I went for dinner at my dear friend Alan Thatcher’s, and it seems sublime that we were sat in his English garden on Phuket island eating this traditional fare from home.  I literally licked the bowl clean and recreated it (without Alan’s pizzazz, of course) two days later.

Here it is:

1. 500g fillet steak (this recipe works equally well with pork)
2. 1 cup good quality beef stock
3. 1 large Spanish onion (sliced)
4. 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
5. 1 cup mushrooms (quartered)
6. 50ml sour cream
7. 1 cup brandy
8. Pinch of paprika
9. Juice of 1 lemon
10. Knob of butter
11. Salt & pepper to taste

(I added frozen peas whilst Alan used sliced carrots).

• Sear the meat in butter. You must sear the meat.
• When browned (about 30 seconds in a hot pan) add the onion and garlic. Saute until both are soft.
• Add the mushrooms and stir for a minute or so.
• Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the sour cream.
• Bring to boil until you get a thickish gravy.
• Add the sour cream, stir in until thoroughly mixed.  If you are adding frozen peas, now is a good time. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, adjusting the consistency.
• Season generously.

Delicious with pasta or boiled rice. My kids loved this!

My long-time friend, Toni de Coninck, from Belgium came over for a whirlwind visit.

He is a fellow foodie and we met ten years ago at Gourmand World Cookbook Awards where my cookbook, The Kundalini Yoga Cookbook, was a finalist. Toni says, “Too bad I don’t have time to cook my ragu for you.”

We all have our heirloom ragu recipe – mine has marmite.  Toni’s different.  But however different, homemade ragu always tastes nothing like the sweet, sticky goo you get if you make it with mass-produced sauce.

He sent me his recipe. Here it is, in his own words.

The secret is time. Time and a decent red wine. First you fry your sofrito in olive oil: 1 chopped carrot, 1 branch of celery, 1 large onion or 2 big shallots. Finely chopped, fry until the onion looks glazed.

I most commonly use 50/50 minced veal and minced pork. Now some people add the meat to the sofrito in this stage, but I fry it in a separate pan so the meat can fry golden brown and in somewhat larger chunks. I find this important because it gives more substance to the later sauce.

Season the meat with black pepper, salt, herbes provencales and if you can find it sweet paprika or pimenton de la vera.

If fried, add the meat to the sofrito, put the whole thing under red wine (half a bottle will do) and bring to a boiling point until all the alcohol has evaporated.

Then add stock or water and 1 large tin of tomato paste or Spanish tomato frito. Put it to simmer, and let it simmer slowly for 3 or 4 hours until it all comes together.

Now, commonly I would use linguine or tagliatelle and it is important to add the sauce to the pasta before serving, so it kinda clings itself to the starch.

Only use freshly grated parmigiana and drink it away with the rest of the red wine.