Right. This is one of the best things I've ever done. If you're having people round, and you start with nibbles and finish with a pud, this is ideal as a main, as it's not heavy at all and is simplicity itself to prepare.

BUT: you can't compromise on the quality of the ingredients. Try to go cheap and you'll be sorry. I know. I've tried.

For two people (which is what I did tonight) you need:

Six very thin slices of the best sirloin. All six together should weigh about 250-300g. I said sirloin and I mean it. Not rump or some unspecified cheap slivers. SIRLOIN.

300g of cherry tomatoes, the best you can find.

Two tablespoons of capers, rinsed. Only the smallest ones will do.

Two cloves of garlic, smashed with your fist then peeled. Do NOT crush.

A pinch of dried chilli flakes, to taste. Heat is not the point of the thing.

A generous teaspoon of dried oregano. Crucial.

About 60 ml of extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

One scant teaspoon of sugar

Put the smashed garlic, whole, into the olive oil in your best casserole pot. Sprinkle in your chilli flakes. Heat gently for a few minutes until your kitchen is full of lovely garlic aroma. Don't let the garlic go brown.

Remove and discard the garlic and turn up the heat. Fry the slices of beef in the hot oil for THIRTY SECONDS EACH SIDE. Any more and your dish is ruined. Put the beef into a dish and keep it warm somewhere.

Throw the cherry toms into the beefy, garlicky oil. When they start to go soft, throw in the capers, oregano, sugar and seasoning. Squidge the tomatoes down into a kind of rough sauce and leave the lid off.

After a few minutes put the pieces of beef into the sauce and cook it all through for three or four minutes. Voila, it's done.

So you have some lovely beef in a lovely, spicy tomato sauce. You can serve this up with crusty bread, or you can do what I do, and what they do in Sicily, serve it up with home-made skin-on oven chips. It doesn't come any better than that and it's so easy. Just don't overcook that steak, that's all.


And happy seventieth birthday to my favourite ItaIian cook, Gennaro Contaldo!