TrelayneNYC

Shrimp with baby spinach, caramelized pineapple, pickled kumquats and kumquat vinaigrette. Kumquat vinaigrette: 1 tablespoon honey, 3 tablespoons kumquat vinegar, 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and a pinch of piment d'Espelette. Pickled kumquats: 9 kumquats, 1/2 cup white wine vinegar heated until boiling, 2 crushed green cardamom pods. Combine all ingredients in a heat-proof container and cool. Set aside, covered, in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/26food.html (but slightly tweaked; the pineapple was caramelized in a heated skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt; the shrimp was fried in olive oil with some chopped garlic, sea salt, black pepper and parsley; I ditched the frisée and substituted baby spinach and arugula, and wilted those)

Asparagus with shallot vinaigrette Fried farm egg, smoked bacon and ramps

late dinner tonight. Ginger chicken broth, with fried farm egg, ramps and baby spinach Basically a variation on "garlic soup", with a fried egg instead of poached, and ramp stalks/ramp leaves instead of garlic and parsley. A 1/2 tsp. of finely minced ginger adds a pleasant jolt. I think these are sensational. And you really don't need to do much to bring out their best. The radishes were halved lengthwise (so that the greens would be left intact) and sautéed in unsalted butter with some baby spinach. Sea salt and black pepper to taste, and a splash of wine vinegar. Black cod (a/k/a sablefish) with ramp pesto, served with oyster mushrooms and samphire Samphire is also known as "sea beans" and "glasswort". See fifi's eGullet Foodblog for a particularly memorable entry. The mushrooms and sea beans were fried in unsalted butter and a little chicken stock, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and Meyer lemon juice.

They were from Eataly, for $2.50 a bunch. Ramps at USGM probably won't be available until 2-3 weeks from now because of the overly long winter we've been having.

Spinach salad, with dates, kumquats and cheese Spaghetti, with sea scallops, garlic and Italian parsley

Ramp pesto. The version above contains hazelnuts instead of walnuts. Recipe: http://food52.com/recipes/4341-wild-ramp-pesto Baby mesclun, roasted asparagus, farm egg Squid, with spelt and barley pilaf (I added a dollop of the pesto, no pic for that, sorry )

I'm sure you're all looking forward to crowds who like to look more than shop as they stroll through a glorified food court shopping mall located deep in the heart of the nation's capital.

Zuppa di cozze ("mussel soup") No pic, sorry. Begin by warming some olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat, then add sliced garlic. Fry the garlic until it becomes a pale gold, then add 1-2 fillets of anchovy. The anchovy will disintegrate, then add 1 lb. of mussels, a handful of chopped parsley and 1/4 cup white wine or water. Cover. Steam the mussels until they pop open. Remove pot from heat. Transfer the mussels with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Shell the mussels; discard any that don't open. Transfer mussel meat back to the pot you steamed them in (which will also have the accumulated mussel juices, garlic, anchovy and parsley). Add 1 can crushed San Marzano tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, partly covered. Taste for salt and pepper, then serve. This recipe is sized for 1-2 people. I usually have this with pasta, but it's wonderful all by itself with a loaf of bread and a salad.

Pea shoots, with rocambole garlic, white pepper and sesame oil Green salad, red wine vinaigrette Clockwise from top right: radish greens and leeks, with crispy fried shallots; broiled cod; glazed heirloom carrots and French breakfast radishes

Yes, when you buy them at Citarella. Cost about $5-$6 for a pound of fresh pasta, enough for four servings. I'm cooking for one person (me) so that's enough for 2-3 dinners.

When I was at Eataly this weekend, I decided that I wanted to make some Bolognese sauce since I had a tub of fettucine in the fridge that needed to be used up. So I decided to get a few things, you might say. :wink: You're looking at a pot of Bolognese sauce in the making, using Marcella Hazan's recipe from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", pages 203-205. This version is mostly her recipe except for a few deviations. I also used about 1/2 lb. chopped pork and mixed it in with the chopped beef and the battutina (finely chopped celery, celery leaves, carrot and onion cooked in a mixture of olive oil and unsalted butter). The beef is grass-fed beef from Eataly. this pic was shot shortly after I added 1 cup whole milk. Let the milk mixture simmer gently on medium-low heat, then once it has nearly boiled off, add 1 cup dry white wine. Simmer until the wine has evaporated, then add your plum tomatoes. (I subbed a can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes.) There are a couple of additional steps after this -- basically simmering the sauce over low heat while making sure it doesn't dry out too much. At the end, the sauce is done when all of the water has evaporated and the fat has separated from the sauce. Fettucine with Bolognese sauce

Mesclun and radish salad, with buttermilk dressing Spaghetti con vongole e pancetta porcupine: you can order from Kalustyan's if you don't mind mail order.

Bittman's audience generally consists of people who don't know how to cook. So in that context, it makes perfect sense.

Spring lettuce salad, with French breakfast radishes and hard-cooked farm egg Pea and ricotta ravioli, with sage, brown butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese The green herbs atop the ravioli are bits of stonecrop, an herb with a slightly astringent taste reminiscent of edible nasturtium flowers. Wild cod, with Jerusalem artichoke velouté, samphire, oyster mushrooms and cremini mushrooms

You can achieve much the same effect with lemon juice. About 2-3 tablespoons should do it. I see Z answered already. ============= Very quick late night dinner (which is what happens when one is in the office until 11 pm): Pasta with escarole, fennel and sausage Like too many Americans, I used to think that garlic was what defined Italian cooking. Then I woke up. Oh, it's an important ingredient to be sure, but it's not as central as many people seem to think. This began with 1 1/2 onions cooked slowly in olive oil with a little salt and pepper, to which was added some sweet Italian sausage, fennel seed, escarole (that had been previously simmered in lightly salted water, then drained) and a little marsala wine.

