I never have to worry about cooking good salmon: It always comes out well, usually very well, regardless of how I approach it, but this recipe has become a favorite. In fact, I just now realized that this meal was almost identical to one we enjoyed in the beginning of January.

I do feel guilty however about the carbon footprint involved in serving wild salmon, since the fish I cook comes from the Pacific northwest. Eating local wild salmon (once superabundant from New York to Newfoundland, born and spawning in the clean, fast-running waters of hundreds of unspoiled rivers) has been out of the question for a very long time, since the species was virtually eliminated by industrialization, river barriers, overfishing, poor land practices, and air pollution.

There may however be good news for the future: There may be some hope for the restoration of our local genus Salmo, although it’s no sure thing, and even if it shows up in the local market, will it even be the real thing?

But there were local vegetables on the plates, to relieve the pangs of conscience somewhat.

• a 17-ounce section of a wild (previously frozen) fillet from a Pacific Sockeye salmon from Whole Foods Market, skin left on, halved, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, the flesh side only [CORRECTION: this should have read “the former skin side”, and in fact this time I incorrectly pressed the mixture on the flesh side]
  pressed with a mixture of ground coriander seeds, ground cloves, ground cumin, and grated nutmeg, sautéed, coated side down first, inside an enameled, cast iron oval pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes or so, turned onto the skin side and cooked 3 or 4 minutes minutes more, finished on the plate with a little squeeze of organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of a good olive oil
• one 6-inch Carousel squash (a hybrid of sweet dumpling and acorn) from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, halved horizontally, the seeds removed, divided into one-inch wedges, tossed lightly with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and one section of a golden dried habanada pepper, then arranged on a large, unglazed, well-seasoned ceramic Pampered Chef pan and roasted on one side at 450ª for 15 minutes, turned onto the other side and roasted for about 10 more minutes, removed from the oven and from the baking pan once they had softened inside but with their edges slightly carbonized and crunchy, then stirred inside a sauté pan in which 3 whole cloves of Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic had been gently heated in a bit of olive oil with some roughly-chopped sage from Phillips Farms
• Brussels sprouts from Philipps Farms, tossed with olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, then roasted in a hot oven until browned and crisp on the outside (at which point they taste surprisingly sweet and a bit nutty)
• the wine was a California (Lodi) red, Jacqueline Bahue Cabernet Franc Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Eloge du vin et de la vigne de Rabelais à Henri IV‘, performed by the ensemble, La Maurache

It was Friday afternoon. While returning from the Union Square Greenmarket with a fine haddock fillet inside my insulated bag, which I would cook for dinner that night, I stopped by our local Eataly Market for something incidental. I had already decided that on the next day I would cook some veal riblets which were waiting for us in the freezer compartment, but when I spotted the black truffle ravioli in Luca Donofrio’s pastificio, I knew I had to find room for it in the schedule somewhere.

We were both lucky that the space I found described this simple primi I prepared to introduce the complexities of the main course, because if I had been tempted to add more elements to the ravioli, the subtleties of the noble fungus would have been lost.

• eight and a half ounces of small fresh ravioli (with a filling of ricotta, fresh black truffle, and porcini mushroom) from Luca Donofrio‘s fresh pasta shop inside Eataly’s Flatiron, briefly boiled, then, a cup of the pasta water reserved, drained and immediately slipped into a vintage medium size, high-sided tin-lined copper pan in which 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ (with 12 grams of fat) had been melted, then seasoned with freshly-ground black pepper, portions divided into two shallow warm bowls, where the past was garnished with micro mint from Two Guys from Woodbridge

The main course was already cooking on and inside the ancient Magic Chef when we sat down to the primi.

The 1990 recipe I followed was essentially the same one I had used once before, ‘Country Mustard Braised Veal Riblets‘, and had found on the Los Angeles Times site.

