We’re really crazy about tuna steaks prepared this easy way, and I don’t object to the fact it’s simpler than pie to do. What surprised me this time was how formidable a rival the vegetable accompaniment I’d chosen turned out to be. It too could hardly have been easier to prepare, which was also a surprise, since I normally go through all kinds of contortions to bring out the best in treviso, or any of the other chicories I love so much.

• two 8-ounce tuna steaks from American Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, then rubbed, tops and bottoms, with a mixture of a tablespoon of a wonderful dry Sicilian fennel seed from Buon Italia that had been crushed in a porcelain mortar and pestle along with a little dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, ending, also on both sides, with little more than a pinch of dried golden/orange habanada pepper, pan-grilled above a medium-high flame (for only a little more than a minute or so on each side), finished on the plates with a good squeeze of the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of olive oil, garnished with micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• a small handful of golden cherry tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, in Carlisle, New Jersey, at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, washed, halved, heated inside an antique enameled cast iron porringer in a little olive oil, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with micro red basil from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• one very-thinly-sliced spring garlic stem from Berried Treasures Farm or/and one spring red onion from Norwich Meadows Farm (and maybe a small piece of shallot, also from Norwich Meadows Farm), heated in a tablespoon or more of olive oil inside a heavy pan until softened, before 2 medium heads of early, loose-leaf) treviso from Campo Rosso Farm, roughly chopped, added to the pan, along with some sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, stirring all along until the radicchio had mostly wilted, finished with barely a splash of balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a Portuguese (Alentejo) white, Esporao Monte Velho White 2016, from Garnet Wines
• the music was New Sounds, streaming

I love this recipe for scallops, even if I sometimes think I should leave these little fanned-shell mollusks to show on their own, skipping the garlic and herb.

And I’m crazy about any radicchio, in fact, any kind of the chicories. There are so many ways to enjoy radicchio in its various guises, but oven roasting is way up there, and it’s a routine which can be pursued pretty much without any stress. Also, if the vegetable happens to be finished sooner than the rest of the entrée, it’s just as good served room temperature.

• 12 sea scallops (12 ounces) from Pura Vida Seafood, rinsed, dried, slit horizontally with a very sharp knife almost all of the way through, stuffed with a mixture of basil from Gotham Greens via Whole Foods, one medium-size clove of Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, sea salt, and black pepper, all chopped together very finely and removed to a small bowl where just enough olive oil was added to form a paste, the stuffed scallops then rolled around on a plate with a little more olive oil, drained, then pan grilled in an enameled cast iron pan for about 2 minutes on each side, removed to 2 plates, finished with a squeeze of organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of olive oil
• slices of a scrumptiously-earthy organic multigrain baguette from Bread Alone

Fortunately the often brilliant color of a radicchio isn’t it’s only appeal, since much of it disappears after it has been cooked; this is an image of the pan just before it was slipped into the oven:

• one somewhat-larger-than-medium head of Treviso radicchio from Tamarack Hollow Farm, rinsed, drained and wiped off, cut lengthwise into 6 sections, arranged one cut side up on a Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan (after securing the leaves with toothpicks and/or string), covered with thyme branches from Whole Foods Market, seasoned generously with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, drizzled with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, baked in a pre-heated 400º oven for 10 minutes or so, turned to the other cut side and returned to the oven for around 8 minutes, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a very small amount of balsamic vinegar
• the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Falanghina ‘Campi Flegrei’, Cantine Farro 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Handel’s [1713?] opera seria, ‘Lucio Cornelio Silla’, Fabio Biondi conducting Europa Galante

I waited too long to head out to Eataly for some crabmeat, which I had thought would be the only possibility for an elegant New Years Eve dinner I had planned only at the last minute. They had totally run out of their supply.

Considering my options while standing near the glass display cases of the fresh pasta counter, I decided to pick up some Reginette, partly because of its entertaining shape.  Then I remembered seeing at least 4 different colored chicories when I had checked out the produce section, some of them even described as from USA farms.

The little meal had now been described almost entirely.

It had all the virtues of a meal for the occasion, including this time, since we normally stay home on this grand night, 2 we have almost never needed before: Simplicity of execution and quick disassembly afterwards.

