Napolitana vegetable pasta quills

Ingredients

300g pasta quills
30ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 courgette, chopped
200g mushrooms, sliced
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
400g Can chopped tomatoes
pinch of sugar
salt
freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

Cook the pasta in large pan of boiling water for 10-12mins or until just tender and 'al dente'.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and garlic and sauté over a high heat for 2mins or until soft. Add the courgette, mushroom and tomatoes and sauté for 3 mins.

Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and seasoning and bring to the boil. Simmer uncovered for 5mins or until thickened and reduced.

Drain the pasta and divide between four bowls, spoon the vegetable sauce into the centre and serve.

Sirloin with chimichurri sauce

Ingredients

1 x 2kg boned well-hung beef sirloin, not rolled
flaked sea salt
ground black pepper
For the chimichurri sauce:
12 garlic cloves
8 long red chillies
2 large handfuls of fresh young curly parsley
4 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
5 tbsp red wine vinegar
5 tbsp virgin olive oil
5 tbsp cold water

Method
To make the chimichurri sauce, first peel the garlic and deseed the chillies. Chop both very finely and scoop into a clean jam jar. Remove the tough stalks from the parsley and finely chop the leaves. Add the parsley leaves to the jar along with the oregano, salt, vinegar, oil and water. Stir until all the ingredients are well combined. Put the lid on and leave to sit for several hours or overnight, allowing the flavours to develop.

Roughly 1½ hours before serving, light the barbecue, making sure that you use enough coals to maintain a good temperature for at least an hour. Season the beef all over with salt and a few twists of black pepper.

When the coals are dusted with a fine coating of grey ash and all the flames have gone (this is essential, as otherwise the meat will burn) – after about 30 minutes – put the beef on a rack over the top so that the meat is around 25cm from the coals. Sear on the fatty side until well coloured, then cook fat-side up for 25 minutes. Turn the sirloin again before cooking for a further 20 minutes. Ideally, the barbecue lid should be on and the vents open. When the beef is done, lift onto a board and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Carve the beef into thick slices. Give the sauce a good shake and spoon it over the beef as it is served. Fried potatoes with a tomato and onion salad would be spot-on.