Rome 1999 and my Zia Franca makes the most satisfying pasta sauce. She tells us its called ‘Pasta Frank Sinatra’. The myths goes like this: Whenever Frank came to Rome he made a point of eating a particular restaurant that served a hearty pasta sauce containing fried eggplant, zucchini, Spanish onions, garlic and red capsicum. The media picks up the story and the pasta is renamed ‘Pasta Frank Sinatra’. Soon everyone is cooking it at home.

When Franca made it for me she told me the key to the dish is to fry all the different vegetables separately so they cook evenly. Only then are they thrown together in a pan and cooked in a tomato passata. When I have time I follow this method and it works beautifully. But I don’t always have time, so I’ve worked out an order in which to add the different vegetables so they cook fairly evenly. I then add the tomato passata. It turns out a treat and is incredibly healthy.