Don't Sweat the Aubergine

easy.
    3 • Draining the tomatoes . The whole can, juice and all, plus the cream, would give you an awful lot of sauce. I like to keep the juice that the tomatoes hold, though. If you don’t want it, you can wring it out of the drained tomatoes with your hands; or, if you’re using fresh tomatoes, cut them in half and scrape out the seeds and jelly.
    4 • When to add the cream . You could add it once the sauce has reduced, and then simmer further until the sauce thickens again. But, if you’re cooking it anyway, you might as well add it with the tomatoes. It will have a tenderizing effect on the meat.
ANCHOVY, GARLIC AND CHILLI SAUCE
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 2
    2 slices of bread, crusts removed, for breadcrumbs
    3 tbsp olive oil
    1 small (50g) tin anchovies, drained
    1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
    1, 2 or more dried chillies, whizzed in a coffee grinder or small electric mill
    Put on the water for the pasta ( see here ). Whizz up the bread in a food processor or small electric mill; mix 2 tbsp of the resulting crumbs with 1 tbsp of the oil, lay out on a baking tray, and put in a gas mark 4/180°C oven. If they are brown before the pasta is ready, turn off the oven but leave them inside, or turn down the oven to its lowest setting, and put them on the bottom.
    When the water is boiling, throw in the pasta. You can make the sauce in the time it takes the pasta to cook.
    I prefer to use my own olive oil, distrusting the stuff in the tin, even though it is infused with anchovy. Put the 2 tbsp oil on a gentle heat, and add the anchovies and garlic, stirring the anchovies to break them up. They should melt; once they have done so, add the chilli, and turn off the heat. 1
    Cover the pan if the pasta is not ready yet.
    Drain the pasta, and toss it with the sauce. Tip in the breadcrumbs, and toss them gently too. 2
    This sauce is good with spaghetti. I like it even better with spaghettini (the finer stuff), or with linguine (fine, flat pasta ribbons).
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VARIATIONS
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    If I have it, I like to add parsley (a tablespoon) to this sauce. Basil or mint are other possibilities.
    The classic southern dish is pasta aglio e olio e peperoncino (garlic, oil and chilli) – as above, but without the anchovies. Or just aglio e olio – without the chilli. The breadcrumbs are optional – but you’re not supposed to serve cheese instead. The dish should be basic, and cheap, and the flavour of the oil, garlic and chilli should be uncorrupted. You definitely should not serve cheese if you’re using anchovies, because cheese does not combine happily with fish in either pasta or risotto.
    You may find the flavour of a whole tin of anchovies too powerful in a dish for two. Use half a tin; or soften the flavour, and remove some of the salt from the anchovies, by soaking them in milk for half an hour before you cook them.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • Brief cooking . You’re cooking the garlic just long enough to soften some of its rawness. It will still have a strong flavour. If you eat this dish at lunchtime, be aware that you’ll probably be tasting the garlic – and exuding it – for the rest of the afternoon.
    2 • Crisp breadcrumbs . Add them at the end. They will take up some of the sauce, but they shouldn’t go soggy.
LASAGNE
    If you can find lasagne that requires pre-cooking before you assemble the dish and bake it, and if you can be bothered to boil a pile of pasta sheets and to make the effort to stop them sticking together once drained, buy it. Most lasagne on sale advertises itself as requiring no pre-cooking, and it is not as satisfactory as the other kind. It tends to overcook in the centre of the dish, and become flabby and sticky; towards the outside, sections of some sheets may remain dry and brittle. You’re supposed to be generous with the sauce, in order to ensure that the pasta can cook, but you may find the quantities hard to judge, and end up with a very sloppy dish. But if you don’t use enough sauce, the sheets won’t soften. The answer is to ignore packet instructions and cook the dish at a moderate heat, covered, before browning the top.
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 4
    400g lasagne sheets
    Bolognese sauce ( see here )
    400ml béchamel sauce ( see here ), with a pinch of nutmeg
    1 heaped tbsp Parmesan cheese
    Spread a layer of béchamel along the bottom and sides of an oven dish, to grease it. Put in a layer of lasagne, breaking pieces to fit if necessary (if you’re using the