lamb chops, eggplant with mint 7/31/10

  • heirloom tomatoes from Bodhitree Farm in the Greenmarket, with oil and torn basil;  accompanied by thin, toasted slices of ciabatta
  • drink:  Pernod and water
  • two pan-grilled loin lamb chops from Citarella [a total of only 10 ounces or so, only $8.84 for both – and, without exaggeration, I’d call them the best chops ever!], finished with oil, thyme from the Greenmarket, and drops of lemon;  accompanied by Japanese eggplants, also from Bodhitree , which were halved, scored, coated with chopped garlic and mint (both from the Greenmarket) and then grilled on another ribbed cast-iron pan
  • cheeses:   “Dorset” a soft washed-rind cow’s milk, and “Manchester”, an aged goat’s milk, both from Vermont’s Consider Bardwell Farm, which has a stand in the Greenmarket;   also accompanied by toasted thinly-sliced ciabatta
  • wine:  Rhone, Belleruche Côtes du Rhône 2007 M. Chapoutier from from Philippe Wine
  • slices of a Korean melon called Sun Jewel, from Norwich Meadows Farms in Norwich, New York, purchased at the Union Square Greenmarket
  • dark-chocolate-covered espresso beans


sauteed cod, grilled eggplant 8/3/10

culotte steak, Pimientos de Padrón 8/4/10

  • fennel-flavored taralli
  • Pimientos de Padrón from Lani’s Farm in the Greenmarket [this time there wasn’t just the occasional hot pepper;  instead, perhaps a third or more were hot, and although Barry and I are not greenhorns we found them painfully, insanely, hot];  accompanied by slices of Rustic Italian bread from Amy’s [and then some quickly-marshalled roasted peanuts and milk – yes, milk! – to fight the Scoville heat units]
  • [a phenomenal] culotte steak, from Dickson’s Farm Stand Meats, seared, then baked briefly in a moderately-hot (375 degrees) oven, finished with oil. lemon, parsley and allowed to sit for a few minutes;  accompanied by some lemon-and-oil-dressed watercress; grilled plum tomatoes from the Greenmarket, finished with balsamic; and a bit more of the Rustic Italian bread
  • wine: [the totally] excellent Ercavio Tempranillo Roble Castilla 2007, from K&D Wine and Spirits
  • Charentais Melon from Norwich Meadows Farm in the Greenmarket

baked cod with potatoes, kale 5/24/10

  • “Ligurian fish and potatoes” [using a beautiful cod fillet, from Riverhead’s P.E. & D.D. Seafood, purchased at the Union Square Greenmarket, and a recipe from Mark Bittman I found in 2004:   lay the cod on a bed of coarse salt and completely cover it with more salt, setting it aside;  then slice potatoes to a thickness of less than 1/4 inch (I used Keuka, from Maxwell’s Farm in the Greenmarket) and toss them in a baking pan with a generous amount of oil;   cook for 20-30 minutes or so in a 400 degree oven until tender, then thoroughly rinse and dry the cod, place it in the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle with ground pepper, and return the pan to the oven; the fish should be done in 8 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness, and then garnish all with chopped parsley (I used lovage from Maxwell’s Farm)];  accompanied with kale, also from Maxwell’s, sauteed in oil with garlic
  • wine: Spanish Rueda, Shaya 2008 Verdejo old vines from 67 Wine
  • strawberry compote using Tahitian Vanilla Ciao Bello gelato, and a sauce of berries macerated a bit with with Toschi Orzata Orgeat syrup mixed with turbinado sugar

