This meatball recipe is really two-in-one, as you can use the same ingredients to make burgers. For vegetarians, this is a good sauce with pasta. I always make double the sauce quantities and freeze the rest. The addition of pork makes meatballs, or burgers, softer and more moist.

I learned a lot about pasta outside Naples last year, watching it being made the traditional way. These days you often see bronze-dyed pasta, or sometimes spelt “die”, and people ask me what the difference is. The flour, egg and water mix is pushed under pressure through a metal die. Nowadays they are usually Teflon covered, which gives a smooth surface to the pasta. But with the older metal die you get a rougher surface, which is ideal for holding sauce. It was fascinating to watch the traditional experts at work.

This Victoria sponge is a slight twist on the classic. If you want to keep it traditional, then omit the lemon rind in the sponge and replace the lemon curd with your favourite strawberry jam. A tip for lemon curd is to add some passion fruit seeds and juice to give it texture and a nice sharpness to the flavour.

Meatballs with spaghetti

Serves four to eight

For the meatballs

225g (8oz) lean minced beef

225g (8oz) minced pork

Eight Jacob’s cream crackers, crushed into crumbs

1 tbsp Dijon-style mustard

1 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

25g (1oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

One large egg

For the tomato sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (optional)

680g bottle passata (Italian sieved tomatoes)

2 tbsp tomato purée

To serve

500g (1lb 2oz) spaghetti

50g (2oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Few basil leaves, to garnish

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 Place the minced beef and pork in a bowl with the cream crackers, Dijon mustard, parsley, Parmesan and egg. Season with salt and pepper and, using your hands, give everything a good mix. Then make this into 20 even-size balls. Arrange on a flat baking sheet and cover with clingfilm. Chill for an hour, if time allows.
  • 2 Heat half the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onion and celery for about five minutes, until lightly golden. Stir in the garlic and chilli, if using, and cook for another minute, stirring. Add the passata and tomato purée and simmer for a few minutes, until nicely combined. Season with salt and pepper.
  • 3 Heat the rest of the olive oil in a deep-sided frying pan and cook the meatballs for eight to 10 minutes, until almost cooked through and nicely browned.
  • 4 Pour in the sauce and simmer gently for another 10 minutes or so, until reduced and thickened.
  • 5 Meanwhile, plunge the spaghetti into a large pan of boiling, salted water and simmer for eight to 10 minutes, until tender but still with a little bite, as the Italians say, al dente. Drain well and return to the pan, and then add a few ladlesful of the tomato sauce to coat.
  • 6 Divide among pasta bowls and spoon the meatballs with the rest of the tomato sauce on top. Scatter over the Parmesan and garnish with the basil leaves to serve.

    • Victoria sponge with lemon curd

    Serves six or eight

    For the sponge

    225g (8oz) butter, softened

    200g (7oz) caster sugar

    Four eggs

    225g (8oz) self-raising flour

    Seeds of ½ a vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

    Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

    ¼ tsp baking powder

    For the buttercream

    100g (4oz) butter, softened

    200g (7oz) icing sugar

    Seeds of ½ a vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

    For the filling

    7 tbsp lemon curd

    Icing sugar, to dust

  • 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, (350°F/gas mark four) and line 2 x 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed cake tins with parchment paper. Put the butter and the sugar into a large bowl and cream them together. I find the best way to do this is to use a wooden spoon to push the mixture on to the side of the bowl until it is mixed together and then beat it hard until the mixture turns from yellow to a paler shade. Or use a hand-held electric mixer or a freestanding electric mixer, which is much easier and quicker.
  • 2 Add two of the eggs to the butter mixture with half of the flour, and beat together until combined. Then add the other two eggs and the rest of the flour, along with the vanilla, lemon zest and baking powder and beat like mad to get a good amount of air into it.
  • 3 Divide the mixture between the prepared cake tins and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cakes have shrunken slightly from the sides of the tin. They should spring back when touched in the centre, and a skewer inserted into the middle needs to come out clean. Once baked, remove from the oven and leave the cakes to cool completely in the tins.
  • 4 While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. Cream together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until light and fluffy. Once the cakes are cooled down completely, place one on a cake stand and then spread over the buttercream and then the lemon curd on top.
  • 5 Cover with the other cake and dust with icing sugar to serve.