The crabcakes and their tomato ‘bed’ were both pretty familiar, but the greens stripped from a hybrid stalk of Brussels sprouts and kale was new. The verdict – for both the farmer and the cook – is still out on these particular greens.

• 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), heated in a heavy iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes to each side, drizzled with juices retained,and frozen, from an earlier meal of broiled perch, and sprinkled with chopped oregano from Stokes Farm, served on a bed of a salsa of chopped Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, which had been combined with salt, pepper, one chopped sierra pepper from Whole Foods, and more of the chopped fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm
• a couple of handfuls of bicolored ‘kalettes‘ from Stokes Farm, stripped from their Brussels sprouts-like stalk, wilted with olive oil in which one slightly-crushed garlic clove from Whole Foods had been allowed to heat until pungent, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, David Akiyoshi Chardonnay Clarksburg 2014, from Naked Wines
• the music was orchestral music by Johann Friedrich Fasch, performed by the Cappella Coloniensis

Because of what the severe weekend weather had done for local fishing, our regular Monday fishmonger, P.E. & D. D. Seafood, wasn’t at the Union Square Greenmarket that day. Since I had learned this from the list on the GrowNYC.org‎ app, and because I had plenty of vegetables on hand, I didn’t have to head for the square that day, but because I had a package of their wonderful crab cakes inside our freezer, we were still able to enjoy their bounty that evening.

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, and parsley) that I had been storing inside the freezer, defrosted before I began heating them above a low to medium flame, with a drizzle of olive oil, inside a small cast iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes to each side, served on a fresh salsa composed of 9 small green tomatoes from Keith’s Farm cut into thick slices, a finely chopped section of a small stalk of celery and most of one one small thinly sliced red onion, both from Norwich Meadows Farm, 2 different kinds and colors of finely chopped small sweet seasoning peppers, aji dulce and Granada, both from Eckerton Hill Farm, torn Thai mint from Lani’s Farm, all moistened with a little olive oil
• roughly 12 ounces of la Ratte potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, boiled with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while inside the large, still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware glass pot in which they had cooked, a tablespoon or so of olive oil added, seasoned with local P.E. & D.D. sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with purple micro radish from Windfall Farms

There was a cheese course.

• a bit of Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk washed rind cheese and the same amount of an Ardith Mae Farmstead mixed goat and cow milk camembert
• toasts from slices of a miche from Runner & Stone Bakery

• the wine throughout was a Spanish (Penedès) white, Azimut blanc, from Foragers Wine
• the music throughout was the 1805 opera, ‘Lenore’, Leonore, Beethoven’s first version of the 1815 ‘Fidelio’, performed by René Jacobs and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

I knew there would be crab cakes, but everything else was pretty much thrown together minutes before we sat down.

It was a greenmarket day, and therefore a fish day at our place, but I didn’t really need anything other than seafood, and I remembered that I had some really terrific frozen crab cakes that were made at home by Delores Karlin, the wife of the fisherman, Phil, whose stand would be there that Monday. I resolved to try to buy more the next week.

Early in the evening I decided that the labneh that I had also picked up in Union Square on an earlier market day, would make a great base for a sympathetic savory accompaniment to the crab cakes I would be serving on a bed of tomato salsa [that is, a mostly tomato salsa].

I tweeted that evening that the fact our “more or less middle eastern dinner” included crab narrowed down its cultural antecedents, since observant jews and at least most Shia Muslims avoid shellfish, or at least crab.  But I think it’s safe to say, at the very least, this dinner might not look too out of place on some Lebanese or Greek tables.

Both labneh topping and the salsa ‘bottoming’ each ended up with a few unorthodox ingredients.

• 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 oval enameled cast iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes to each side, served on a salsa composed of one large chopped green heirloom tomato from Eckerton Hill Farm, some small raw chopped sweet Badger Flame beets from Norwich Meadows Farm (they’re the bits that appear to be carrots in the picture), a little finely-chopped aji dulce pepper, olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, crab cakes and salsa garnished with micro red amaranth
• a serving of plain water buffalo milk labneh from Riverine Ranch, leaving a shallow depression to receive a bit of a very good Sicilian olive oil, from Agricento, Azienda Agricola Mandranova (made exclusively with Nocellara olives), a bit of a dry seasoning called L’ekama from Ron & Leetal Arazi’s New York Shuk, finely sliced segment of red scallion from Berried Treasures Farm, the chopped stem of a baby purple romaine lettuce stem from from Echo Creek Farm, found in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market, garnished with chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm and arranged with the last leaves from that same lettuce stem, which were dressed with Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, drops of juice from a Whole Foods Market lemon, and a bit of the same Sicilian olive oil
• Damascus Bakery flax and chia pita bread from the Chelsea Foragers Market, heated in the cast iron pan used for the crab cakes
• the wine was a Washington (Columbia Valley) white, Dave Harvey Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Alexander Goehr: Symmetry Disorders Reach’

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]

Crab cakes from the Union Square Greenmarket: They’re an invitation to improvise, incredibly simple to ‘cook’, and always delicious.

The fishers were unable to bring anything to the market on Monday, because the intense cold had meant they wouldn’t be able to go out on the ocean, so I reached into the freezer for my small reserve stock of crab cakes.

• 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 evening, heated with a drizzle of olive oil inside a heavy oval enameled 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 powdered proprietary seasoning blend, L’eKama, a small bit of dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm, and a number of really tiny chopped scallions from Willow Wisp Farm, garnished with a sprinkling of micro amaranth from Two Guys from Woodbridge, the salsa itself arranged on the plates partially on top of some leaves torn from a live hydroponic plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• small ‘Peter Wilcox’ purple-skinned white flesh potatoes, boiled inside a large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot, along with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried inside the still warm pot, tossed with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and one chopped Japanese scallion (a bit like a leek) from Norwich Meadows Farm, sprinkled with a little sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and chopped lovage, again from Two Guys from Woodbridge, arranged on the plates and garnished with homemade breadcrumbs which had first been browned in a little olive oil with a pinch of sea salt

There was a cheese course, and this time it included both fruit and toasts, plus one extra tidbit.

• Consider Bardwell ‘Rupert’ goat cheese and a soft goat, a chevre, from Ardith Mae that our neglect since purchasing it farther back than I can recall, had inadvertently – and pretty surprisingly – allowed to mature beautifully
• one Seckel pear from Caradonna Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket
• toasts from a She Wolf Bakery polenta boule
• beet chips’ (thin slices of oven-dried beet) from Lani’s Farm

• the wine throughout the meal was a California (Clarksburg) white, Richard Bruno Clarksburg Chenin Blanc 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album of Andris Nelsons conducting the Boston Symphony in Wagner’s overture to ‘Tannhäuser’, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D, opus 43