steak, balsamic potatoes, cress 5/23/10

  • thick culotte steak, from Dickson’s Farm Stand Meats, pan-seared, then cooked briefly in a hot oven and finished with shallots, oil, lemon;  accompanied with roasted Yellow Finn potato wedges, from Healthway Farms via the Greenmarket, finished sprinkled with balsamic vinegar;  wilted cress from Woori Farm in the Greenmarket;  and garnished with a small tomato halved and sauteed, also from the Greenmarket
  • cheesees:  Pata de Cabra,, a Spanish washed-rind goat cheese;   Gardunha (rustic Portuguese goat cheese made near the Spanish border);  and Amanteigado, a Portuguese sheep’s milk cheese produced in the coastal plain west of Lisbon (all three from Murray”s Cheese;  accompanied with slices of a Royal Crown Brick Oven Baguette (Brooklyn) purchased at Garden of Eden
  • wine:  Argentine, Malbec, Tikal Amorio 2007 Mendoza, the gift of a friend

duck sausage, rhubarb, cucumber 5/21/10

  • sweet red radishes from the Union Square Greenmarket stall of  S.&S.O. Produce Farms, in Goshen, New York
  • sauteed duck-breast sausages from Marlow & Daughters, garnished with watercress from the Greenmarket’s Woori Farm;  accompanied by a rhubarb compote (Greenmarket rhubarb);  Saltzkartoffeln (boiled red-skinned Desiree potatoes from the Ulster County’s Healthway Farms stall at the Union Square Greenmarket, finished with dried breadcrumbs browned in butter);  and cucumber salad (Greenmarket).
  • cheeses:  two excellent artisanal forms from the Greenmarket stall of Vermont’s Consider Bardwell Farm, “Dorset” a soft washed-rind cow’s milk, and “Equinox”, a semi-hard, sharp, extra-aged  raw goat;  accompanied by thin slices of a German-style 100% whole wheat bread, Orwasher’s, from Marlow & Daughters, with salted butter served on the side [in the image above, the Equinox in on the left, the Dorset on the right]
  • wine:  Austrian, Weingut Hofer Zweigelt 2008 from Appellation Wines

sauteed flounder and more 5/19/2010

  • sweet red radishes from the Union Square Greenmarket stall of  S.&S.O. Produce Farms, in Goshen, New York
  • salad of radish greens (the same radishes), some dandelion greens, and pieces of romaine lettuce from Garden of Eden, as well as watercress and chopped fresh garlic from the Greenmarket stall of Woori Farm, in Westtown, New York, finished with chopped fennel fronds (Garden of Eden), and a dressing of Ravida (Menfi, Sicily) oil, VEA L’Estournell Garnacha varietal red wine vinegar (Catalonia), accompanied by thin-sliced toasts of two-day-old ciabatta
  • flounder fillets from Blue Moon Fish, at the Greenmarket, sprinkled with Martin Pouret Orleans white vinegar (from Chardonnay grapes) and salt, lightly-floured and sauteed in oil, then removed from the pan, to which time butter and lemon juice are introduced, scraped together and gently warmed, to be joined by some fresh chopped dill (my alternative to the more conventional parsley) from a small rooted plant picked up at the Shushan Vally Hydro Farm stall at the Greenmarket, the finished sauce poured over the fish;  accompanied by boiled red-skinned Desiree potatoes from the Ulster County’s Healthway Farms stall at the Union Square Greenmarket, finished with butter and chopped oregano (also from the Greenmarket);  and red chard from Suffolk County’s D&J Organic Farm in the Greenmarket, sauteed with fresh garlic, finished with a little oil
  • fresh early, pesticide-free strawberries from Bodhitree Farm on top of a scoop of Tahitian vanilla Ciao Bella gelato, with a sauce composed of a few of the berries macerated with Toschi Orzata Orgeat syrup mixed with turbinado sugar
  • water: San benedetto [we normally drink tap water, but we had some of this delicious acqua minerale frizzante left over from a party a few days earlier]
  • wine:  Spanish, Naia 2008 Rueda (Verdejo) by Jorge Ordonez, from 67 Wine

