It had to be assembled fairly fast, because we were going to be at The Kitchen earlier that night, and we expected to arrive home late, after our second experience of Varispeed’s magnificent performance of Robert Ashley’s opera, ‘Improvement (Don Leaves Linda)’.

My first choice at the Greenmarket fish stall (it was Wednesday, meaning the American Seafood Company would be there) had been tuna, because it really can make for a quick meal, but, learning that it wasn’t the season, I turned to the baby squid, which can be prepared just about as fast.

• one pound of rinsed and carefully dried baby squid from American Seafood Company, quickly arranged inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until hot and its the cooking surface brushed with olive oil, then, once the oil was also quite hot, immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, a good section of a peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and a section of light-colored home-dried habanada pepper (purchased fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a douse of 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Whole Foods lemon, and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and the squid roasted for only about 5 minutes, by which time their little bodies had ballooned, removed, the squid distributed onto 2 plates and ladled with the cooking juices, once they’d been transferred to a footed glass sauce boat
• almost a pound of pinto potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with a little Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, tossed with some chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• sunflower sprouts, from Windfall Farms, naked
• the wine was a Portuguese (Beira) white, Vinhas Velhas Branco, Luis Pato 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was Martin Bresnick’s ‘Opere della musica povera’, including several ensembles and soloists (we listened to both superb CDs)

With a little extra help from the Greenmarket.

The first course required little more talent than an ability to open a container.

• eight ounces of a squid and conch salad, with olive oil, parsley, red pepper, lemon juice from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, made by Delores Karlin, the wife of Phil Karlin, the fisherman, arranged on a thin bed of wild cress from Lani’s Farm
• slices of a levain (organic wheat, whole wheat, and whole spelt flours) from Bread Alone
• the wine was a Portuguese (Lisbon) white, Dory Branco 2016, from Garnet Wines

The second course was almost as easy, for several different reasons: The potatoes almost cooked themselves, as did the steak, whose sauce was simply resurrected from the freezer, and preparing the tomatoes, which didn’t require cooking, was simply a matter of cutting them up, mixing them with a few things I had on hand, and then letting them sit for a spell.

• two sirloin cap steaks (aka ‘culotte’ steak, ‘coulotte’ in France, or ‘picanha’ in Brazil) from Sun Fed Beef in the 23rd Street Market at Saturday’s Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, one block away from us, weighing approximately 12 ounces together, each divided into 2 pieces because they were very different in weight, brought to room temperature, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared for less than a minute on the top, thick, fat-covered side inside a dry oval enameled heavy cast iron pan, the 2 long sides cooked for 3 or 4 minutes each, then removed from the pan at the moment they had become perfectly medium-rare and arranged on 2 warm plates, topped with a pat of a little toasted yellow mustard and Sicilian fennel seed butter (a leftover, frozen, that had originally been made for a rack of lamb meal 4 months earlier, the steaks allowed to rest for about 4 minutes before being served

• a few small red thumb fingerlings from Norwich Meadows Farm, halved lengthwise, tossed with a little oil, 4 or 5 unpeeled (to keep from burning) rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, a small amount of crushed dried habanada pepper, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, roasted inside a medium Pampered Chef ceramic oven pan, cut side down, in a 400º oven for less about 20 minutes

• three organic tomatoes, each of a different color, from Toigo Orchards, cut into relatively thin wedges, mixed gently inside a medium bowl with 2 thinly sliced fresh grenada verde peppers and one fresh habanada, pepper, a squeeze of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market Chelsea, and a little olive oil, allowed to rest until the steak and potatoes were ready to be served, at which time they were joined by a small mix of several chopped fresh herbs and a quite small drizzle of balsamic vinegar
• the wine was a Spanish (Rioja) red, CVNE (Cune), Rioja Crianza “Vina Real”, 2014, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Walter Braunfels, ‘Die Vogel’, in a performance with Lothar Zagrosek conducting the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Berlin Radio Chorus heard on a CD recording we had purchased soon after it was released in 1997

Some of our most delicious meals have been about squid, and their friends, and this was one of the most delicious.

• inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan heated on top of the stove until hot, the cooking surface brushed with olive oil, and once the oil was also quite hot, one pound of rinsed and carefully dried baby squid from Pura Vida Seafood quickly arranged inside, immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, 3 small fresh seasoning peppers (a yellow and a green grenada pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm and a habanada from Norwich Meadows Farm), sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a douse of 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Whole Foods lemon, and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for only about 5 minutes, by which time their little bodies had ballooned, the pan removed and the squid distributed onto 2 plates, ladled with their cooking juices after they had been transferred to a footed glass sauce sauce boat

• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, bathed in several changes of water, left undressed
• two Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, placed face down on a small plate spread with sea salt and black pepper, pan grilled, sprinkled with bits of a few cut fresh tarragon leaves from Stokes Farm, then drizzled with a little olive oil
• ten or eleven ounces of ounces of ‘pinto’ potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed there with some Portuguese house olive oil from Whole Foods, seasoned with Maldon salt and black pepper, then tossed with some roughly cut sorrel from Windfall Farms, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with fresh, unheated sorrel for a brighter green finish
• the wine was a delightful Italian (Campania) white, Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina 2017 from Garnet Wines

• the music was the entertainment of kings, the 2014 Les Editions Arts Florissants album, ‘Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau’

 

[image at the bottom from Musicesferas]

This dinner may be almost the opposite of the one we enjoyed the day before.  but, while It was more Mediterranean, and certainly lighter, in several ways, it was a meal of game. For all of their suggestion of undomesticated ruggedness, neither the pork chops nor the chestnuts represented the idea of ‘game’ as much as the beautiful wild squid that dominated this entrée.

We enjoy game at least 3 or 4 times a week, thanks to the city’s maritime geography and the labors of our local fishers.

I’ve used this basic recipe for squid more than any other, rarely altering its simple outlines, but this time, with a wealth of seasoning peppers in the crisper, I just couldn’t help checking out what their input could do for a standard. I decided that while the squid doesn’t need the embellishment, a few little peppers do liven up the old standard.

• a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan heated on top of the stove until hot, its cooking surface brushed with olive oil, and once the oil was quite hot, one pound of rinsed and carefully dried large squid from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, quickly arranged inside, immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, one small red-orange finely-chopped aji dulce pepper and one small yellow Grenada pepper, neither really hot, but both pungent and both from Eckerton Hill Farm, a section of orange/golden home-dried habanada pepper, picked up fresh from Norwich Meadows Farm last summer, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a douse of 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Whole Foods lemon, and a splash of olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for only 5 minutes, at which time when their bodies had ballooned, removed, the squid distributed onto 2 plates and ladled with a bit of the cooking juices that had been collected and transferred to a glass sauce pitcher

• three Opalka plum tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm, each sliced in half and placed face down on a plate which had been spread with sea salt and black pepper, their surfaces dried somewhat with a paper towel before placed inside a hot grill pan, not disturbed for 2 or 3 minutes, then turned over for another  minute, finished on the plates with a bit of olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar

• Betsey Ryder is just one part of the awesomeness of the Union Square Greenmarket family, and phenomenon, but my face lightens up every time I see her at her stand [note: SPACE on Ryder Farm , an artists retreat funded through a hybrid of community-supported art and agriculture, means that the farm is about so much more than vegetables]; on Saturday I was able to pick up a peppery arugula from her 18th-century family farm (Ryder Farm), dressed for this meal with a good Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O., Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper and a little lemon juice
• slices of a sturdy She Wolf Bakery miche
• the wine was an Italian (Calabria) white, Scala, Ciro Bianco, 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Charpentier’s 1682 pastoraletta, ‘Les plaisirs de Versailles’, performed by William Christie and Les Arts Florissant

Mostly back to the Mediterranean, after a short detour in German lands.

• one pound of rinsed and carefully dried squid bodies and tentacles from American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, arranged without touching if possible, inside a large rectangular enameled cast iron pan that had been heated on top of the stove until quite hot and its cooking surface brushed with a thin coating of olive oil, once the oil itself was quite hot, the cephalopods immediately sprinkled with a heaping teaspoon of some super-pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia, one small crushed dried pepperoncino calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, one large chopped fresh habanada pepper from from Alewife Farm, some sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, followed by a drizzle of a few tablespoons of Whole Foods Market organic lemon, and some olive oil, the pan placed inside a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for 5 minutes, removed, the squid distributed onto 2 plates and ladled with a bit of the cooking juices that had been transferred to a glass sauce pitcher
• La Ratte potatoes from Berried Treasures 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 Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with chopped dill from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market
• four small San Marzano tomatoes from Quarton Farm, each sliced in half and placed face down on a plate which had been spread with sea salt and pepper, the surface dried somewhat with a paper towel and placed in a hot grill pan and turned once, finished on the plates with a bit of olive oil, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, and the very last leaves, torn, of those that had remained on a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Terredora Falanghina 2017, from Garnet Wines
• the music was a genuine oddity, ‘Les Mystères d’Isis’, an 1801 adaptation, for the Paris opera, of Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’, by Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith, with a new French text by Étienne Morel de Chédeville