Heirloom carrots, with hazelnuts and parsley Squid, with roasted heirloom potatoes, capers and Meyer lemon

Baby mesclun and Bordeaux spinach salad Bordeaux spinach is an heirloom variety of spinach -- more tender leaves with a slightly sweet taste. The vinaigrette is my standard recipe of 1/2 large shallot (minced), 2 tablespoons red wine, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. That makes more than enough vinaigrette for this salad; I just save the remainder for future use. I know it doesn't look like much, but sometimes a simple green salad is what you need. Saag paneer, rice, lime chutney The paneer is from Tonjes Farm Dairy, the spinach was frozen (since it'll be at least 2 more months before regular spinach appears at USGM). I skipped frying the paneer in ghee; I'll do that next time. Recipe is from Saveur, here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Spinach-with-Fresh-Indian-Cheese- I also subbed the last of my chipotle peppers instead of the serrano. Going to have to buy some more dried peppers from Kalustyan's soon.

About 1 tablespoon each of coriander and black cumin seeds, toasted until aromatic. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind till powdery. Clockwise from top left: 1 clove rocambole garlic, minced; enough chopped Italian parsley and cilantro leaves and stems to equal 1/3 cup; 2 scallions, thinly sliced. I added 1 chipotle chile, crumbled (I'm a wimp), a large pinch of sea salt and some leftover homemade preserved lemon pulp. Pulse until you have a rough-textured purée, then add 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil and stir in the coriander/cumin powder. Chermoula. This keeps about a week in the fridge and is best the day you make it; its potency declines over time. It rarely lasts that long because I'm addicted to it. Making chermoula is just an excuse to buy more parsley and cilantro. :wink: I use it in just about everything that's not a dessert, including as an accompaniment to roast beef sandwiches, banh mi, stirred into scrambled eggs or over roasted vegetables. It's fabulous. Roasted heirloom carrots, with green lentils and chermoula Fettucine with Meyer lemon, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and fried sage leaves

Arugula and mesclun salad, with ricotta salata, mandarin orange and hazelnuts Shallot vinaigrette -- 1 shallot, finely minced, sea salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons red wine, 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Place shallots in a bowl, sprinkle salt and pepper over them. Add red wine vinegar and red wine. Mix well. Whisk in extra-virgin olive oil in a thin stream. Taste for salt and pepper if necessary, then use as needed. This vinaigrette is wonderful for all sorts of salads, not just this one. Another variation consists of 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon red wine and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar in addition to the shallots, salt, pepper and oil. I thought that Fairway had kumquats on sale, but that proved to be a wash, so I decided to get the next best thing instead. Today was 65 F (!!!) in NYC, but it'll be 27 F on Thursday. Crazy weather. The reason I bring this up is because I was hoping to get to USGM this week. I might go tomorrow morning before I go into the office and pick up a few things. I'm getting tired of being cooped up indoors and relying on supermarket produce; just wish the weather was warmer. It's hard to do the seasonal thing when the next aisle over, I'm looking at sweet peppers trucked in from overseas. The oranges were from California but at least it's not like a tomato from Chile or something. The second course was leftover mussels. Whenever I cook mussels in this manner (with a tomato sauce), the leftover sauce combined with the mussel juices becomes a broth that's its own sort of reward. Tonight was no exception.

Chicken liver crostini, mesclun salad Recipe for the chicken liver páté: http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1015975/chicken-liver-pate.html?action=click&contentCollection=Magazine&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article Roasted cauliflower, Spanish chorizo, preserved lemon Spicy Spanish mussels, with almond picada Recipe for the mussels: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/nutrition/spicy-spanish-mussels.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2Fspanish%2Bmussels%2F (as written, except that I omitted the hazelnuts because I felt it didn't need it, and I also halved the amount of garlic since I was using rocambole garlic)

Beets, black cumin vinaigrette, melted leeks Black cumin vinaigrette: toast 1/2 teaspoon black cumin seeds, then grind to a coarse powder in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Place in a bowl, then whisk in 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper to taste. Melted leeks: Melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add thinly sliced leeks and 2 tablespoons water. Cook leeks for 10 minutes or until leeks are soft and tender. If the liquid in the pan seems too dry, add another tablespoon of water; repeat as necessary. Taste for salt and pepper, stir in some chopped tarragon, then use as needed. Finished the crab soup from this weekend.

Beets, citrus, walnuts The beets were roasted last night, then macerated with fennel fronds, Meyer lemon juice, crushed fennel seed and sea salt overnight. This mixture was combined with chopped clementine orange, walnuts and scallion, and dressed with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette (1 teaspoon clementine juice, 3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper to taste.) Scrambled eggs (2 eggs, sea salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons milk) with champignon mushrooms (chopped champignon mushrooms (otherwise known as white button mushrooms, the kind you get in your supermarket), sautéed in olive oil, with chopped shallots, slivered scallion, sea salt and black pepper) and green mango pickle.

Mushroom and mesclun salad, with Meyer lemon vinaigrette Roasted beets, with cow's milk ricotta cheese, shaved fennel and scallion Cabbage and fennel soup, with leeks, Maine crab and fennel greens

Penne with cauliflower, anchovy, raisins and fennel greens The raisins were soaked in some boiling water that had been infused with a bit of saffron. I had a baguette that I forgot about in the fridge. It had gotten somewhat dried and powdery, so I ground it in a mortar and pestle, then fried the crumbs and seasoned it with salt and pepper. That's what you see topping the pasta. Use where you would normally add grated cheese.

Dal and rice, with carrot and green mango pickle, raita and mint chutney This is my "default" dinner when I don't feel like cooking.