These crab cakes never fail to please, and last night they also looked pretty spectacular.

When I think about preparing crab cakes, specifically the ones made by Dolores, the wife of local fisherman Phil Karlin, of P.E. & D.D. Seafood, I often forget just how delicious they are. That changes each time, with the first bite.

On Wednesday evening, there was an additional treat, some New Jersey leeks, which I served grilled.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley), defrosted earlier in the day, heated with a drizzle of olive oil inside a heavy vintage seasoned cast iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes to each side, served on a salsa composed of 8 or so chopped Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a bit of a bit of a homemade Basque  piment d’Espellate we had purchased in a small town north of Baie-Comeau, Quebec from the French producer’s daughter, the chopped white section of a scallion from Phillips Farms, much of one small dried pepperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, and some chopped mint from Windfall Farms
• a wreath of baby mizuna from Norwich Meadows Farm, arranged around the salsa, dressed with Portuguese olive oil from Whole Foods Market, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• four medium leeks from Phillips Farm, trimmed of their darkest green ends sections, cut in half lengthwise, washed vigorously in cold water to remove any earth while carefully holding the white ends together to keep them from falling apart (this could have been done more easily by cutting only part of the way down through their length), dried, rolled in a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a tiny bit of dried darker golden habanada pepper, pan-grilled over a medium-hot flame for a few minutes, turning until all sides had been scored with grill marks and the leeks softened all the way through, returned to the platter in which they had rolled before grilling and sprinkled with more of the habanada, arranged on the plates, arranged on the plates and sprinkled with a mix of chopped herbs (parsley from Eataly and rosemary, thyme, and sage from Citarella)
• the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Greco ‘Giano’, Ocone 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Jordi Savall’s album, ‘The Borgia Dynasty: Church and Power in the Renaissance’,
  with Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and Hespèrion XXI, produced by Alia Vox [a sample here]

Last night we celebrated Barry’s newly-restored ability – after two successive carpal tunnel operations – to cut his food using both hands.

It was a great steak! The fact that everything else on the plates as well had at least some red in it was purely coincidence.

The fact that the beef was more rare-to-medium-rare than merely medium-rare was also not by design, but fortunately for us this delicious Black Angus cut took very well to that option.

• a Black Angus rib eye/Delmonico steak (.91 lbs) from Greg and Mike of Sun Fed Beef (Maple Avenue Farms) in the Union Square Greenmarket, brought to room temperature, dried very well, seasoned with a generous amount of freshly roughly-ground black pepper, placed on a very hot cast iron pan grill for just about 10 or 12 minutes, turning twice, salting each side after it had been seared, removed and arranged on the plates, a little juice from an organic Whole Food Market lemon squeezed on top, sprinkled with some chopped fresh thyme from Citarella and dried Sicilian organic wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, drizzled with a little olive oil and garnished with purple micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• eight ounces of celeriac from Norwich Meadows Farm and about the same weight in medium size German butterball potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into crescent wedges, tossed inside a large bowl with a little olive oil, a half teaspoon of Spanish paprika picante, a small crushed section of medium-dark dried habanada pepper, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, spread onto a medium-size Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan [the image above was taken at that moment], roasted at 400º until brown, crispy on the edges, and cooked through
• a small amount of red chard from Citarella (some of the leaves had unaccountably frozen in the crisper, so I had first removed those sections, which accounts for the small portion), wilted in a little olive oil in which one halved Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm had first been heated and slightly softened, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and finished with a drizzle of Portuguese olive oil from Whole Foods Market and a bit of lemon juice
• the wine was a California (Los Carneros) red, Sin Fronteras Los Primos Red Wine California 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was a modern reconstruction/pastiche of a 1739 opera by Handel, ‘Giove in Argo’, once thought to have been totally lost, Alan Curtis conducting Il Complesso Barocco

I usually throw all kinds of stuff into what for most folks would be a simple breakfast of bacon and eggs, but this one escaped from the kitchen [relatively] bare-bones.

