Amber says: Rosbif is what the Tuscans call roast veal or beef, a reference to the British tradition of roast beef. I have no idea how this name made its way into the Italian lexicon, particularly as the Tuscans know full well how to cook a piece of meat beautifully. 

If you are buying meat from a butcher in Italy, and would like the perfect cut for your Sunday roast, ask for rosbif, and they will give you a glorious red-plum-coloured piece of veal (vitellone rosbif). In the UK, I ask for ‘topside’. This dish is my mother’s failsafe main for a crowd. She likes it because whether we are fifteen people, or thirty, she can make it ahead of time – as long as the sides are hot, it doesn’t matter if the beef is room temperature.

Serves 6

Prep time: A few minutes (after bringing beef up to room temperature)

Cooking time: 55 minutes

Resting time: Minimum 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 800g to 1kg topside of beef or vitellone rosbif
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 75ml olive oil
• A handful of sage leaves
• Leaves from a handful of rosemary sprigs
• 2 garlic cloves, left unpeeled, gently squashed with the edge of a large knife
• 350ml dry white wine

Method

Take the beef out of the fridge 2 hours before cooking, to bring it up to room temperature. Put the beef in a roasting tray and lightly coat all over with a layer of salt and black pepper. Cover the meat with a tea towel.

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Drizzle a little oil into a heavy-based pan, bring the heat up to high and brown the beef all over.

Put the sage, rosemary and whole garlic cloves into the roasting tray, and sit the browned beef on top. Drizzle the rest of the oil over the beef, followed by the wine.

Roast in the oven for 25 minutes, basting the meat occasionally with the pan juices.

If the pan looks like it is drying out, add a little water. Turn the oven down to 200°C and cook the beef for another 20 minutes for medium-rare.

Remove the roast from the oven and check to see how well it is cooked. Either slice a piece off the end to check the colour, or press on the top: medium-rare will feel soft but springy. If the beef is still too red for your taste, return it to the oven for another 5–10 minutes. 

Once you have removed the meat from the oven, allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes before eating. (Alternatively, allow it to cool completely, wrap it in cling film or foil, and put it in the fridge to serve at room temperature the next day.)

Pour the cooking liquid into a little bowl or jug, and set aside to cool completely. Slice the beef as thinly as you can, ideally to about 1.5mm (roughly the thickness of an English penny). Arrange the slices on a serving dish and drizzle with the cooled cooking liquid. Serve with a bowl of green sauce. 

Amber says: This dish is my imitation of the famous house dish of creamy tomato penne cooked with vodka that is served at Alla Vecchia Bettola, a fabulous restaurant in Florence. I devised this recipe in a fit of desperate craving – at a time when I was not in Florence and unable to go to the restaurant.

What’s unusual and delicious about the Alla Vecchia Bettola dish is the use of ‘smooth’ penne lisce, meaning that there aren’t any ridges for the sauce to cling to. For that reason, the final stage of cooking the penne happens in the sauce, so that the pasta soaks up the tomato, chilli and vodka. For the pasta to be al dente, it’s vital that you only cook the penne in boiling water for two-thirds of the time recommended on the packet, before transferring it to the pan with the sauce for the last third of the cooking process. 

For instance, De Cecco penne will take 11 minutes to cook al dente; I would therefore cook the pasta in boiling water for 7–8 minutes and transfer the penne to the sauce for the last 2–3 minutes.

Serves 6

Prep time: A couple of minutes to organise the ingredients

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• ½ tablespoon chilli flakes
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
• 60ml olive oil
• 1 bottle (680g – 700g) tomato passata
• Salt
• 120ml vodka
• 200ml single cream
• 500g penne lisce (smooth)
• or penne rigate (ridged)
• 60g parmesan, grated – plus extra, to serve
• A handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped, to serve

Method

In a large frying pan, gently heat the chilli flakes and garlic in the oil for 3–5 minutes over a medium heat. Allow the garlic to infuse, but do not let it brown. Add the bottle of passata to the chilli and garlic, together with a generous pinch of salt. Half-fill the bottle with water, swish it around to pick up any remaining passata and pour the tomatoey water into the pan. Cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced by a third.

Put a large pan of well-salted water on to boil. Pour the vodka into the reduced liquid, stir and then increase the heat to high. Allow to bubble for 5 minutes, so that the alcohol evaporates, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cream and switch to a low heat while the pasta cooks.

Once the pasta cooking water is at a lively boil, add the penne. After the pasta has been cooking for 8 minutes, use a slotted spoon to transfer the pasta from the water to the tomato sauce. Add a ladleful of the starchy pasta cooking water if the sauce looks like it needs help to fully coat the pasta. Turn up the heat and allow to bubble and cook for a further 3 minutes, then stir in the parmesan.

Remove the pasta from the heat and transfer to a serving bowl. Top with a little chopped parsley and some freshly grated parmesan. Serve immediately. 

Amber says: This flavour is one that used to be served at my favourite gelateria in Florence. My mum and I loved it so much, and found it so unusual, that we bought a few tubs of it (driving hell for leather the hour and a half home, while it melted in the back of the car) and spent the next two days trying to recreate it perfectly, using shop-bought vanilla ice cream and adding lime zest and basil leaves. I’ve found that the homemade custard base gives a richer and more indulgent feel and is the perfect vehicle for this unlikely but fabulous flavour combination. 

I don’t have an ice-cream maker, so I just pop the gelato in the freezer and take it out twenty minutes before serving – I always find it to have a lovely texture and flavour. But if you do have an ice-cream maker, by all means, churn away.

Makes 1 litre of ice cream, enough to serve 6

Prep time: About 2 hours, plus 3 hours freezing

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 800ml double cream
• 250ml full-fat milk
• 2 vanilla pods
• 8 egg yolks
• 180g caster sugar
• Zest of 5 limes and juice of 2 limes
• 45g basil leaves, finely chopped with a sharp knife

Put the cream and milk in a saucepan (choose one with a lid). Halve the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape the seeds into the pan, discarding the pods. Set the pan over a medium heat and remove from the heat just as the cream and milk mixture is about to come to the boil. Set aside to cool a little.

Put the egg yolks and sugar into a large bowl, then whisk using an electric mixer or hand-held electric beaters until the mixture is very thick and pale.

Bit by bit, pour the warm cream and milk into the sugar and egg mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon as you go. Once it is thoroughly combined, return the mixture to the saucepan. Set the pan over a medium heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to thicken as the eggs start to cook. Once it is on the edge of coming to the boil, remove the custard from the heat and move the pan to a cool surface. Stir the custard constantly for about 5 minutes to ensure it stays smooth.

Cover the pan with the lid and allow the custard to cool down for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the lime zest and juice, and the chopped basil leaves, and stir them through.

Cover the custard again, then set it aside for 1–2 hours to cool completely. During this time the flavours will develop and amalgamate. Transfer the cooled custard to a shallow container, making sure the basil is evenly distributed. Put it in the freezer for at least 3 hours. Or, if you have an ice-cream maker, churn as instructed before putting it in the freezer.

Twenty minutes before serving, take the ice cream out of the freezer to soften a little. Scoop it into individual bowls and eat with a teaspoon.