Farfalle (dried). Tiny dice of guanciale; onion and suggestion of garlic; zucchine; a Jimmy Nardello pepper; tomato sauce; parmesan; mixed herbs, notably mint. Olive oil, of course. @grownyc.bsky.social and other sources.

The other day we couldn't eat more than about 60 per cent of that enormous green tomato (green in color, not in ripeness, which was at its peak). So last night we had a fine dish of panzanella with plenty of mint. @grownyc.bsky.social

The green one weighs 724 grams. Tomorrow we will eat tomato and bacon sandwiches (without so much as a hint of lettuce). Thank you in advance, Stokes Farm. And thank you too for growing the delicious tarragon that perfumed our omelettes this evening. @grownyc.bsky.social

Cod and sauerkraut. There were boiled new potatoes too. Sauerkraut (cooked as you like it) is a great accompaniment or cooking medium for all manner of foods beyond the expected Central/Eastern European sausages.

Summer produce doesn't need to end up as a salad. This evening, we ate carrot gnocchi. For the dressing: guanciale, a banana pepper and mint. @grownyc.bsky.social

Pasta and chickpeas. An atypical version, but still .... Pasta and chickpeas. Delicious and fun.

An excellent pasta shape that captures the sauce (gomiti, meaning elbows), with greenhouse tomatoes (but surprisingly good ones), shrimp, mixed herbs, a touch of dried chili, and olive oil and lemon juice to finish. @grownyc.bsky.social

This evening, rice: a not-paella whose principal ingredients were small chickpeas and pork belly (previously cooked for another meal). The strips of pork rind, puffed up and crunchy, made a fine snack while we waited for the rice to rest.

This (apart from the handful of fava beans) is what our first-peas-of-the-season dinner usually looks like: something akin to petits pois à la française. You wouldn't know it, but a small pillowcase's worth of lettuce has collapsed into the pea mixture.

Our first all-pea dinner of 2026 (risi e bisi doesn't count as all-pea). Most years, the first all-pea meal is made with bacon and lettuce. This evening, I began with guanciale and a shallot, plus a few cubes of new-season potatoes. Something I'd do again in a flash.

Are they removing the Jimmy Breslin Way sign from outside the Daily News Building? Or just taking it away to spruce it up?

There are many variations of risi e bisi! Tonight's was akin to a richly flavorful soupy risotto. The principal herb was dill, and it was so, so good.

At today's Dag Hammarskjöld farmers' market @grownyc.bsky.social , a big annual event: Our first peas of the season, some from Samascott Orchards and some from Norwich Meadows Farm. Exciting!

The last nuggets of lamb shoulder from Dickson's Farmstand Meats, braised a few days ago, were the basis of tonight's cavatelli with green olives. Too many elements in the sauce to rehearse on line, but I was gratified by our friend's praise. (It really was delicious.)

Mara des bois strawberries from Norwich Meadows Farm at today's Dag Hammarskjöld @grownyc.bsky.social farmers' market. Incomparable heady perfume. It's early in the season, so these were a special treat.

Dinner was new-season potatoes, eaten buttered with a side of sour cream. The remainder was a few ultra-tender unskinned fava beans dressed with excellent sunflower oil from Oliver Farm. Not surprisingly, all the produce came fromthe Dag Hammarskjöld @grownyc.bsky.social farmers' market.

Delicious duck breast from Hudson Valley Duck Farm at yesterday's Union Square @grownyc.bsky.social farmers' market. Also - and this is a big deal for us - the season's first new potatoes, from the fine growers Halal Pastures.

Ecco la primavera! No peas or favas yet, but, in the meantime, tonight's springtime risotto was, well, springlike: asparagus, zucchini/courgettes and sweet spring onions. And tarragon, too!

Some would say that lasagne improves with reheating. While it's easier to handle once it has congealed, I don't agree that it's actually better. Still, day-old lasagne is a great thing, and I'd be very disappointed to have made only enough for a single meal.

It was chilly today, but that's not relevant: We'd have had this meal in any weather: a faux cassoulet made with beans cooked a few days ago, confit pork belly, good sausages, rich stock, plus (and this was key) toasted breadcrumbs, which turned something like a soup into something like a cassoulet.

It was time for last week's excellent asparagus from Samascott Orchards (at the Dag Hammarskjöld @grownyc.bsky.social farmers' market) to make way for next week's. An asparagus-forward stir-fry did the trick - and made a terrific gingery dinner.

Tonight's dinner was paella-like rice with mild, fruity dried chilies from Basilicata; previously cooked beans and pork belly; and a handful of asparagus (totally overwhelmed by the other ingredients and thus entirely superfluous).

Plan A: spinach, pine-nut, anchovy, garlic and breadcrumb mixture as a stuffing for the squid. But laziness dictated a Plan B: Quick sauté of squid, with the ex-stuffing as a condiment. (Plan A wouldn't have been as good a dinner as Plan B turned out to be.)

One of those unbeatable springtime combinations: Room-temperature asparagus coated with vinaigrette. And a side of cooked ham.

Ramps don't give me a thrill - except as a harbinger of other spring produce such as asparagus and, later, peas. But ramp leaves, cooked and combined with sheep-milk ricotta and parmesan, make a really grand pasta filling, as in these agnolotti.

Second and penultimate iteration of yesterday's First Local Asparagus of The Season: spaghetti. Finished in asparagus-vegetable stock with butter-glazed asparagus. Lemon juice and grated zest.

Earlier today on another website, I gushed over our first local asparagus of the season, from Samascott Orchards at our @grownyc.bsky.social market. We ate ~75 per cent of it for dinner: Steamed and served tepid with a nice vinaigrette and sieved hard-boiled eggs - old-time asparagus mimosa.

Ragù tonight! With a slight twist: about a tenth of the meat was cotechino removed from its casing and fried along with the vegetable soffritto. The theory is that it will add a gelatinous quality to the texture. We'll see at dinner time.

With a little thought, you can make a delicious and harmonious soup/stew out of seemingly disparate leftovers: What the French might call a fourre-tout (hodgepodge). In fact, if (heaven forfend) I were writing a restaurant menu, I might include a Fourre-Tout du Jour.

A couple of dinners ago, we had delicious beef shin. We ate some of the leftovers just now, broken apart (not really shredded), and spooned onto a dish of fairly plain carnaroli rice. Very satisfying.