tomato solar system of sorts

 

antipasto

 

pasta

 

Simple again.

I started with a package of Colamecos’ uncured soppressata which had been lying in the refrigerator, waiting, and I was once again reminded of how good this product is, and how well it keeps until called to introduce a meal.  The minutina, from Norwich Meadows Farm, was what remained from yesterday’s dinner, the pasta had been lying in the freezer (and in fact didn’t have to be defrosted at all).  The tomatoes, from Berried Treasures Farm, had been on the windowsill, and the fresh fennel seeds, from Lani’s Farm, were what remained from a bunch of fennel branches I had ‘harvested’ for a meal two days earlier.

It wasn’t fast food, but it wasn’t really slow, and it was good.

NOTE:  I have to be honest about the first picture at the top:  While I had intended to use all four of those tomatoes, I ended up slicing only the first, second, and fourth from the left. For those who might be interested, the smallest tomato, a single Mexico ‘midget’, had escaped my eye when I was rounding up the rest of its kind for last night’s meal.

• The soppressata came from Whole Foods; the minutina, drizzled with good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon, was from Norwich Meadows Farm, and was combined with some unpitted Gaeta olives from Buon Italia; the baguette was from Balthazar’s, via the Whole Foods bakery counter
• the Rana artichoke- and ricotta-filled ravioli was from Eataly, the tomatoes were from Berried Treasures Farm; they were sauced with one clove of John D. Madura Farm garlic, sliced, which had been heated in olive oil, and freshly-ground black pepper; some pasta cooking water was added to the mix while it was warming up on top of the stove, and the plates were sprinkled with fresh fennel seeds from Lani’s Farm
• the wine was an Italian (Vicenza) sparkling, Prosecco Brut Primaterra NV Montorso Vicentino I
• the music was Bruckner Symphony No 2, the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Daniel Barenboim

It was delicious, and it was whipped together in a few minutes, thanks to good store-bought ravioli and a few small treasures I was fortunate to find lying around the kitchen. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and something of a palate cleanser (as well as a cook cleanser).

It was also entirely local, with the normal exceptions of olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon (when used), and (sometimes) hot pepper.

I wasn’t going to bother posting this little meal, since it seemed pretty insignificant, and then I realized its convenience could be useful to people other than just myself.

• two sliced Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, heated in a little olive oil over medium heat, along with one dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, inside a large tin-lined high-sided copper pot until the garlic was pungent, joined then by one large fresh chopped Habanada pepper and 3 thin red scallions, chopped , which were stirred for a minute inside the pot, before a dozen or so ripe golden cherry tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm were added and briefly warmed, some chopped fresh lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, the mix stirred a little before 10 or 12 ounces of house-made Rana carciofi-filled ravioli (purchased at Eataly Flatiron), boiled for barely 3 minutes before being drained, were tossed into the pot with some reserved pasta cooking water, the pasta carefully stirred with the sauce over medium heat for a while to emulsify it, served inside 2 shallow bowls, a bit of olive oil drizzled around the edges, and sprinkled with toasted home-made breadcrumbs and a little more lovage [the pasta filling was composed of artichokes; olive oil; cacio de roma, a semi-soft sheep’s milk cheese made in the Roman countryside; parmigiano; anchovy; tomato; parsley; and basil]

There was a cheese course, mimicking the one we had the day before, but without apples, and with a smaller amount of pressed curd.

• three Consider Bardwell Farm cheeses: ‘Manchester’ goat milk cheese, and 2 cow cheeses, ‘Pawlet Reconsidered’, and ‘Bardem Blue’
• toasts from a whole wheat sourdough Miche, or Pain de campagne, from Bread Alone

 

• the wine throughout the meal was an Italian (Lazio) white, ‘Elephas’ Bianco, Castello di Torre 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Carl Nielsen’s 1921-1922 Symphony No. 5, Myung-Whun Chung conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

While I usually pull out a package of filled pasta because it simplifies making a meal choice, we also really enjoy them, and they still offer the possibility of individualizing them, sometimes with creative additions. This simple artichoke-filled ravioli was a good example.

The sauce was superb, as the picture may suggest. Most of the credit has to go to the complex flavors of the habanada pepper and the excellence of the heirloom tomatoes, plus the dried Italian wild fennel flowers!

• two chopped garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows Farm heated inside a large tin-lined high-sided copper pan in a little olive oil until pungent, most of one orange dried Habanada pepper, crushed, added to the pan and stirred over medium heat for a minute, followed by 2 heirloom tomatoes (one red, one yellow) from Stokes Farm, roughly chopped, and some chopped oregano from Norwich Meadows Farm and torn Genovese basil from Windfall Farms, then the contents of a 10-ounce package of Rana carciofi [artichoke] ravioli from Eataly (after having been boiled for barely 3 minutes) was spilled into the pan along with some of the reserved pasta cooking water, carefully mixed with the sauce over medium heat to emulsify it, sprinkled with a bit of dried Italian wild fennel flowers (more accurately, pollen) from Buon Italia, the pasta finished, once inside 2 shallow bowls, with a scattering of micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (Lodi) rosé, Karen Birmingham Rose Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Trionfo d’Amore e della Morte: Florentine Music for a Medici Procession’, performed by Piffaro and the Concord Ensemble

I think of the fairly simple pasta courses I scatter between more serious or composed meat and fish entrées as something like ‘intervals’ between acts, but they’re usually at least as satisfying as what would normally be called more main event dinners.

As this one was.

There was also a simple antipasto this time.

• five bocconcini, from Flatiron Eataly, divided onto 2 oval plates, that had already been mixed with olive oil, crushed dried red pepper, dried oregano, and dried basil (I don’t know why I didn’t buy the plain version and season it myself, unless I was thinking of how I used to buy them regularly in the 80’s and early 90’s from a shop in Little Italy, Piemonte Ravioli)
• slices of ‘Whole wheat Redeemer Bread’ (hard red redeemer winter wheat, water, salt) from Lost Bread Co. out of Philadelphia, via the Union Square Greenmarket
• the wine for the first course, purchased at Foragers, was a Spanish (Castilla-La Mancha) white, a verdejo, Friend and Farmer White Wine, from Foragers Market Wine

The main, or second course was almost as straightforward.

• two broadly sliced garlic scapes from Eckerton Hill Farm, plus a bit of crushed smoked dried jalapeño pepper, also from Eckerton, and a pinch of dried habanada, all heated in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot until the garlic had softened, before 8 ounces of a locally-sourced and locally-produced artisanal pasta, a ‘Jerusalem Artichoke Fusilli’ from Norwich Meadows Farm which incorporates their own sunchokes (the name I like to us when I can, since neither Jerusalem nor the artichoke has anything to do this these native American tubers), cooked only until al dente, then drained, and tossed into the pot along with almost a cup of the reserved cooking water, where the pasta was stirred over high flame until the liquid had emulsified, a handful of pitted Greek kalamata olives added to the mix before some of the pasta was divided into 2 shallow bowls where some chopped fresh dill from Stokes Farm was scattered over the top, finished with some homemade breadcrumbs, mixed with a little salt, that had been toasted in a small cast iron skillet
• the wine for the second course was a New York (Hudson River) red, Cabernet Franc – Bruynswick Vineyard, 2017, from Wild Arc Farm

 

• the music throughout the meal was the album, ‘François Joseph Gossec: Symphonies’, performed by Concerto Köln