• two tablespoons of olive oil inside a large high-sided tin-lined copper pot, adding one chopped red shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm until softened and pungent, followed by 2 beautiful  roughly-chopped small Treviso (they were the same size as, and looked very much like endive edged rose-red) which were stirred until themselves softened, half of a cup of an Italian (Marche) white, Saladini Pilastri Falerio 2015 added and boiled down until the liquid was mostly gone, 3 ‘nests’, or about 12 ounces, of mafaldine (semolina flour, water) from Flatiron Eataly, the cooked pasta added, stirred with some of the reserved pasta water until the liquid had emulsified, served in shallow bowls, a little olive oil poured around the edges, garnished with micro scallions from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and sprinkled with Parmigiano Reggiano Hombre from Whole Foods Market
• the wine was an Italian (Sardinia) white, La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna 2015
• the music was Vivaldi’s ‘Orlando’ (1714 Version), Federico Maria Sardelli conducting the  Modo Antiquo Ensemble

I used 3 different grill pans in putting this meal together. That may be a first. It may also have been the first time I included some form of garlic in each element of an entrée, although probably not.

But I forgot to include the color.

The image is embarrassingly monochromatic; I hadn’t thought about the aesthetic effect until I was arranging everything on the plates. It’s still no excuse, but the treviso and the eggplant happened to be the only real vegetables in the crisper last night (both in smaller amounts remaining from larger, the majority of which had been used in earlier meals, and each of them almost begs for garlic under most circumstances).

A little red, or orange, or yellow on the plates themselves would definitely have been nice. but to be fair, the vegetables had at least started out with real color.

Still, it was a terrific dinner. The treviso and the eggplant were stars, and while at first I had some doubts about the steaks (mostly related to the decisions of the butcher), we very quickly came to appreciate both the flavor and the texture of this excellent grass-fed beef.

• two 8-ounce rib steaks (roughly 8 ounces each) from the Union Square Greenmarket stand of Lowland Farm, brought to room temperature, dried, well-seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, placed on a very hot cast iron pan grill for just under 5 minutes on each side, removed and arranged on the plates, a little organic lemon juice from Whole Foods Market squeezed on top, sprinkled with some chopped summer savory from Stokes Farm, drizzled with a little olive oil and finished with some chopped garlic flowers from Windfall Farms
• one small head of treviso from Campo Rosso Farm in the union Square Greenmarket (the farm, located in Berks County, Pennsylvania, specializes in chicories, other greens and other vegetables) halved, tied to maintain their shape, marinated for half an hour in a mix of garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, then pan-grilled, untied, and finished with some of the reserved marinade
• 3  baby eggplant (3 different kinds and colors), each cut into 3 slices, mixed with a little olive oil , 5 pitted and sliced Kalamata olives olives from Whole Foods Market, a little finely-chopped garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, pan-grilled over a brisk flame, turning once, sprinkled with torn basil leaves from Stokes Farm, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a bit of olive oil
• the wine, a perfect pairing with the food, was a California (Napa) red, Jac Cole Mosaico Napa Valley 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Il Filosofo’, which is “..the second release in the Basel-based Joseph Haydn Stiftung Foundation’s collaboration..in recording all of Haydn’s 107 symphonies…“

I zeroed in on the part of the sign at American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket today that said they had black sea bass. Now I love that fish, but at the moment I was most likely to have been thinking about the fact that I could put those fillets on our table more quickly, and with less of a fuss, than almost anything else I saw on that board.

• three sea bass fillets (a total of 11 ounces) from American Seafood Company, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, sautéed for 2 minutes over a fairly brisk flame with butter and a little olive oil inside a large, thick oval copper pan, skin side down, then turned and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed to the plates when done (covered at least a little to keep warm until the sauce was completed, or kept in a warm oven), a tablespoon or more butter added to the pan, and 4 ounces of oyster mushrooms [pleurotus ostreatus], from Bulich Mushroom Company, cut into medium-size pieces and sautéed, stirring, until lightly cooked, seasoned with salt, pepper, a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley, both from Gristede, and a tablespoon or more of the juice of a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, the mushrooms stirred some more before they were arranged on the warm plates and the bass finished with micro dandelion from Windfall Farms

 

The accompanying vegetable was one of the two kinds of very special chicories I had taken home from Campo Rosso Farm last Friday, but I had forgotten to photograph either at the time, so the image of the Castelfranco which appears below, while their own produce, was obtained elsewhere.

• one very-thinly-sliced medium shallot from Norwich Meadows Farm heated in two tablespoons of olive oil inside a heavy, high-sided tin-lined copper pan until softened, then one roughly-chopped Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco from Campo Rosso Farm introduced into the pan with some salt and pepper, stirring all along until the radicchio had mostly wilted, finished with barely a splash of balsamic vinegar and arranged on the plates
• the wine was a French (Loire) white, Domaine de Bellevue Touraine Sauvignon 2015
• the music was Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5’, the  Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducting

 

[image of Castelfranco radicchio from printrestaurant.com]