It was a night off for the cook, or at least a night when he didn’t have to think much, or juggle a lot of ingredients.

• three ounces of excellent Iowa La Quercia ’Speck Americano’ from Whole Foods, drizzled with a very small amount of a good Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O.)
• accompanied by a bit of red (wild?) cress from Dave Harris at Max Creek Hatchery, and a few stems of parsley from Alex’s Tomato Farm, the greens seasoned with Maldon salt and a freshly-ground strong black pepper, and dressed with the same oil and a few drops of Cesare Giaccone aceto vino bianco, made from a mixture of white wines from Langhe
• slices of She Wolf Bakery miche

The main course was almost as simple.

• two bruised and halved rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm and 2 small whole peperoncini Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, heated inside a large vintage high-sided copper pot in olive oil until both garlic and peppers were pungent, a little sea salt and some freshly-ground pepper added, one sliced red heirloom tomato from Stokes Farm slipped into the pot and stirred in the now quite pungent oil before a 12-ounce package of cooked (for exactly 2 minutes) Rana spinaci e ricotta ravioli from Eataly was introduced into the pan, everything carefully mixed then stirred with most of one cup of reserved pasta water until the liquid had emulsified, transferred to shallow bowls and scattered with torn leaves of a basil plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Argentinian (Lujan de Cuyo) rosé, Lujan de Cuyo
• the music was Handel’s ‘Hercules, a Musical Drama in Three Acts’ composed in 1744, Marc Minkowski directing Les Musiciens du Louvre