• I halved the original recipe, but otherwise changed very little, merely adding a little of a very complex Nigerian cayenne pepper to the smoked Spanish pimentón ‘pikant’ specified, introducing 5 or 6 rosemary sprigs to the mix, and substituting a little local apple vinegar for the apple juice called for, and which I did not have on hand; the ingredients I used, and their sources, were: local whole wheat flour from the Blew family of Oak Grove Mills in the Union Square Greenmarket; 5 or 6 rosemary sprigs rosemary from Stokes Farm; 20 ounces of veal rib (6 ribs) from Tony, of Consider Bardwell Farm; a very sturdy dark mustard (Maille Old Style Whole Grain Dijon Mustard); a medium onion from Norwich Meadows Farm; 3 tablespoons of local apple vinegar from Race Farm; organic lemon juice from Whole Foods Market, a bit of Linden blossom honey from Tremblay Apiaries; zest from the Whole Foods organic lemon, garnished with micro red chard from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• Brussels sprouts from Phillips Farms, washed, trimmed, dried, tossed with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and several whole unpeeled Rocambole garlic cloves from Keith;s Farm, roasted in a 400º oven on a small unglazed Pampered Chef oven pan until they were browned and crisp on the outside, or for about 20 minutes, drizzled as they came out of the oven with a little bit of warmed (to protect the hot ceramic pan) balsamic vinegar
• the wine was a great Italian (Piedmont) red, Roagna, Barbera d’Alba, 2012, the generous gift of a friend
• the music was from two very different eras (Louis XIIIe and Napoleon 1er, but performed by the same ensemble: through much of the meal, it was an album of French instrumental court music from 1601 to 1650, ‘L’Orchestre de Louis XIII 1601-1643’, performed by Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations  (“Ces musiques de cour aux saveurs populaires, toujours imaginatives et colorées, sont à la recherche constante de souplesse et de grâce, de grandeur et d’élégance.” – Savall); after a pause, this was followed by a very spirited performance of Beethoven’s third symphony, ‘Eroica’, also performed by Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations

This was a sublime winter meal, and almost embarrassingly easy to put together.

I used a recipe, with almost no deviations, from a specialty cookbook I bought in Brooklyn almost as soon as I had learned that I could buy local goat cuts in the Union Square Greenmarket. The title is ‘Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese‘ and the authors are Bruce Weinstein (he cooks) and Mark Scarbrough (he writes).

It was great fun, and even though our shanks were a little smaller than those described in the recipe, we were surprised to sit down to dinner roughly an hour and a half earlier than the recipe’s program had suggested: After quickly getting the braise together inside the pot I was looking forward to an interval during which I could catch up on writing or reading (about food, to be sure), but when I got up to check and stir the pot the second time, maybe 50 or 55 minutes into the 2 1/2 hours my guides had predicted it would take, I realized that the meat was nearly ready. I know it could have gone further, but not for an additional hour and a half, and the meat already offered no resistance when pierced with a metal tester.

I then worked rapidly on the rest of the meal, rushing the Brussels sprouts into the oven and quickly assembling the ingredients for the polenta, both of which might take 25 minutes. I knew the goat braise would be understanding, so there wasn’t any panic with the timing, and everything came together perfectly in the end.

The picture below shows what the shanks looked like just after I had replaced them in the pot in which they had earlier been browned then removed to the side, and after sautéing the vegetables, adding the chicken broth and white beans, and bringing the liquid to a simmer.

• for the goat braise, the only changes I made to the recipe, which I halved, were the addition of a medium-width 6-inch celery stalk, sliced, from Philipps Farms; a crushed piece of dark dried habanada pepper; and a reduction by roughly half in the cooking time it describes, so rather than re-enter the recipe text, I’ll only list the source of the ingredients I used: two goat shanks, weighing a total of 21 ounces, from Tony at Consider Bardwell Farm; 4 medium orange carrots from John D. Madura Farm; one small leek from Hawthorne Valley Farm; one mediium Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm; a tablespoon of fresh sage leaves from Philipps Farm; one teaspoon of zest from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon; 2 or 3 tablespoons of Few Spirits Breakfast Gin; one cup of low-sodium Better Than Bouillon chicken base; and almost one cup of Eden Foods organic cannellini beans
• polenta made using this excellent Mark Bittman recipe, ‘Polenta Without Fear‘, very gradually adding, while stirring, two thirds of a cup of coarsely-ground Iroquois White Corn Project white corn flour from the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project stall in the Union Square Greenmarket) to a pot in which 2 cups of water and 2/3 of a cup of excellent Trickling Springs Creamery milk from Whole Foods Market (the proportion always begins as 3 to 1, but additional fresh water will always have to be added along the way) had been brought to a boil, then stirred continually for about 15 or 20  minutes, and when the mixture was creamy and the cornmeal tasted cooked, seasoned with a pinch of salt, finished with several tablespoons of several 4  tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, and properly seasoned with sea salt, garnished with a few small fresh sage leaves from Philipps Farm
• four good-size Brussels sprouts from Phillips Farms, washed, trimmed, dried, tossed with olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, roasted in a 400º oven on a small unglazed Pampered Chef oven pan until they were browned and crisp on the outside, or for about 20 minutes,
• the wine was an Italian (Puglia) red, Aglianico Polvanera 2009, from Garnet Wines & Liquors
• the music was Wagner’s 185-1861 ‘Tannhäuser’, Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus., with Agnes Baltsa, Andreas Schmidt, Placido Domingo, Matti Salminen, Kurt Rydl, Oskar Hillebrandt, Clemens Bieber, Cheryl Studer, Barbara Bonney, Margaret Stobart, Ingrid Baier, Jeanette Wilson, Karen Shelby, and William Pell

The Denver steak is a fairly-recent innovation, and this was probably the first time we had ever had it. I know it’s the first time I’ve cooked it, but it won’t be the last. The flavor is as good as beef gets; it’s surprisingly tender, especially for a piece cut from the chuck; it can be cooked as easily as more familiar steaks; it doesn’t have to be sliced before serving; and it’s relatively inexpensive.