• the ingredients on the plate photographed above included thick bacon from Millport Dairy Farm, Ameraucana chicken eggs from Millport Dairy Farm, Cultured Pastured Butter from Organic Valley, a little bit of sliced scallion from Phillips Farms, freshly-ground black pepper, sea salt, plus Maldon sea salt for finishing, part of a crushed dried golden/orange habanada pepper bought fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm last fall, Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ (from Maine, near Skowhegan) via Whole Foods Market, chopped fresh thyme from Citarella, organic dried wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, pea shoots from Windfall Farms, and toasts of 3 different breads: a ‘Mediterraneo’ (whole rye flour, stone-milled wheat flour, 5 seeds, plus millet and faro) and a ‘rustic classic’, both from Eataly, and a corn rye boule from Hot Bread Kitchen
• the music was Bach’s St. John Passion, John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir

The shock absorbers in the cook’s left knee seem to have torn, reducing his mobility. For a while the ingredients in these meals will be sourced less from local producers, and more from local retailers. This means that instead of buying from local farmers in the Union Square Greenmarket, he will be visiting the shops that are nearest to his kitchen. He’ll also be able to lean on the most over-qualified kitchen helper, ever.

So this meal was transitional.

• three cloves of roughly-sliced Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm heated with a tablespoon or more of olive oil inside a large tin-lined high-sided pot until softened, then 2 shallots and a bit of crushed dried golden/orange habanada pepper added, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, 8 or 10 pitted oil-cured olives from Buon Italia stirred in, and 16 ounces of gently-cooked eggplant-filled ravioli from Citarella (no cheese inside) added, followed by some reserved pasta cooking water, in small amounts, stirred with the mix until the liquid had emulsified, the sauced ravioli served in shallow bowls, sprinkled with a Parmigiano Reggiano Hombre from Whole Foods Market, garnished with pea sprouts from Windfall Farms, finished with a final drizzle of olive oil around the edges
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany) red, Farnetella, Chianti Colli Senesi 2015, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Bruckner’s Symphony No. 0 (Linz Version, 1865-66), Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Is it still ‘Kassler‘ even when it’s not entirely German? I’ve made a working-executive decision: It is.

The only thing I worry about when I prepare a meal with smoke pork chops without heating them inside some Sauerkraut is whether they will be juicy. I’ve come up with the solution: keep them covered, and even the tiniest bit of liquid will do the trick.

They were definitely juicy last night.

And so were the vegetables.

• a small amount of frozen rendered goose fat, the gift of a friend, that I had mixed with some juices from a dinner of which included squab bruschetta in which I had used it, heated inside a heavy, medium-size tin-lined copper skillet, where it had softened the chopped white sections of a scallion from Phillips Farms, the green section reserved for later, after which 2 smoked loin pork chops from Schaller & Weber were added, the pot covered with a universal copper lid, kept above a very low flame (just enough to warm the chops through, as they were already fully-cooked), turning the meat once, then, near the end of the cooking time (I went 8 minutes this time), the green parts of the onion, which had been set aside earlier, now also sliced, added for a minute or so, the pork removed, arranged on the plates, brushed with a little garlic oregano jam from Berkshire Berries, and sprinkled with both the white and green onion pieces
• red mustard from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted in olive oil in which 3 cloves of Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic had been gently sautéed until they had begun to brown, finished with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• six ‘Pinto’ potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled, unpeeled, in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed there with 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ [12 grams of fat per 14 grams, or each tablespoon, of butter], seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with chopped parsley from Eataly, some toasted homemade breadcrumbs scattered on the top
• the wine was an excellent German (Pfalz) white, Becker Family Pinot Blanc, 2013, which our local purveyor at the time, Appellation Wines, was kind enough to special order for us when we asked them
• the music was Handel’s 1737 opera, ‘Berenice’, with Alan Curtis conducting Il Complesso Barocco

Together we opted for the simplest of the recipes I’ve used in preparing sea bass, because the cook was tired, but also because this time the muse wanted something more like comfort food than delicate display. Ironically, the finished meal described in the picture above looks pretty basic, if not minimal (even to the absence of any of my usual micro green garnishes this time).

• two 7-ounce black sea bass fillets from American Seafood, rinsed, dried, and placed skin side down inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan in which a teaspoon or so of olive oil had been poured and brushed around the surface, the fish seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with a mix of parsley from Eataly; lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge; sage and thyme, both partially-dried, from Phillips Farm; mint from Windfall Farms; and a bit of a home-dried heatless, orange/ gold Habanada pepper (from fruit grown by fresh Norwich Meadows Farm last fall), the fish topped with a coating of homemade bread crumbs, and drizzled with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, placed inside a 425º oven for 9 or 10 minutes, arranged on 2 plates, finished with a squeeze of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a light drizzle of olive oil
• three Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, arranged around the bass inside the pan in the last 3 or 4 minutes of their cooking, placed on the plates next to the fish, finished with chopped parsley

• one small bunch of cavalo nero from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted briefly inside a large vintage tin-lined copper pot in a tablespoon or so of olive oil in which 2 cloves of Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic had first been heated, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, drizzled with a little more oil
• the wine was an Italian (Umbria) white, Trebbiano Spoletino ‘Farandola’ Di Filippo 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Francesco Cavalli’s, opera, ‘Gli Amori D’Apollo E Di Dafne’ (The Loves of Apollo and Daphne), which premiered in Venice during the Carnival season of 1640, performed by the Ensemble Elyma

The meal was Italian, with some tweaks.