culotte steak, tomatoes, nettles 5/10/10

  • mixed olives served with Taralli Pugliesi (Finocchio) from Puglia Sapori, both purchased at Garden of Eden
  • thick culotte steak, from Dickson’s Farm Stand Meats, pan-seared, then cooked briefly in a hot oven and finished with a drizzle of oil and lemon and the addition of  chopped parsley; accompanied by halved tiny ripe cherry tomatoes from Garden of Eden briefly heated in oil and finished with some chopped thyme; and wild nettles from the stall of Paffenroth Gardens in the Union Square Greenmarket wilted inside a large pan in which chopped ramps had been briefly sauteed, then finished with a squeeze of lemon
  • goat cheese, “Le Cendrillon”, served with thinly-sliced ciabatta toasts (Sullivan Street Bakery, via Garden of Eden)
  • wine:  a medium French red, from Roussillon,  Le Vignes de Bila-Haut, Côtes du Roussillon Villages 2008, M. Chapoutier, from K & D wines

linguine, leeks, lemon, walnuts 4/27/10

The instructions for boiling pasta often suggest removing some of the liquid in which it has been cooking just prior to draining it.  The suggestion is usually that about half of a cup of liquid, or even less, be set aside in case the assembled ingredients are too dry once the sauce is added to the starch.  It may be necessary to add some liquid no matter how simple or complex the mix may be.  I usually make sure I’ve reserved a full cup, having learned from experience that it’s best to be prepared, especially when using artisanal pasta, and especially, although not necessarily only, when you end up mixing the elements over a flame for a minute or two.

When I prepared this particular dish I ended up adding, incredibly, almost two cups of liquid!  Fortunately I was well prepared (I hate it when I have to add additional water out of the tap), since I had remembered setting aside far too little the last time I had used this particular brand of pasta.

It appears to be the case that the better the pasta is the more liquid it can absorb.  I have no idea why this is, and I certainly don’t know how the linguine I used here was able to soak up such an extraordinary amount, unless it was because this excellent Abruzzi pasta had been shaped by bronze molds in its manufacture.  Or maybe it was the leeks?

[the close-up picture at the bottom is actually not of the brand I used, Fara S. Martino Cav. Giuseppe Cocco.  Instead it’s a detail of a handful of Garafalo linguine, which is also manufactured with bronze dies, but in Gragnano, in Campania, and the image comes from localflavour]

The recipe itself?   I was in a hurry, so I didn’t want to go through my files;   I knew I wanted to make pasta, and I had been holding onto some smallish leeks for a few days, so I checked on line for some ideas and in a quick look for “pasta with leeks”.   I quickly found a suggestion here which was described as “Adapted from Cooking New American, by the Editors of Fine Cooking”.

  • linguine with leeks, lemon (zest and juice) and walnuts (toasted), generously seasoned with crushed pepper (the leeks were from the Union Square Greenmarket, but I neglected to record where I had purchased them)
  • wine:  Sicilian, Corvo Insolia 2008 from Philippe Wine in Chelsea

new Quebec goat’s milk cheese

I picked up a “log” of a new goat’s milk cheese while I was at Garden of Eden last week.   “Le Cendrillon” is described by the producer, Alexis de Portneuf, as a “vegetable ash-covered cheese with a marble-textured rind and a smooth ivory body;  acidulous , semi-strong taste that becomes more pronounced with age”.

I admit that I was pulled in by the attractive packaging, and by the information supplied on the small poster which was a part of the modest store display.   It promised something new in a goat cheese, a promise which interested this foodie, already a fan of things goat, and it was completely fulfilled.   I was also attracted by its geographic heritage:  Le Cendrillon is a relatively-new goat cheese and it comes from Quebec.

We enjoyed it tonight (May 6)  at the end of a simple meal of pasta, accompanying it with the thinly-sliced and toasted heal of a one-week-old loaf of whole wheat from Amy’s Bread in the Chelsea Market, along with the last of the bottle of 2007 Corvo (Sicily) Insolia in from Philippe Wine in Chelsea

[image from canada.com]