I love cucumbers. And thanks to Martha Stewart I’ve now discovered the sautéed cucumber. I took some liberties with her recipe however, in consideration of the vegetable materials I had on hand, and my own taste: I had 3 small Korean cucumbers, I cooked the chunks until they had begun to brown, and I finished them with lovage.

The cabbage was left over from an earlier meal, and tasted even better than it had the first time.

The pork was from a new Greenmarket source, one which happened to have the smaller-size chops I’ve had difficulty finding lately. I used the same recipe I’ve used for years, but since my oven is currently unavailable, I cooked them on top of the stove in a heavy enameled cast iron pot. I think I should have seared them a little longer before squeezing the half lemon over them and covering it: They turned out less than brown, but the flavor was terrific.

Since I’ve just pointed to the recipes or procedures, now I only have to list the ingredients:

• the pork chops, from Sawkill Farm, weighed just under 14 ounces altogether
• the cabbage ingredients were described here
• the 3 Korean cucumbers (totally 8.5 ounces) were from Lani’s Farm, and they were sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a California (Sonoma) white, Jacqueline Bahue Carte Blanche Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma Valley 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music was roughly the firsthalf of an 1984 opera of Aulis Sallinen, ‘The King Goes Forth To France’, which begins, topically but with an entirely fantastical story, with the English royal court heading south to escape a future ice age (read the album notes!), Okko Kamu conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tapiola Chamber Choir, and the Finnish Philharmonic Choir, with the soloists Riikka Rantanen, Jyrki Korhonen, Lilli Paasikivi,
  Mari Palo, Laura Nykänen, Herman Wallen, and Tommi Hakala

We hadn’t eaten meat in 9 days, although that was certainly no hardship for us.  After enjoying a small duck breast, from Long Island or Pennsylvania, on October 22, we had feasted, in succession on Long Island eel; ‘Hudson River prawns’; zucchini-filled pasta made 2 blocks away; penne with local Romanesco; and New York-local-waters-sourced mackerel, crab cakes, scallops and Grey Triggerfish.

We broke our inadvertent fast last night with some delicious pork chops from upstate NY.  The duck and pork recipes have been among my favorites for a long time, but I’ve added some new choice ones from among the meals which those two dinners bracketed.

• two 8-ounce bone-in loin pork chops from Flying Pig Farms, thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt and pepper, seared quickly in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan before half of an organic lemon was squeezed over them and left in the pan, which was then placed in a 400º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again), removed from the oven, sprinkled with chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm, and the pan juices spooned over the top
• eight ‘Mountain Magic’ tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, added to the pan in which the chops had roasted after they had been removed, stirred in the juices until warm, seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with Gotham Greens Rooftop packaged basil from Whole Foods
• Brussels sproutsfrom Van Houton Farms, tossed with salt, pepper, and some olive oil, and roasted in a 400º oven for about half an hour
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, Matthew Iaconis Napa Valley Chardonnay 2014 (in a Burgundy style, it’s Matt’s wine, and it comes from Naked Wines)
• the music was Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, Claudio Abbado leading the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, only months before the conductor’s death

This approach to an excellent pork chop has almost become formulaic in my kitchen;  it’s the changing details and accompaniments that keep it fresh, as well as the variety of good wines pair well with it.

• two bone-in loin pork chops from Flying Pig Farms, thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt and pepper, seared in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan, half of a small, almost-sweet organic lemon squeezed over them, then left in the pan, roasted in a 400º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again), removed from the oven, sprinkled with chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, and the pan juices spooned over the top
• two large-ish Maine cherry, ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods, added to the pan with the chops near the end of their time in the oven, removed, and sprinkled with savory from Berried Treasures
• flat green or Romano beans from Norwich Meadows Farm, par-boiled, drained, dried (shaking over a flame the pan in which they had cooked), reheated in a bit of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper
• the wine was a New Zealand white, Whitehaven Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2014
• the music was that of George Tsontakis [it was the night before the Greek referendum, and although the composer was born in Queens, we enjoyed the appositeness of a choice which had been entirely unconscious]

note: red objects in foreground are smaller than they appear

 

The chops were small, but just the right thickness for finishing in the oven. Their outer sides showed a layer of fat generous enough to help retain the juiciness promised by their width.  They were perfectly shaped, and I knew they would taste as good as they looked, because they were from Flying Pigs Farm.  I had purchased the frozen matched pair from the owner Michael Yezzi’s stand in the Union Square Greenmarket.  The turnips came home about the same time, from one of my favorite vegetable producers, Norwich Meadows Farm, also in the Greenmarket.  The slightly-outsized, exceedingly-red Maine ‘cocktail’ cherries have become something like my regular go-to tomatoes.  In the winter months I buy them regularly at Whole Foods Markets, although there are excellent Greenmarket sources for tomatoes, and I patronize them almost as often.  The herb and the alliums were each picked up in the Greenmarket some time since the beginning of February, and the fact that they were there this month is pretty shocking, even to me.

The meat was possibly even more delicious than the usual standard of the supplier and the very familiar recipe (from Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ “Italian Easy: Recipes from the London River Cafe“).  This time I used no herbs to finish the chops, only the baby leeks I’ve become attached to over the past weeks.  The turnips were as sweet as candy, but it was a savory sweet augmented by spring garlic and rosemary, with a bit of crunch on the edges, and succulent inside.

• two thick, bone-in loin pork chops (approximately 8 ounces each) from Flying Pig Farms, thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt and pepper, seared in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan, half a lemon squeezed over them then left in the pan with them while they roasted in a 400º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again), removed from the oven, sprinkled with sliced baby leeks from Rogowski Farm, the pan juices spooned over the top
• purple-top turnips from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut into half-inch pieces, tossed with oil, rosemary from John D, Maderna Farm, fresh garlic from Rogowski Farm, salt, and pepper, roasted for about half an hour at 425º
• Maine Backyard Farms ‘cocktail tomatoes‘ from Eataly, halved, added to the pan with the pork chops, cut-side down, in the last moments they were in the oven, seasoned
• the wine was a California white, Franc Dusak, white Wine Mendocino 2014
• the music was ‘Boris Godunov‘

The pork chops were superb to start with.  They had a good layer of fat, they were modest in size, and they came from Flying Pigs in the Greenmarket (now doesn’t that phrase sound interesting?).  Like the one for the greens, the recipe was incredibly simple.  That for the pork chop was once again from Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ “Italian Easy: Recipes from the London River Cafe“.

• two pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt, and pepper, seared in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan, half a lemon squeezed over them then left in the pan with them while they were roasting in a 400º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again), finished with a sprinkling of chopped fresh oregano from Central Valley Farm
• collard greens from Phillips Farm, cut as a rough chiffonade, then braised in a heavy pot in which crushed garlic form Berried Treasures had been allowed to sweat with some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a German white, a Mosel, Später-Veit Pinot Blanc Trocken 2012 (piesport)