Something in the way of a palate cleanser, and kitchen-pressure release valve as well:  Tonight, after a couple of days of feasting, it was back to basics, as we enjoyed an extremely simple, southern Italian meal, one with whose honest outlines we’re both very familiar.  In an odd exception from meals we’ve enjoyed over the past six to eight months, this time absolutely nothing came from the Union Square Greenmarket.

I’d already cooked the pasta when it first occurred to me to post about the meal, so in the accompanying image the spaghetti is instead represented by the beautiful label on the front of its box.

• sliced California-made Sopressata Columbus from Murray’s Cheese, with arugula dressed in oil and lemon, accompanied by an Elio’s Bakery Portuguese Saloio roll
• spaghetti aglio-olio peperoncino (here without anchovies), using Cav. Giuseppe Cocco pasta from Abruzzo
• wedges of “sweet lemon“, a serendipitous discovery at Garden of Eden
• wine:  Sannio Falanghina 2005 Mastroberardino from 67wine