In the picture above the steak pieces look well done, but they were actually medium rare, with a very slight emphasis on the medium, because I had read that this cut could be a little chewy if cooked any less.

• *a 17-ounce Denver steak from Greg and Mike of Sun Fed Beef (Maple Avenue Farms) in the Union Square Greenmarket, brought to room temperature, cut into 4 pieces (because of the slightly irregular shape, I wasn’t otherwise going to be able to divide it into 2 portions), dried very well, seasoned with a generous amount of freshly roughly-ground black pepper, placed on a very hot cast iron pan grill for just under 10 minutes, turning twice and salting each side after it had been seared, removed and arranged on the plates, a little juice from an organic Whole Food Market lemon squeezed on top, sprinkled with some chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm, drizzled with a little olive oil and garnished with purple micro radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• two Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved and placed inside a small tin-lined copper pan, turning once, until they had softened, arranged on the plates next to the steaks, seasoned with salt and pepper and garnished with chopped lovage from Stokes Farm
• *more than three quarters of a pound of Brussels sprouts from Phillips Farms, washed, trimmed, dried, tossed with olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, roasted in a 400º oven on a large unglazed Pampered Chef oven pan until they were browned and crisp on the outside, or for about 15 minutes, and finished with a small amount of balsamic vinegar flicked on them with a small brush
• the wine was an excellent California (Lodi) red, Karen Birmingham Reserve Zinfandel Lodi 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was Mozart’s 1781 opera, ‘Idomeneo’, John Eliot Gardner conducting the  English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir, with Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Jonathan Peter Kenny, Sylvia McNair, Hillevi Martinpelto, Glenn Winslade, Cornelius Hauptmann, Peter Salmon, Stephen Charlesworth, Ruth Holton (Soprano), Carol Hall (Soprano), Angela Kazmimierczuk, Nicola Jenkin, and Nigel Robson

I figured pork chops would be an excellent side for the sweet potatoes I had been looking forward to, but the chops from Flying Pigs Farm are always so good they weren’t going to be incidental to anything. Also, as excited as I was about the potatoes, I was equally enthusiastic about using myrtle on the pork for the first time.

As for those sweet potatoes, when I asked Keith (Keith Stewart, the vegetable sage) what cultivar they were, he told me that at this time of the year it was probably impossible to know which of the two they had planted, Covington or Beauregard, were in the bin that day, so my call would be as good as his. He assured me however that it was not that they had been up to any cultivar-ian miscegenation, (I asked), that it was only that they had been moving into each other’s fields somewhat indiscriminately.

I was going to add some watercress to the plate, for something green, but then I remembered that, from among the dozens of smaller Brussels sprouts I had roasted on Thursday, I had kept back 3 significantly larger ones, for just such a circumstance.

• two 8-ounce bone-in loin pork chops from Flying Pig Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and sprinkled with some small leaves and crushed berries (5?) of dried Italian myrtle [It. Mirto], berries and leaves, from Buon Italia seared quickly on both sides inside a heavy enameled cast-iron pan, half of a Whole Foods Market organic lemon squeezed over the top, then left in the pan between the chops, placed in a 425º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through, after which the lemon was squeezed on top again and replaced in the pan between them), removed from the oven, arranged on the plates and garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge, some of the really luscious pan juices spooned over the top, the remainder placed on the table inside a glass sauce boat
• three medium Brussels sprouts from John D. Madura Farms, washed, trimmed, dried, and halved, tossed with olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, roasted in a 400º oven on a small unglazed Pampered Chef oven pan until they were browned and crisp on the outside, about 15 or 20 minutes
• less than one pound of small sweet potatoes (either Covington or Beauregard) from Keith’s Farm, unpeeled, but washed thoroughly, sliced into 3-quarter-inch pieces, tossed in a bowl with olive oil; sea salt; freshly-ground black pepper; 3 large unpeeled Rocambole garlic cloves, also from Keith’s  Farm; a tablespoon or so of small dried sage leaves which had originally come fresh from Stokes Farm; and a bit of crushed dark dried habanada pepper, originally fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm, spread onto a large well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan, roasted T 400º for about 30 minutes, garnished with micro amaranth from Two GUys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, La Tapatia Chardonnay Carneros 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was Mozart’s very early (1767) opera, ‘Apollo Et Hyacinthus’, from the album, ‘Complete Mozart Edition Vol 26’