A recipe adapted from The Constance Spry Cookery Book, which my mother used to make for us at weekends.

No ordinary layered aubergine dish but one flavoured with mint and the ripe, sweet flavour of goat butter.

I learnt to cook this pasta dish in Naples, home of the best tomatoes, which are grown in the threatening shadow of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano.

The secret of this sauce is in adding water.

I like to make fresh soups at lunchtime, taking no more than about 15 minutes.