This meal was something of a surprise to me, even after I had begun cooking it. Sweet and sour haddock?

After picking out a fillet at the fishers’ stand in the Union Square Greenmarket, I had been looking for something to do with it that would not seem a repeat of what I had served the last few times we had this fish. Even while I mentally noted and was even assembling, the ingredients that went into the new treatment, I really wasn’t registering the significance of the appellation, ‘agrodolce‘. I was in something of a rush last night, and I also had some distractions, including the discovery that I didn’t have all the ingredients specified. I don’t think I had ever before put together anything with that Italian sweet and sour sauce, and I didn’t check out the translation of the word itself until later.

Because of ingredients I did, and did not, have at home, I made some substitutions and some changes in the basic recipe but it came out as strong as the original might have [at least as strong!]. I had assembled a wonderful and very rich sauce for a fish I would not have thought could survive its authority. The haddock did however, and the dish became a perfect treat for a late winter evening, suggesting a sturdy meat and potatoes entrée (with the sauce as the meat, the fish the potatoes) more than an Italian one of fish with some seasonal vegetables.

I had chosen the haddock because we had recently enjoyed everything else that was still available there by the time I arrived at the Union Square Greenmarket fish stand on Monday.

Fortunately, and somewhat accidentally, everything else I put onto the plates worked really well with the sauce I had prepared to accompany the beautiful melanogrammus aeglefinus fillet, all of which had also come from the Greenmarket in the last few days.

• six or 8 shallots from Norwich Meadows Farm, peeled and sliced in half, sautéed inside an oval tin-lined copper gratin pan (alternatively, an enameled cast iron pan) in 3 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium-high flame, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, joined by 5 ounces or so of whole shiitake mushrooms from John D. Madura Farm, a good pinch of sea salt and freshly-ground pepper,  continuing to sauté both, and continuing to stir occasionally, until all were nicely browned (about 7 or 8 minutes), one third of a cup of good Spanish Rioja wine vinegar added cooked for 1 minute, scraping up any browned bits stuck on the bottom, the contents of the pan removed and set aside, the pan wiped clean with paper towels and returned to a flame, now turned high, and 4 pieces (2 large, 2 smaller) of one 12-ounce fillet of haddock, skin on, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, already rubbed with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, added to the pan when it was very hot, skin side up, seared for a couple minutes, the fillet sections turned over, the reserved shallot and mushroom mix and their juices arranged around the fish and the entire contents scattered with some 6 sprigs of fresh thyme branches, also from John D. Madura Farm, the pan then placed inside a 400º oven and roasted for about 12 minutes or so
• eight ‘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, 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ [12 grams of fat per 14 grams, or each tablespoon, of butter; American butter almost always has only 11grams, which makes a surprising difference in taste and texture], seasoned with sea salt and freshly-gorund black pepper, after which the potatoes were arranged on the plates, sprinkled with red-veined sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• one bunch/spray of very sweet and tender collard greens from Lani’s 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 a California (Sonoma) white, Scott Peterson Rumpus California Sauvignon Blanc 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was Johann Christoph Vogel‘s 1786 opera, ‘La Toison d’or’ [The Golden Fleece], Hervé Niquet conducting the Concert Spirituel Orchestra

We don’t see haddock in the stalls of our local fishers very often, but I’m always anxious to bring some home when I do.  A beautiful and very delicious white-fleshed fish, It’s usually offered in the form of fillets. Even now, when it seems to be somewhat more appreciated than it had been in the past, it’s usually less expensive than its cousin cod.

I think the recipe I used last night is one of the easiest, and probably the least stressful, of several that I’ve used for haddock. It’s  inspiration was actually a recip for cod, Mark Bittman’s ‘Emma’s Cod’, which I found inside his book, ‘Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking‘.

While the description below uses many lines, the process actually isn’t complicated, and it’s pretty unfussy, and forgiving.

Anyway, this outing was sublime.

• *one pound of rather small Nicola potatoes (I had thought I would be boiling them when I chose the size) from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, washed, but not peeled, sliced thinly, pushed around inside a 12″ glazed ceramic rectangular oven pan with two tablespoons of butter that had already been melted in the pan over a low flame (surprisingly, while it’s only ceramic, that ‘seasoned’ veteran pan can actually be safely used over a burner, so long as it isn’t shocked by the flame, although I almost never test that assertion myself), adding some salt, and pepper, after which it was spread evenly on the surface and roasted at 425º for about 12 to 15 minutes (when they had began to brown), sprinkled with 3 or so sliced shallots from Norwich Meadows Farm, tossed again and returned to the oven for another 12 or 15 minutes and near the end of that period, a few Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, each sliced horizontally into 3 sections and lightly seasoned, added to the pan, and when that time segment was up, the vegetables topped with a one-pound fillet of haddock from Pura Vida Seafood, which had been divided into two equal-size pieces, the fish dotted with softened knobs of one or 2 tablespoons of butter, plus some sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and returned to the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the fish was just done, arranged on 2 warm plates and served with a rough chiffonade of sorrel leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge which had been not quite  ‘melted’ in a little butter
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) white, Angelo Negro, Roero Arneis Serra Lupini, 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• *the music was Rossini’s beautiful 1821-1822 melodramma giocoso (opera semiseria) ‘Matilde di Shabran’, Riccardo Frizza conducting the Orquesta Sinfonica di Galicia, with Annick Massis and Juan Diego Florez

Yesterday I tweeted that our New Years Day dinner would be “Germany with some Italian, and, as always, New York too”. I followed through later in the day, and this post describes what it looked like, as prepared for four.

We began with bread sticks and a sparkling wine, to toast good friends and the new year

• grissini from Buon Italia
• the wine was a California (Sonoma and Mendocino) sparkling white, Eponina Brut North Coast NV from Naked Wines

I had hoped to serve smoked eel for the first course, but there was none in site in the Greenmarket or anywhere else I look. Instead, I connected with some great smoked halibut from North Atlantic waters.

• smoked haddock from the Lobster Place, with a little dressed upland cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge (a Campania olive oil, Lamparelli O.R.O. from Buon Italia; Maldon salt; freshly-ground black pepper; and a squeeze of juice from a sweet lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island)a
• slices of an Eric Kayser ‘Pain aux Céréales’
• the wine was a German (Franken) white, Weingut Schmitt Kinder Gutswein Silvaner Trocken 2014

 

Since there would be 4 of us at dinner, my idea of a smoked pork roast for the main course seemed to make sense for the wow factor, for deliciousness, and for ease of preparation, and that’s what we got.

• one 6-rib 5-pound (more than enough for this meal) smoked pork rack (Kassler), from Pennsylvania, possibly an Amish farm, via O. Ottomanelli and Sons on Bleecker Street in the West Village, trimmed and the fat scored by Joe Ottomanelli (on the side not seen in the image below) rubbed with a mix of salt, pepper, a little of both picante and dulce Spanish paprika, placed in a large enameled cast iron dutch oven with 4 yellow onions and 3 garlic cloves, all diced and all from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, 5 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia and 8 juniper berries, 6 cups of water and 2 cups of a decent red wine, covered with a lid and cooked in a preheated oven 375° for about 30 minutes, the cover removed and the pork continued cooking for another 25 minutes, basting occasionally, removed from the oven, the meat cut into chops, one rib each, kept warm while some of the cooking liquid was transferred to a smaller saucepan where it was stirred with about 4 tablespoons of water mixed with 2 tablespoons of arrowroot to bind them, served on pre-heated plates with some of the sauce on the top, the remainder poured into a pre-heated sauceboat which was added to the table

 

The Kassler was accompanied by Quince chutney remaining from several earlier meals, a potato-horseradish gratin, and roasted tardivo radicchio.

 

• quince chutney, made following this theKitchn.com recipe, using a shallot from Keith’s Farm, a garlic clove from Stokes Farm, quince from Red Jacket Orchards, dried sweet cherries from Whole Foods, fresh ginger from Lani’s Farm, apple cider from Locust Grove Fruit Farm (the recipe asked for apple cider vinegar, and I do have a bottle of the local stuff, from Race Farm, but I misread the instruction and the dish still turned out more than fine)
• three pounds of russet potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, peeled, and thinly-sliced, tossed in a large bowl with 1½ teaspoons salt, ¾ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 3 Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, half of a cup of shaved fresh horseradish from Eataly, and almost 3 cups of Ronnybrook heavy cream, arranged inside a buttered shallow 3-quart enameled cast iron baking dish, pressed to submerge the potatoes completely, covered in aluminum foil and baked in a 400º oven for 25 minutes, the foil removed and the dish continued to bake until the potatoes were tender and the top is golden, about another 50 minutes, removed to rest on the top of the stove until ready to be served [the dish can be prepared ahead of time, allowed to cool, and reheated for 12 minutes]
• two heads of tardivo radicchio, one from Campo Rosso Farm, the other from Italy, via Eataly (Chris and Jessi had only one left when I stopped by their stall in the Greenmarket on Friday, and I really wanted to serve this wonderful vegetable to our guests), prepared pretty much according to this simple recipe, which is to say, washed under cold running water, the moisture shaken off, each head cut in half lengthwise, and a V-cut made inside the root end to allow it to cook more rapidly, the halves arranged inside a ceramic oven pan cut side up, covered with thyme sprigs from Stokes Farm, seasoned generously with salt and pepper, drizzled with2 tablespoons of olive oil, baked for about 12 minutes, turned over, baked for about 8 minutes more, turned so the cut side is up and once again returned to the oven, this time for only a couple minutes or so, or until the stems were tender [the tardivo can be served hot or warm]
• the wines were, first, an Austrian (Burgenland) red, Sankt Laurent ‘Konkret,’ Meinklang – 2009; and then a German (Baden) red, Pinot Noir, Dr. Heger – 2012, both from Astor Wines

 

There was a cheese course.

• the cheeses were, from left to right in the picture above, Consider Bardwell Farms ‘Manchester’ goat cheese; their ‘Pawlet’ cow cheese; ‘Barden’, a cow blue cheese, also from Consider Bardwell; and ‘Arethusa Blue’, a Connecticut cow blue from Eataly
• thin toasts from the same Eric Kayser ‘Pain aux Céréales’ with which the meal began
• and I brought out a dozen dried Calabrian (Amantea) figs from Buon Italia
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, Matt Iaconis Chardonnay Napa Valley 2015, from Naked Wines

 

There was a sweet, a very festive sweet!

 

• struffoli from the Magliulo family’s shop, Buon Italia, made by Tonia, who, with her husband Mimmo, owns this wonderful place

 

• the music throughout was the conversation of four friends and one very smart baby

[the image of the struffoli is from the archive, although the sweet was made by the same woman; the one I took last night turned out a little blurry after several courses with wine]

Haddock does very well without smoking.   My celtic Fall River-born stepfather would be shocked, if he were still with us, although he surely knew scrod.  I was proud to be able to put this meal together on Saturday, in the midst of some serious problems with hot water, problems now resolved.

• one pound of small Kennebec potatoes from Keith’s Farm, washed, but not peeled, sliced thinly, tossed in a ceramic oven pan with two tablespoons of butter which had already been allowed to melt in the pan, some salt and pepper, spread evenly and roasted at 425º for about 25 minutes (when they have begun to brown), sprinkled half of the way through with two sliced spring garlic from Eataly and tossed again, the dish then topped with a one-pound haddock fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood which had been divided into two pieces, spread with softened knobs of one tablespoons of butter, some salt and freshly-ground pepper, and returned to the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is just done, the fish served with a chiffonade of sorrel from Bodhitree Farm which had been ‘melted’ in a little butter  [the inspiration for this treatment of haddock was Marc Bittman’s ‘Emma’s Cod’ in his book, ‘‘Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking‘]
• two ripe Maine Backyard Farms tomatoes from Eataly, each sliced into four rounds and lightly seasoned, were also added to the pan while it was in the oven, at about the same time as the sliced spring garlic
• the wine was an Italian white, Cantina del Taburno Falanghina del Sanno 2013
• the music was Vivaldi’s ‘Farnace’, in a fantastic performance led by Jordi Savall 

I’ve certainly prepared haddock before, but apparently never entered a meal which included the fish into the Food Blog.  It’s quite similar to cod in flavor and texture, and so quite delicious (yet somewhat less expensive), so it was easy to think of a dish which involved potatoes sliced thinly and baked with a savory herb.  This recipe I used was inspired by one in Mark Bittman’s discussion of how to cook white fish fillets.

• a mix, four each, of Reba potatoes from Garden of Spices Farm and German Butterball potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm (I was improvising from what I found in the larder), washed, but not peeled, sliced thinly, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, spread onto an oven dish and roasted at 425º for about 25 minutes (when they have begun to brown), sprinkled with sage and garlic, both from S. & S.O. Farms, both chopped, topped with a single haddock fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood and two tablespoons of oil, and returned to the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is just done
• a small shallot from Keith’s Farm, thinly sliced, stirred briefly in a pan with olive oil, before joined by the leaves of four beautiful tatsoi ‘heads’ from Tamarack Hollow Farm, the vegetables salted, then cooked until wilted but still bright green
• the wine was a California white, Amador County Sobon Estate Viognier 2013