I thought this meal was pretty special all the way around.

There were certainly at least a couple exotic elements, but everything was quite local.

I had been really looking forward to preparing these very special chops. They turned out to be even more delicious than I had expected, which is saying a lot, after having very much enjoyed this pork in other forms.

I used the same basic recipe I almost always use, but this time I had something else new to me to try out, a part of a gorgeous locally foraged chicken of the woods [laetiporus sulphureus] mushroom, and I incorporated it in the lemon sauce which is always produced naturally by the chops.

The vegetable was a bit less exotic, but it too was local, and from a local greenmarket, that at Union Square. I didn’t catch their name, but they were very neat sweet potatoes. The choice, and the orange hue, anticipated colder autumn weather and the meals it inspires, but it didn’t add another color to the plate; for that I had to add some chopped parsley.

• two 8-ounce Mangalitsa pork chops from Møsefond Farm [more here], purchased at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, located only one block west of us, defrosted inside the refrigerator overnight and brought to room temperature the next evening, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, seared quickly inside a heavy enameled cast-iron oval pan before half of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon was squeezed over the top and then left in the pan between the chops, placed inside a 425º oven for between 14 and 16 minutes altogether (flipped halfway through, the lemon squeezed over them once again and replaced in the pan), removed from the oven, arranged on warm plates and topped with a combination of the juices that remained in the pan and a sauce produced by sautéing small pieces torn from a larger section of a locally-foraged chicken of the woods mushroom (laetiporus sulphureus) from Windfall Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket only moments before inside a medium high-sided heavy antique copper pot in a mix of a little olive oil and a ¼”-diced piece of Buon Italia guanciale that had been browned in the oil, the fat of the bit of cured pork cheek having been slowly rendered in the oil, after which a few tablespoons of a good white wine and 4 small sprigs of fresh thyme from Keith’s Farm, tied together, were added to the sauce pot with the mushroom, the liquid reduced a little over a higher flame before the thyme was removed
• five sweet potatoes, or just under a pound, from Central Valley Farm, left unpeeled, but washed thoroughly, cut as for short french fries, tossed inside a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, two large unpeeled cloves of rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, and a pinch of crushed dark dried habanada pepper, roasted in a 425º oven in a treasured large well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan for about 35 minutes, or until crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and a little chewy on the edges, some Maldon salt thrown onto the pan after it was removed from the oven, the frites arranged on the plates and garnished with chopped parsley from Phillips Farms
• the wine was an excellent California (Sonoma) red, Jacqueline Bahue Sonoma Valley Cabernet Franc 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was at least our second listening of Antonio Vivaldi’s very silly, but absolutely beautiful 1731 opera, ‘La Fida Ninfa’

It wasn’t a fish day at the market, and it wasn’t even a market day. In fact I hadn’t  been to the Greenmarket in 4 days, so I wouldn’t have had much to work with if I had wanted to put together a pasta or egg dish.

Then I realized that it was probably time to do something with the sun chokes I had in the crisper, so I defrosted the 2 small pork chops I had also been saving.

Some of the tomatoes I had on the north window sill became a fresh condiment for an entrée that would otherwise have felt pretty wintry, and the very last bit of some wild cress remaining in the refrigerator added a touch of green.

• two thick, bone-in, eight-and-a-half-ounce loin pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, rinsed and thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt and pepper on both sides, seared quickly over a high flame inside a heavy enameled cast-iron pan, half of a Whole Foods Market organic lemon squeezed over both, then left in the pan, cut side down, while they roasted in a 400º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again with metal tongs), the chops removed from the oven, sprinkled with sliced spring garlic from Windfall Farms and chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and the pan juices spooned over the top
• twelve ounces or so of sunchokes from Max Creek Hatchery, trimmed, scrubbed, sliced very thinly (1/8-1/4 inch), tossed with barely a tablespoon of olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, one section of golden/orange habanada pepper, and two halved bay leaves from Westside Market, spread in one layer onto two large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pans (one would not be enough, since they had been cut so thinly and there really has to be some pan surface showing if they are expected to become crisp), roasted at 425º for about 30 minutes, or until they were brown, tender, and crispy on the edges
• four Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, washed, halved, seasoned with sea salt and freshlypf=ground black pepper, arranged cut side down around the pork chops during the last five minutes of their time in the oven
• a little bit of wild cress from Lani’s Farm, not dressed
• the wine was a Portuguese (Bairrada) white, Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas Branco 2016, from Garnet Wines

• the music was an edited version, including selected recited texts, of Mendelssohn’s 1843 composition of incidental music for a production of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, including “charming entr’actes and various other little snippets”, Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducting the London Symphony Orchestra

[third image is a detail of ‘Tim Rollins and K.O.S., A Midsummer Night’s Dream (after Mendelssohn and Shakespeare)’ 2012, watercolor, ink on music score pages on canvas, the photograph is from The Style Abettor]

Our favorite chops.

