A good December meal.

• two thick 12-ounce blade pork chops from Flying Pigs Farm, rinsed, thoroughly dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper before being seared quickly in a heavy oval enameled cast-iron pan, then half of a large organic Whole Foods Market lemon squeezed over the top (after which the lemon was left in the pan between them, cut side down), the chops placed in a 400º oven for about 13 minutes altogether (flipped halfway through, the lemon squeezed over them once again and, after a bit of crushed dried habanada pepper had been sprinkled on top of the pork, placed again on the bottom of the pan), removed from the oven and arranged on 2 plates, the juices that remained, with the addition of some juices remaining from a tomato salad prepared for a meal 2 days earlier, poured over them, the rest transferred to a glass sauce boat and placed on the table

• four small dragon carrots from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, dried, rolled inside a small unglazed ceramic Pampered Chef oven pan with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and less than half a teaspoon of crushed Italian fennel seed, roasted at 400º for about 30 minutes, or until tender, arranged on the plates and garnished with small nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• one bunch of young Napa cabbage from Lani’s Farm, washed thoroughly, trimmed, torn into smaller sections, wilted in olive oil along with 9 or so crushed juniper berries, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and drizzled with a little more olive oil
• the wine was a Washington (Columbia Valley) white, Michaud Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was ‘Il giardino di rose’, works by Alessandro Scarlatti, another section of the album, ‘Il gioco Barocco del seicento italiano’, seventeenth-century Italian music performed by Ottavio Dantone, harpsichord and conductor, and the Accademia Bizantina

Pasta for grown-ups. Also known as ‘midnight pasta’.

Pasta, lots of garlic, lots of anchovy, lots of capers, lots of olive oil: I’ve done this dish many times, sometimes offering a little variation. It’s a glorious treat, and it’s comfort food. Last night it was assembled strictly along the lines of the original David Tanis [version of a classic] recipe, except for one thing: Probably distracted by the excitement of my birthday lunch – and an edible – earlier in the day, I misread my own instructions, and proceeded to mix most of the parsley into the sauce before adding the pasta.

I also didn’t crush the peperoncini. I kept them whole, because this time I wanted to try for a different aesthetic (I love the casual look of a ruby-colored pepper on top of its ‘quarry’), and I was willing to accept some sacrifice in spiciness.

It wasn’t a disaster, but I want to say how much more satisfactory this so-much-more-than-just-satisfactory meal is if you toss the parsley in at the right moment (when there’s all that pungency, green and fresh makes for a good foil).

• the ingredients this time were 8 ounces of Afeltra 100% Italian grain pasta artigianale spaghetto from Eataly Flatiron, five rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, Whole Foods Market’s good house Portugese olive oil, 4 rinsed salted anchovies, more than a tablespoon of rinsed salted capers, 2 whole peperoncini Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and several tablespoons of chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farm
• the wine was a Portuguese (Lisbon) white, Dory Branco 2016, from Garnet Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Il gioco Barocco del seicento italiano’, seventeenth-century Italian music performed by Ottavio Dantone, harpsichord and conductor, and the Accademia Bizantina

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

Winter fish.

Although I’m the one who cooked this meal, I’m going to try to leave myself out of it as much as I can, because, while I’ve now prepared it 3 times, it’s not my own recipe (it’s Mark Bittman’s, and I simply clipped it from the Times 10 years ago).

There, now I feel that I can say this dinner was close to sublime.

The Brussels sprouts are of course very easy to prepare, but both the squash and the cod would also be very simple for anyone to reproduce, as they too involve very few ingredients, and require almost no skills other than the ability to judge when the fish has been cooked through.

• one black futsu squash from Norwich Meadows Farm, 5 or 6-inches in diameter, the outside crevices scrubbed with a brush, cut into 1/4″ slices, or segments that were arranged inside a large Pampered Chef ceramic oven pan on a couple tablespoons of melted butter, then almost as much more butter brushed over the top, baked at 400º without turning for about 30 minutes, or until tender, removed from the oven, placed on 2 serving plates and kept warm on top of the oven until finishing cooking the cod, for which the squash would serve as a base
• one 18-ounce cod fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, cut into 2 pieces, dredged lightly in a local Union Square Greenmarket-purchased whole wheat flour from The Blew family of Oak Grove Plantation in Pittstown, N.J., sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, quickly sautéed in a tablespoon and a half of butter inside a large heavy copper skillet over a pretty high flame, turning only once, until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through (the recipe suggests checking by inserting a thin-bladed knife, which should meet little or no resistance when the fish is done) removed and placed on the serving plates on top of the squash while another tablespoon and a half of butter was added to the pan, plus, once it had sizzled and browned, a little more than a tablespoon of decent sherry vinegar (I used a chianti vinegar last night), the sauce cooked for only 10 or 20 seconds more before it was poured over both the fish and the squash, both garnished with chopped parsley from from Paffenroth Farm
• ten or eleven ounces of Brussels sprouts from Lani’s Farm, washed and trimmed and dried, tossed inside a bowl with a little olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, plus 2 whole hot dried Sicilian peperoncini from Buon Italia (one can be seen on the top of the sprouts in the picture at the top), roasted inside a medium size unglazed seasoned Pampered Chef pan until the sprouts were partly brown and crisp on the outside
• the wine was a Portuguese (Lisbon) white, Dory Branco 2016, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Vivaldi’s 1683 opera, ‘Il Giustino’, in a 2018 recording of Ottavio Dantone directing Accademia Bizantina and an amazing cast

It would be a simple pasta, so it seemed that an even simpler antipasto, but with the assertive nose and flavor of a good salume, might be appropriate.

