in a cast iron pan, 2 to 3 minutes for each side, served on 2 plates surrounded by a salsa composed of quartered sun gold cherry tomatoes from Lani’s Farm, a little chopped red scallion from Norwich Meadows Farmsalt, freshly-ground black pepper, a bit of homemade French Basque piment d’Espellate purchased in a small town north of Baie-Comeau, Quebec last year from the producer’s daughter, much of one small red Calabrian chili pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, and some torn fresh basil, also from Campo Rosso Farm, after which the ‘cakes’ and salsa were scattered with micro scallions from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• one modest-size purple broccoli head/branch from Tamarack Hollow Farm, the florets separated and the stem[s] sliced fairly thinly, tossed in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried pepperoncino, spread onto a ceramic oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 20 minutes, removed from the oven, and, when the pan had begun to cool down, drizzled with a little lemon juice and olive oil, stirred and served

• We nibbled on rat-tail radish from Alewife Farm, and sipped a little wine while the meal was being put together.

• the wine was a French (Loire) white,  Jean Pascal Aubron Folle Blanche Gros Plant Du Pays Nantais 2014 (more here on the wine and the vigneron)
• the music included a work for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and percussion, with orchestra, ‘Mina’, by the composer Dai Fujikura, available on Spotify

This is a hearty meal which could certainly be served in the summer, but it tastes even better when the season is cooler. It’s something of a harbinger of fall, and it’s a favorite for both of us.

The formula is wonderful, and, making it even more wonderful is its versatility: Its author, Mark Bittman, says, “The recipe can be finished with almost any firm fish fillet.” I’ve run through a small tally myself.

• four monkfish tails, totalling about 18 ounces, from American Seafood Company, roasted with two thirds of a cup of a combination of Moroccan and Kalamata olives from Whole Foods, pits removed, on top of a bed of scrubbed, unpeeled, thinly-sliced and seasoned fingerling potatoes from Lower Hayfields, a friend’s Hudson Valley garden, which had just been roasted (in a very generous amount of olive oil), with more than a dozen (!) dry bay leaves, finished with a sprinkling of purple radish micro greens from Windfall Farms
• indigo rose cherry tomatoes from Lani’s Farm, heated until starting to blister over medium high heat inside a heavy enameled cast iron skillet in which two red scallions red scallions from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced, and one sliced large clove of ‘German hardneck‘ garlic from Race Farm had been already been allowed to heat until fragrant, the heat turned off and the mix allowed to sit for a couple minutes, further softening the tomatoes, which were then seasoned with salt and pepper and sprinkled with torn New York CIty basil from Gotham Greens, via Whole Foods, and chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) white, Daryl Groom Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2015 from Naked Wines
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming

“It tastes like musty caramels”, said Henry, who was standing with Reina behind the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project, in reply to my question about the Sfoglini organic red fife blend zucca.

For me that taste morsel was enough of an incentive to purchasing it, and later it would be a sufficient tipoff for deciding on the vegetable I’d combine this artisanal pasta with.

• eight ounces of Sfoglini ‘organic red fife blend zucca’, purchased through the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project stall at the Union Square Greenmarket, cooked al dente, mixed with a sauce in which 2 small-ish pan-grilled Japanese eggplant (sliced 1/2″ thick) from Berried Treasures, then cut into one-inch segments, was combined with one sliced large clove of ‘German Hardneck‘ garlic from Race Farm, which had just been heated in a small separate pan with a small finely-chopped red Calabrian pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, the pasta and sauce emulsified in the emptied pasta pot by stirring with some reserved pasta water, a little lemon juice and zest added just before a generous amount of chopped peppermint from Lani’s Farm was added in, served in the bowls with a garnish of micro purple radish from Windfall Farms

There was a serving of prosciutto and arugula before the pasta, but the dish and the image is now so familiar on this blog that I didn’t want to lead with it, or go into detail once again.

Okay, omitting it altogether also seems wrong, so here it is.

• Applegate prosciutto from Whole Foods, drizzled with a very good olive oil from Campania (Syrenum D.O.P. Peninsula Sorrentina), served with arugula from Alewife Farm, the greens also drizzled with the olive oil, but also with a little lemon juice, and seasoned with salt and pepper, served with slices of ‘Commune’ from Sullivan Street Bakery

• the wine through both courses was an Italian (Piedmont) white, The Piedmont Guy Ercole Monferratu DOC Bianco 2015
• the music was the album, ‘Hard Line’, by h2 quartet

I’ve used it before, but, like all recipes, or at least the ones we amateurs play with, it turns out at least a little differently each time. Last night I worked that part even more by picking tomatoes I had never used before in this preparation.

The recipe was one which I had found on the LA Times site 2 years ago; I made only a few adjustments.

As usual, all of the ingredients (save for the oil, butter, salt, pepper, and vinegar – and the wine), came from the Union Square Greenmarket. The tomatoes were wonderful, and the small okra was a real find.