The antipasto was domestic, and much of it local.

• three ounces of La Quercia Ridgetop Prosciutto, from Whole Foods Market, served with baby mizuna from Norwich Meadows Farm, the prosciutto and greens drizzled with a very good Sicilian olive oil, Agricento, Azienda Agricola Mandranova (exclusively Nocellara olives), the greens also dressed with organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• slices from a loaf of ‘rustic classic’ from Eataly

The pasta course was almost entirely local, the obvious exceptions being the olives and the olive oil, the salt and the pepper, but it was pretty Italian, at least before I tossed in the micro greens.

• one 10-ounce package of frozen Rana portobello-mushroom-and-ricotta-filled ravioli rounds from Eataly, boiled inside a large pot of well-salted water for 2 minutes and drained, slipped into a large vintage tin-lined copper pan in which sliced baby Rocambole garlic from Keith’s farm, a sliced section of scallion from Phillips Farms, one small sliced red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm, some crushed dried orange/gold habanada, and a mix of both Gaeta and dry-cured olives, all pitted, from Buon Italia, had been briefly sautéed in olive oil, then a bit of reserved pasta water added and the liquids emulsified, the mix placed in shallow bowls, with roughly-grated Parmesan cheese dusted on top, garnished with micro scallions
• the wine throughout the meal was an Italian (Piedmont) red, Alessandro Rivetto Barbera d’Alba 2014, from Astor Wines
• the music was an album of music by Lorenzo Palomo, his ‘Sinfonía Córdoba’ and ‘Fulgores’ 

Our favorite chops.

The tomatoes and the collards are pretty fine too.

• two 9-ounce bone-in loin pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and seared quickly in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan before half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market was squeezed over the top (the lemon then left in the pan between them, cut side down), the chops placed in a 425º oven for about 7 minutes, then flipped, part of a golden dried habanada pepper, crushed, added, the lemon squeezed over them once again and replaced inside the pan for another 3 or 4 minutes, when 4 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market were added and the pan returned to the oven for about 4 more minutes, when the chops were removed and arranged on 2 warm plates while the tomatoes were turned onto their round sides and the the pan heated on the top of the stove over a medium-high flame until the pork and tomato juices had reduced to almost a syrup and spooned over the chops, which were sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, the tomatoes garnished with micro scallions, also from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• collard greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed 3 times, drained, some of the water retained and held aside, to be added as the greens cooked if necessary, the leaves and tender stems cut roughly, braised until gently wilted inside a medium heavy vintage, high-sided, tin-lined copper pot in which 2 halved Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat over a low flame with some olive oil, finished with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a small drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Langhe) white, Cagliero Rabel Langhe Bianco 2013 from Astor Wines
• the music was an album of music composed by Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605) that included ‘Amfiparnaso’ (1597), a madrigal-comedy cycle, and ‘The Musical Banquet’ (1597), which is just as the title suggests

It was very simple, and very satisfying.

• about one fourth of a cup of shelled walnuts, spread onto a small vintage rolled-edge tin baking sheet, toasted in a 350º oven for 8 to 12 minutes, or until fragrant, shaking them a couple times to keep from burning, removed, chopped roughly and added to a medium-size vintage tin-lined copper pot in which 4 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ (total fat 12g) had been melted over medium-low heat, the nuts cooked for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the butter began to turn a rich golden-brown, one teaspoon of dried sage from Phillips Farm (purchased fresh last fall), a bit of dark dried habanada, and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar added and briefly stirred over a lowered flame, being careful not to burn the butter, the heat turned off and the contents of a 400g of cooked and drained ‘mamma emma gnocchi made with steamed fresh potatoes and pumpkin‘ from Eataly added and stirred into the sauce, the gnocchi divided between two shallow bowls and garnished with baby mizuna from Norwich Meadows Farm
• the wine was a wonderful Italian (Südtirol/Alto Adige) white, Alois Lageder Dolomiti Pinot Grigio 2016, from Philippe Wines 
• the music was the album, ‘Une Fête chez Rabelais – Chansons et pièces instrumentales’, Dominique Visse directing the ensemble Clément Janequin

William Merritt Chase, ‘An English Cod’ 1904

 

This dinner, I had determined at the time we sat down, wasn’t going to be included on this site: Because we were sharing it with guests Seb and Joe, because I had been very much distracted by the more-than-lively conversation throughout its preparation, and just because we were having so much fun, I didn’t want to interrupt things just to photograph it. Barry and I were both surprised I even managed to put it together.