• three ounces of Principe Prosciutto di San Daniele from Whole Foods Market, drizzled with a little Frankies 47 olive oil, also from Whole Foods
• stems of a wild cress plant from Lani’s Farm, drizzled with the same oil, plus a bit of organic Whole Foods Market lemon juice, Maldon salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• slices of a flax seed armadillo (whole wheat and rye flour, flax seeds) from Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse

The main, pasta course was filled out with ‘ends’, things remaining in one of our kitchen larders or inside the refrigerator, inspired by an excellent fresh pasta I had picked up earlier in the day.

• two rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm heated in a little olive oil inside a large antique heavy copper pot until beginning to soften, followed by the remains of a small, very sweet ‘conehead’ cabbage from Alewife Farm (most of it having been included in this meal a few days earlier), sautéed until it was partly wilted, 2 thinly sliced grenada verde peppers from Eckerton Hill Farm stirred in, and 11 ounces of Eataly’s fresh creste di gallo pasta, boiled just until it was not fully cooked, tossed in, along with some of the pasta water, the mix stirred over high heat until the liquid had emulsified, arranged in 2 shallow bowls, scattered with small nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and drizzled around the edge with more olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Alentejano) white, Esporao Alandra Branco, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Walter Braunfels’ 1935 mystery opera (ein Mysterium) ‘Verkundigung’ [The Annunciation], Dennis Russell Davies conducting the Cologne Symphony Orchestra and the Cologne Symphony Chorus

I was going to write that these were the last of the fresh habanada peppers for the season, that when I saw that they had started to go pretty fast inside the refrigerator, I had decided to splurge at our breakfast on Sunday afternoon. And then today, on my very next trip back to the Union Square Greenmarket, I found a few more in the same stand where these had come from almost a full month before.

The tomatoes too may not have been the last of the summer’s treasures: Their farmers told me they had in fact been growing inside a covered space even during the warmer months, but there can’t be many more out there except for those raised hydroponically..

The eggs will be with us all winter, as will the bacon and the bread, but for the next few months I’ll have to work a little harder to keep these plates colorful.

• the meal, which was, as usual, more of a late lunch than a breakfast, at least by the clock, included very fresh eggs from pastured chickens and bacon from pastured pigs, both from Millport Dairy Farm; one organic red tomato from Toigo Orchards; local (regional) Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ from Whole Foods Market; a small handful of fresh habanada peppers from Norwich Meadows Farm, minced; chopped fresh sorrel from Lani’s Farm on the eggs; green leek sections from Hawthorne Valley Farm, chopped, and chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge on the tomatoes; Maldon salt; freshly-ground black pepper; and both fresh and lightly toasted slices of 2 different local breads (a
  levain (organic wheat, whole wheat, and whole spelt flours) from Bread Alone and a flax seed armadillo from Bobolink Dairy and Bakery
• the music was Claudio Monteverdi’s ‘Vespro Della Beata Vergine’. William Christie conducting the Choir and Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants and Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse
  

This time I mean it: Chicken, really good chicken like this, responsibly raised chicken, will show up on our table and on this blog more frequently in the future.

This one was was really delicious.

The excellent, very simple – and simply-outlined – ‘recipe‘ I used is from Mark Bittman.

• two 10-ounce chicken thighs, Cascun Farms‘ Cornish Cross breed, from Eataly Flatiron, browned well in two tablespoons or so of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ inside an oval enameled high-sided cast iron pot, then covered and cooked over medium-low heat, turning occasionally, until the internal temperature is 155-165 degrees, or the juices run clear, 15 to 20 minutes, transferred to plates resting on top of the hot oven (mine is a 1934 Magic Chef, with the oven above and to the left of the 4 burners, and so very useful for the purpose), one minced Camelot shallot from Quarton Farm and about a third of a cup of white wine added to the pot, the heat raised to medium high and the liquid reduced a little, and more than a dozen tarragon leaves form Stokes Farm, chopped, added and stirred in before the sauce was transferred to a glass sauce boat, from which some of it was poured over the chicken

• most of a small, very sweet ‘conehead’ cabbage (also known as ‘caraflex’ or ‘arrowhead’ cabbage) from Alewife Farm, washed, drained, and sliced crosswise into 1/2″ ribbons, sautéed in little more than a tablespoon of olive oil inside a large antique, high-sided heavy copper pot in a little olive oil along with two halved and chopped small to medium size leeks from from Hawthorne Valley Farm, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage had wilted but was still crunchy, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, adding also a little more than a teaspoon of toasted cumin seed and half of a teaspoon of Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, the mix stirred and cooked for another couple minutes

• twelve ounces of small dragon carrots from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, dried, halved lengthwise, tossed inside a bowl with a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a teaspoon of ground Italian fennel seed and a bit of crushed orange/gold dried habanada pepper, arranged, not touching, on a medium size ceramic Pampered Chef oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 20 minutes, or until tender, arranged on the plates and garnished with a spray of long-stemmed pea shoots from Echo Creek Farm in the Saturday Chelsea Farmers Market

After the main course, there was a taste of a single very interesting cheese, one we’d never before experienced; it was delicious.

• Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse’s cow’s milk Baudolino, with a seasonal twist, having been cured in pinot noir grape must
• a bit of Organic Valley butter
• thin slices of Bobolink’s ‘Flax Seed Armadillo’

• the wine throughout the meal was a California red, Sin Fronteras El Mechon California Red Blend 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music throughout was Michel Pignolet de Montéclair’s 1732  tragédie en musique, or tragédie biblique, ‘Jephté’, performed by William Christie and the Choir and Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants

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]

Of course they were beautiful; it’s one of the reasons I love this fish.

They were also delicious, but to get there I had to cook them.

• six Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, tossed gently inside a shallow bowl with less than a tablespoon of olive oil and less than one crushed peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, arranged, their cut sides down, inside a medium glazed ceramic oven pan and roasted for about 10 minutes, after which two 10-ounce unfilleted skate wings from American Seafood Company with cartilage where they were attached to the main body wholly intact, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, transferred to the pan, after moving the tomatoes to the edges, then roasted for another 15 minutes or so, when a mixture of a tablespoon of olive oil, half a tablespoon of lemon juice, half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and more than a half tablespoon of rinsed salted Sicilian capers that had just been whisked together was poured over the fish and tomatoes, the pan returned to the oven for 2 or 3 minutes, removed, its contents arranged on 2 plates, the tomatoes next to or on the skate, both garnished with micro nasturtium leaves from Two Guys from Woodbridge, lemon quarters placed to the side of the plates

• one bunch of Hakurei turnips (or ‘Japanese turnips’) from Willow Wisp Farm, their quite tiny roots separated from the beautiful greens, leaving a bit of stem on each, scrubbed, sautéed inside a heavy antique medium-size tin-lined high-sided copper pot in a little olive oil, in which 2 bruised rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been softened, until the vegetables had begun to color, the roots removed and set aside while the washed and very roughly cut greens were introduced to the pan and heated until barely wilted, the turnips then returned to the pan and everything seasoned with sea salt,  freshly-ground black pepper, and a dusting of dried Sicilian peperoncino from Buon Italia
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) white, Scott Kelley Pinot Gris Willamette 2017, from Naked Wines
•  the music was Stefano Landi’s 1631 opera, ‘Il Sant’Alessio’, performed by William Christie directing the Choir and Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants

This pasta is a familiar essay around here, in this or similar forms, and it’s an easy one.

And, while I don’t think I’d want to serve this particular filled ravioli in the summer,  it’s really satisfying in the fall and winter.

• the contents of a 10-ounce package of Rana butternut squash-filled round ravioli, cooked but not quite al dente, introduced to a sauce already composed inside a large antique, tin-lined high-sided thick copper pot in which 4 or 5 chopped small late-season garlic scapes from Berried Treasures Farm had been heated in 3 tablespoons of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ until beginning to soften, to be followed by a bit of home-dried heatless, orange Habanada pepper and a good number of mostly small fresh sage leaves from Phillips Farm, all heated over medium heat until the butter had begun to turn nut-brown and the sage to shrivel, at which time one fourth to one third of a cup of water was added (to halt the browning and to provide more liquid for the sauce) and the mixture stirred, becoming loose and a little soupy, then, now with the pasta included, cooked for only about a minute or so, or until some of the water was absorbed and the pasta perfectly done, after which a third of a cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese from Whole Foods Market tossed in and stirred, making the sauce somewhat creamy, the contents of the pan seasoned liberally with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste, served at the table with more cheese scattered on top

There was a small cheese course, although I didn’t stop to photograph it.

• two cheeses, one an aged water buffalo cheese, a really delicious new product from Riverine Ranch, the other Consider Bardwell Farm’s cow cheese, ‘Bardem Blue’
• part of a demi baguette from Bread Alone
• one very ripe Bartlett pear from Locust Grove Fruit Farm, divided, avoiding the bruises

• the wine throughout was a Greek (Fteri, Mantinia, Tripolis, Arcadia) white, Troupis, Moschofilero ‘Fteri’ 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Donizetti’s 1833 tragic opera, ‘Lucrezia Borgia’, Jonel Perlea conducting the  RCA Italiano Orchestra and Chorus, with a cast that included Montserrat Caballé, Shirley Verrett, Alfredo Kraus, and Ezio Flagello