It’s a beautiful simple dish, and like most pasta marriages, the flavors slowly mature and improve as it’s consumed.

• more than a handful of thinly-sliced celery stalks from Neversink Organic Farm sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large antique high-sided copper pot over a medium flame until they had softened, one finely-chopped aji dulce pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm added near the end, then one large, orange roughly-chopped heirloom tomato, also from Eckerton Hill Farm, slipped in, everything seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, a decent amount of chopped celery leaves introduced and the pot stirred a bit before 10 ounces of al dente-cooked Setaro Torre Annunziata penne rigatoni were mixed in, along with nearly a cup of reserved pasta water, all stirred again until the liquid had emulsified, the pasta now arranged in 2 shallow bowls and sprinkled with more celery leaves and a generous amount of chopped chives from S. & S.O. Farms, a bit of olive oil drizzled around the edges
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany) rosé, Castell’ in Villa, Toscana Rosato, 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was the Brooklyn Rider album, ‘Seven Steps’