But once I realized how delicious it was, and because I wanted our guests to know what was in it, I changed my mind about a post, even if I had no photos to accompany it.

I knew I could find an exciting image somewhere to put at the top, but I didn’t know it would be of a painting of a rented cod (I’d bought our cod, and there were no sardines).

Before the dinner itself, we enjoyed some Fiori di Puglia pepperoncino-flavored taralli from Buon Italia.

• the wine was a California (Central Coast) sparkling white, Eponina Brut California NV, from Naked Wines

We began the meal itself with a local salumi.

• Cesare Casella’s Giorgio’s Salami New York spicy coppa, from Eataly, drizzled with drops of a very good Sicilian olive oil from from Agricento, Azienda Agricola Mandranova (exclusively Nocellara olives), arranged with a few leaves of arugula from Lani’s Farm, dressed with sea salt, a bit of the same oil, and drops of juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon
• served with slices from a loaf of ‘rustic classic’ from Eataly
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont), Erbaluce di Caluso ‘La Torrazza’, Ferrando 2014, from Astor Wines

I’ve prepared the fish entrée that followed so often that I could almost do it with my eyes closed. Actually, I almost had to do that on Friday , since the main, overhead light popped out half of the way through my labors in the  in the kitchen. In the end it was the best version ever, which is one of the reasons I’m writing this now.

Incidentally, hake, or whiting could be substituted for the cod.

• one long absolutely white fillet of Atlantic cod (25 ounces) that had been caught off eastern Long Island the day before, from Pura Vida Seafood, prepared mostly following an old recipe from Mark Bittman that I had come across years ago: the cod washed and rinsed, placed in a platter on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the piece was as completely covered as possible (because of its length, with this one I had to be sure to apply salt between the 2 surfaces of the tail end as I flipped it over to keep it inside the edges of the platter), then set aside while a bed of potatoes was prepared for them by slicing nearly 2 pounds of really wonderful ‘pinto potatoes’ (or ‘pinto gold’) from Norwich Meadows Farm to a thickness of less than 1/4 inch, tossing the potatoes in a large bowl with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a large pinch of orange/gold home-dried Habanada pepper [acquired in the fall of 2016 from Norwich Meadows Farm], arranging the potatoes, heavily overlapping this time, because there were so many, in a large rectangular  enameled cast iron oven pan, placing them in a 400º oven for 25 minutes or so, or until they were tender when pierced, and half way through that time the cod was removed from the salt and the platter on which it had been resting, and thoroughly immersed or soaked in many changes of cold running water, to bring down the saltiness (the soaking process somehow gives the fish more solidity, which can be easily felt while it’s being handled it at this point), drained and dried, cut, rather expertly I have to say, to produce 4 pieces of equal weight from a very irregular piece of fish, before placing the cod on top of the potatoes, drizzling the pieces with a little olive oil and scattering some freshly-ground black pepper on top, returning the pan to the oven for about 15 minutes (the exact time will always depends on the thickness of the cod), removing the fish with a wooden spatula (or, even much better, 2 wooden spatulas), bringing along with as much of the potatoes as possible with each piece, arranging everything, intact if possible (it was), onto 2 plates, returning to the pan for the remainder of the potatoes, the 4 servings garnished with micro scallions from Windfall Farms
• red kale from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed in olive oil in which 2 bruised and halved garlic cloves from Tamarack Hollow Farm had first been allowed to sweat and barely begin to brown, the greens seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little more olive oil
• the wine was a California (Central Coast) white, Rick Boyer Central Coast Chardonnay 2016, also from Naked Wines

 

• the music during the meal began with conversation alone, and then, when it turned to the subject of music, continued with the sounds of the album, ‘Eastman: Unjust Malaise, with some of the music of Julius Eastman (1940?-1990); I think we went to the fifteenth century after that

 

[the image is William Merritt Chase, ‘An English Cod’ 1904, oil on canvas, in the Corcoran Gallery of Art since 1905, from this site]