The meal was pretty basic, assembled, except for the very fresh baby squid, from the stock of vegetables I happened to have already had on hand that evening.

Before the end of the meal however, the flavors of the 2 or 3 simply-prepared elements had combined to a wonderful and subtle effect, and, yes, there was a sturdy bread available.

• about one pound of squid, bodies and tentacles, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, rinsed, dried, then very quickly arranged in a large enameled cast iron pan after it had been heated until hot on top of the range and its cooking surface brushed with olive oil, and, when that was also hot, the cephalopods added to the pan, quickly sprinkled with some super-pungent dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia, one crushed dried Italian pepperoncino, also from Buon Italia, and then juice from an organic lemon, and some olive oil drizzled over the top before the squid was placed in a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for four or five minutes, removed, distributed onto 2 plates, and drizzled  with the cooking juices
• seven Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, halved and tossed with 3 chopped fresh or spring shallots (they look like scallions) from Lani’s Farm, some salt, pepper, and a little olive oil, arranged inside another, smaller ceramic pan and cooked at 400º for about 20 minutes, removed from the oven and scattered with chopped lovage from Windfall Farms, placed on the plates on top of a bed of ‘arugulion‘ which had been dressed only with a little olive oil
• slices of a rich multigrain bread form Whole Foods
• the wine was an Italian (Campania) white, Falanghina Feudi di San Gregorio 2014
• the music was discs 5 and 6 of the multi-CD set, ‘Between Noise and Silence‘, collected works and tributes in memoriam to the composer Steven M. Miller