The tomatoes and the collards are pretty fine too.

• two 9-ounce bone-in loin pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and seared quickly in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan before half of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market was squeezed over the top (the lemon then left in the pan between them, cut side down), the chops placed in a 425º oven for about 7 minutes, then flipped, part of a golden dried habanada pepper, crushed, added, the lemon squeezed over them once again and replaced inside the pan for another 3 or 4 minutes, when 4 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market were added and the pan returned to the oven for about 4 more minutes, when the chops were removed and arranged on 2 warm plates while the tomatoes were turned onto their round sides and the the pan heated on the top of the stove over a medium-high flame until the pork and tomato juices had reduced to almost a syrup and spooned over the chops, which were sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, the tomatoes garnished with micro scallions, also from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• collard greens from Norwich Meadows 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 an Italian (Langhe) white, Cagliero Rabel Langhe Bianco 2013 from Astor Wines
• the music was an album of music composed by Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605) that included ‘Amfiparnaso’ (1597), a madrigal-comedy cycle, and ‘The Musical Banquet’ (1597), which is just as the title suggests

What can I say? A very juicy pork chop and an equally succulent cabbage, two of my favorite things, and here presented very simply.

• two fresh 9 or 10-ounce pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, seared quickly on both sides inside a very hot, heavy enameled cast-iron pan, one small, fresh floral-scented heatless orange habanada pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, chopped, scattered on the top surfaces before half of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon was squeezed over them, after which it was left on the surface of the pan between the chops, the chops placed inside a 425º oven for about 14 minutes (flipped halfway through, the lemon squeezed over the top once again and once again replaced inside the pan), the finished chops removed from the oven and arranged on 2 plates, some micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge arranged on top, some of the pan juices poured over the top of the chops, the remainder poured into a sauce boat and placed on the table
• one small Savoy cabbage from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, quartered, cored, sliced into one-half-inch ribbons, sautéed in a scant tablespoon of olive oil inside a medium heavy, tin-lined copper pot until wilted but still crunchy, stirring occasionally, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and a little more than a teaspoon of toasted cumin seed mixed in, finished with half a teaspoon of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, the mix stirred and cooked another couple of minutes
• the wine was a California (Napa) white, La Tapatia Chardonnay Carneros 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was the Mozart and Da Pone 1790 opera buffa, ‘Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti’, in a performance with René Jacobs directing Concerto Cologne and the Cologne Chamber Choir

Pork chops, Turkish eggplant, red cress. We may have been among a very small number of people, anywhere in the world, who enjoyed this combination for dinner last night. If it belongs to any particular cuisine, I’d say it’s that of the perpetually-evolving Union Square Greenmarket cookery.

I also brought home some bronze fennel on Saturday, and I knew it would go somewhere in the meal that was evolving in my head.

• two thick 10-ounce pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and a generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper, seared quickly on both sides inside a very hot, heavy oval enameled cast-iron pan, half of an organic lemon from Trader Joe’s Market squeezed over both, after which the lemon was left on the pan surface between the chops, which was then placed inside a 400º oven for about 13-14 minutes (flipped halfway through, the lemon squeezed over the top once again, and replaced in the pan), the finished chops removed from the oven and arranged on 2 plates, some of the pan juices poured over the top of the chops, the remainder poured into a sauce boat for use at the table, garnished with bronze fennel fronds from Campo Rosso Farm
• eight small Turkish eggplants, possibly the last of the season, judging from their ripeness, from Norwich Meadows Farm, each cut horizontally into 3 or more slices [although I should have sliced them less thinly], mixed with a little olive oil, one large chopped Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-grilled on an enameled cast iron ribbed pan over a brisk flame, turning once or twice, 2 chopped scarlet of Japanese scallions from Norwich Meadows Farm and 8 pitted and halved Kalamata olives added near the end, tossed in a bowl with chopped mint leaves from Alex’s Tomato Farm, arranged on the plates, and drizzled with olive oil
• red watercress from Max Fish Hatchery, washed, drained, dried, and dressed with a bit of good Puglian olive oil, Alce Nero DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto, from the Flatiron Eataly Market, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• the wine was a South African (Western Cape) rosé, Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé 2016, from Philippe Liquors and Wine
• the music was Agostino Steffani’s ‘Niobe, Regina di Tebe’, in a 2015 performance by the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs; the opera premiered at the Munich court theatre during Carnival, in 1688