We had just come back from a staggeringly beautiful performance of Heiner Goebbels’ production of Louis Andriessen’s ‘De Materie’, and it was about 10:30, so dinner had to be quick. I also thought that it had to be minimal (that would have seemed advisable tonight even if we had all the time in the world).

Also, Barry loves artichokes in any form.

The music choice was a cinch: Bach, and, arguably, at his most minimal, a performance of ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’.

• twelve ounces of a 1-half kilo package of Italian artisan pasta, Foglie al Carciofo (artichoke leaves), from Maestri Pastai Selection, served with a simple sauce of chopped spring scallions from Lucky Dog Organic which had been heated for a couple minutes in a little olive oil along with some dried Itria-Sirissi chili (peperoncino di Sardegna intero) from Buon Italia, the sauced pasta briefly emulsified with some of the reserved pasta water and sprinkled with freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, then tossed with a little upland cress from Stokes Farm and served in shallow bowls with grated ‘Parmigiano Reggiano Bonat 3’ from Buon Italia
• the wine was an Italian (Sardinia) white, La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna 2013
• the music was Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, played by Maurizio Pollini