• one 12-ounce flounder fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, lightly seasoned, cooked for a few minutes in olive oil and butter in a heavy oval copper pan over high heat, turning once, divided into two servings, placed on the plates, a couple of spoonfuls of ‘tomato butter’ [see below] arranged on and around the fish
• tomato butter, begun by cooking, inside a small pan with a generous amount of butter until slightly soft and fragrant, one large fresh red scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, then letting the flavored butter cool slightly before being poured over 4 ounces of halved sun gold cherry tomatoes from Lani’s Farm, chopped, adding 2 tablespoons of fresh papalo leaves [porophyllum ruderale], also from Lani’s Farm, the mix seasoned with salt, pepper, and a few drops of good Spanish wine vinegar (Rioja)
• small okra from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed over a high flame in a large cast iron pan with a little olive oil and a good part of one small red Calabrian pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, seasoned with sea salt
• the wine was a California (Monterey/Santa Barbara/Sonoma/Napa) white, Joel Gott unoaked Chardonnay 2015
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming, from their ’24-hour Steve Reich Marathon’

We owe a good part of the two meals we enjoyed on Sunday, the proteins in particular, to the Plain People of eastern Pennsylvania, and, specifically, John Stoltzfoos and his family who operate Millport Dairy Farm in Lancaster County.

The day had begun with a breakfast which included both their eggs and their bacon. The picture below shows micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge tossed on top of everything after the mixed herbs had been sprinkled on the eggs, but it was taken before dollops of the middle-eastern-style seasoning, L’eKama‘, the toast, or the thick bacon were added to the plate.

Dinner was a meal in which John’s family’s beef (pastured, grass-fed, like their chickens) was a featured attraction, along with some great vegetables.

• one 14-ounce New York strip steak from Millport Dairy, dried, pan-grilled to medium rare, drizzled with a squeeze of lemon and a little olive oil, purple micro radish from Windfall Farm scattered on top
• black cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, slow-roasted with a generous amount of dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia, olive oil, and two halved organic garlic cloves from Race Farm
• broccoli rabe from Alewife Farm, wilted in olive oil flavored with bruised garlic from Race Farm, seasoned with salt and pepper, divided onto 2 plates and drizzled with more olive oil
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) red, Jim Olsen and Tom Shula Pickberry Merlot 2014
• the music was ‘Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing’, by John Luther Adams, and we listened to it on a CD from New World Records, not to go retro, but mostly just because we could, and also because we just wanted to make sure the CD player still worked, since we have thousands of disks.

We started with a simple course of salume…

• slices of La Quercia Lomo (which turns out to be not just a Spanish thing, viz. lonza di maiale stagionata) from Whole Foods, drizzled with a very small amount of a very good olive oil, Campania D.O.P. Penisola Sorrentina ‘Syrenum’
• arugula from Alewife Farm, dressed with the same oil, Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• slices of an ‘olive demi baguette’ from Hot Bread Kitchen in the Greenmarket

 

…and finished with a simple course of pasta.

• 10 ounces of Afeltra pasta di gragnano fusilli con buco from Eataly, cooked al dente, served with a simple fresh sauce which began with 3 minced cloves of garlic from Race Farm added to a bit of olive oil insiode a large enameled cast iron pot with at least 2 cups of tender garlic scapes from Berried Treasures Farm, cut into 2-inch lengths, sautéed for 3-4 minutes, part of one Chinese cucumber from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced into bite-size pieces, sautéed in olive oil in a separate pan until lightly browned added to the pot, then a little butter and most of the juice of one organic lemon added to the pan, the drained pasta tossed in, along with the zest from that same lemon once the butter had melted and a little chopped peppermint from Lani’s Farm, everything stirred over low heat, during which time some reserved cooking water was added to help emulsify it, seasoned with salt and pepper, and scattered with purple micro radish sprouts from Windfall Farms

 

• the wine throughout the meal was an Italian (Umbria, Orvieto) white, Castagnolo Secco Classico Superiore ‘Barberani’ 2014
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming, and included Esa-Pekka Salonen’s ‘Five Images After Sappho’, with Dawn Upshaw, which can be heard here

The picture looks great, but it doesn’t tell everything.

The ingredients, and the recipes too, were excellent, but I’ll be honest: I made two blunders in the cooking process, although neither was much of a disaster, even a culinary disaster.

The hake fillet was pretty thick, thicker than those I normally have, and I underestimated the time it would require to cook. I had separated it into 2 pieces after I thought it was done, and they were already on the plates before I realized I was premature, so I quickly flipped off the garnish and returned them to the pan for another minute or so, replacing the micro scallions when they were returned.

The vegetables were also less than perfectly cooked, since I had let the chopped turnip, sautéed ahead of the others, get too carbonized, somewhat compromising enjoyment of the larger mix. The solution would be to simply pick out the more charred pieces, and it almost worked.

• one 13-ounce hake fillet from Pura Vida Fisheries, dredged in seasoned flour and dipped in a beaten egg from Millport Dairy, sautéed in butter along with a handful of marjoram leaves from Stokes Farm, drizzled with lemon juice and the pan juices that remained, sprinkled with some beautiful micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• ten or so small purple Hinona Kabu turnips from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, cut into small pieces, sautéed in olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pan, followed by segments of a small fennel bulb, and cut some stems, from Stokes Farm, segments of a Chinese cucumber from Norwich Meadows Farm, and part of a small red Calabrian pepper, finely chopped, from Campo Rosso Farm, all cooked until beginning to caramelize, then seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm and chopped fennel frond, arranged on plates and drizzled with olive oil
• the wine was a Spanish (Rueda) white, Naia D.O. Rueda 2014, from Verdejo old vines
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming