seconds after the shrimp were placed in a seasoned 10-pound cast iron pan

 

With the arrival of Eco Shrimp Garden to the Friday Union Square Greenmarket, I now can buy fish on a single day which can serve as meals for two consecutive days. The very fresh decapoda, pulled out of water the same day they are sold, can keep for the next (actually, and even beyond, I understand) without any taste sacrifice.  This means that we are able to enjoy that night whatever I select from the Pura Vida stand, and still enjoy a seafood meal the next, even if I can’t make it to Union Square Saturday.

I wish I could claim it as my own, but the excellent recipe I used came from Mark Bittman; it was in a feature article inside the FOOD section of the New York Times, ‘The Pantry Made Me Do It: Shrimp, Simply Spanish‘.  The print version included the simple recipe text; unfortunately the link above only includes a four-minute-plus video, and in it Bittman ends up adding tomato, which I did not do.

This  was more than a recipe however. In his piece Bittman’s describes his attitude toward stocking his kitchen, and making do – or, in his case, much more than just making do – with what is on hand.  It’s an attitude to which I have aspired for a long time, and which I seem to be gradually obtaining. Next there was my happy discovery that I actually had on hand last night every ingredient he used in the recipe with which he illustrated his point. I was thinking, ‘who has a dried chipotle pepper, saffron, and good cumin seed together in the kitchen at the same time?’  Maybe I really am on my way to chef-hood.

 

• one teaspoon of chopped garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, heated inside a (13 1/2″) cast iron pan over a very low flame until the garlic had colored nicely, followed by the addition of a pinch of saffron, one whole chipotle pepper from Northshire Farm (do not squish) and a teaspoon of freshly-ground cumin seed, all of it stirred for a minute or two, then three-quarters of a pound of Hudson Valley farmed shrimp from Eco Shrimp Garden added, seasoned with salt and pepper, the heat brought up a bit, and the shrimp cooked until firm, turned once or twice in the meantime, served with a squeeze of lemon, and garnished with parsley from John D. Madura Farm
• yellow pole beans from Norwich Meadows Farm, blanched, reheated later in a bit of olive oil, in which thin slices of a small shallot had been warmed, then seasoned with salt and pepper and finished with chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a Spanish white, Naia D.O. Rueda 2014, from Verdejo old vines
• the music was Germaine Tailleferre, chamber and piano music

The cod liver tasted a bit like foie gras, but without the guilt, which is to say, it was delicious.

• four ounces of Icelandic canned cod liver (Skansen) from the Schaller & Weber store, served with little more than pinches of a few condiments (freshly-ground black pepper, Sicilian wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, fresh dill buds from Alewife Farm, sliced red scallion from Berried Treasures Farm, and slices of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon)
• slices of a Fruit & Seed Brød from Bread Alone (perhaps a mørkt rug frugt brød?)

The main course featured wild shrimp, which I believe has never shown up on this blog before. When I have cooked this delectable crustacean, it’s always been the excellent farmed shrimp that Jean Claude Frajmund raises up the Hudson, in Newburgh, New York. Eco Shrimp Garden now appears in the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturdays only, and that’s the day I normally do not appear there (mostly because of the weekend crowds of gawkers, and because we are inclined to do other stuff that afternoon.

But I do usually pay a brief visit to the Chelsea Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, the little market which is set up less than a block from us every Saturday. This time the market’s regular seafood vender had ‘super jumbo’ shrimp that one of their boats had netted, beheaded, and quickly frozen while fishing in North Carolina waters that week.

They were almost local, or at least more local than the Gulf, and way more local than southeast Asia.

The image of the shrimp sautéing mimics that of the cucumbers I had started a few minutes earlier.

• one teaspoon of chopped, still slightly immature Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm heated inside a very heavy 13 1/2″ cast iron pan over a very low flame until the garlic had colored nicely, followed by a pinch of Spanish saffron, one dried chipotle pepper from Northshire Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, one crushed section of a dried orange-gold habanada pepper, and a teaspoon of freshly-ground dried cumin seed from Eataly, all of it stirred together for a minute or two before 20 ‘extra jumbo’ North Carolina shrimp were placed inside the pan (I had cut through the length of their backs, from head to tail, for ease of shelling after they were cooked and on the plates), the shrimp seasoned with salt and pepper and the heat brought up a bit, the shrimp cooked until firm while being turned twice, served on the plates with a generous squeeze of lemon, garnished with chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm
• five tiny halved green tomatoes from Campo Rosso Farm, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a small vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pan, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with fresh dill buds from Alewife Farm

• two ‘Sikkim cucumbers’, which, to me, actually look more like Hmong Red, weighing one pound, from Norwich Meadows Farm, unpeeled, sliced into rounds 2 cm thick, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pan over a medium-high flame, turning twice, sprinkling with salt each time, each side allowed to begin carbonizing, adding slices from the stem of a fresh bulbous shallot from Tamarack Hollow Farm more than half way through, seasoned with freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, garnished with micro red basil from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve White Blend Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was from 2 albums, Dylan Mattingly’s ‘Stream of Stars’, and the International Contemporary Ensemble & George Lewis’ ‘The Will To Adorn’

When I arrived at the fish stand in the Greenmarket on Saturday there was only one remaining fillet of Blackfish (Eastern Long Island- and Rhode Island-speak: ‘Tautog’). It’s one of my favorite fishes, but this piece was a little smaller than I would normally prefer for the two of us.

Still, noticing that I had recently cooked all of the other local seafood selections available, I decided to ask for it anyway. I thought of serving an appetizer using a few local Hudson Valley shrimp from Jean Claude Frajmund’s Eco Shrimp Garden market stall, just steps away, if his stock had not yet been exhausted.

Two fish courses would complicate the dinner preparations, but I had been feeling pretty confident about my modest skills lately.

I got the shrimp.

It all turned out even better than I might have expected. The only problem was the lateness of the hour when it was finally served (I still have to work on that).

• one teaspoon of chopped garlic from Lucky Dog Organic Farm Farm heated inside a medium cast iron pan over a very low flame until the garlic had colored nicely, then part of one dried dark no-heat Habanada pepper added and pushed around with the garlic, followed by a pinch of Spanish saffron (DO La Mancha from Antonio Sotos), one small whole dried local chipotle pepper from Northshire Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket (not punctured, and left whole) and less than half of  teaspoon of freshly-ground cumin seed added, all stirred for a minute or two, after which 6 large, very fresh local whole farmed shrimp from our local Hudson River Valley (Newburgh) supplier of small crustaceans, Eco Shrimp Garden, were added (I had cut them all along their backs, from head to tail, ahead of time, to ease their shelling once they were served), seasoned with salt and pepper, the heat brought up a bit and the shrimp cooked until firm while turned twice, served on 2 plates with a generous squeeze of local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, finished micro fennel from Windfall Farms [both the dried Habanada and the micro fennel are my own additions to Mark Bittman’s simple, delicious recipe]
• four Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, warmed in a little olive oil along with stems of wild garlic from Lani’s Farm, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, mixed with a generous amount of chopped thyme from Eataly

I was able to prepare all the ingredients for the main course before beginning to cook the first, so there was relatively short intermission between the them.

• one beautiful, very fresh 11-ounce fillet of Blackfish/Tautog from Seatuck Fish Company, halved, then prepared mostly as described in this recipe by Melissa Clark, but necessarily substituting a mix of Nigerian cayenne pepper and Spanish paprika (picante) for the Aleppo Syrian red pepper it specified, and spooning a small amount of a savory tomato mix from a previous meal at the very end; the fresh sage was from S. & S.O. Produce Farm; the olives were from Whole Foods Market; and the lemon juice from a sweet local fruit from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island
• a mix of 3 varieties of potatoes, because I wanted to keep enough of each of them for another time, all from Greenmarket farmers (Carolas from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, small Red Norlands from Berried treasure, and ‘blue potatoes’ from Norwich Meadows Farm) boiled in a vintage medium-size clear pyrex pan, drained, dried in the same pan, cut into smaller pieces, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, then rolled, still in the pan, with a bit of olive oil and both the bulbs and greens of a few ramps from Violet Hill Farm

 

• the wine through both courses was a California (Lodi) white, made with traditional Portuguese grapes, Ana Diogo-Draper Lodi Verdelho 2016, from Naked Wines

There was actually a dessert this time.

• scoops of a hand-packed vanilla gelato, from Eataly, made in-house, sprinkled with chopped candied ginger from Whole Foods Market

 

• the music throughout was a 1732 Italian opera, a pasticcio, curated by and perhaps with music largely by Handel, ‘Catone’, Carlo Ipata directing Auser Musici