Recipes

To prepare the alpaca, bring the meat out to come to room temperature, drizzle it with olive oil and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat a heavy based fry pan until very hot, then sear the meat on one side until it forms a crust and takes on good colour. Turn the meat and repeat on the other side, then remove and rest it in a warm place. Alpaca is best cooked rare to medium rare.

Next make the tomato crush by hand chopping the ripe tomatoes on a chopping board until they are almost a pulp. You can alternatively grate the tomato, leaving the skin behind. Add some finely chopped red chilli and up to a clove of micro-planed garlic , then season with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and some red wine vinegar. Finish with a slug of good olive oil and set aside.

To make the pangratatto, remove the crust from the bread, and tear the bread into smallish pieces. Place in a fry pan with a good slug of olive oil, a few sprigs of thyme and a smashed clove of garlic and toss over medium heat until the bread turns golden and crisp. Season with salt and pepper and set aside on some absorbent towel.

Use the remaining garlic and chilli to make a little chili oil, which is an optional addition to the dish. Simply place the garlic and chilli in mortar and pestle with a good pinch of salt and pound to a paste, then stir in olive oil to make a slurry.

To assemble the dish, slice the alpaca into thin strips and arrange on a platter. Drizzle with olive oil then spoon over some tomato crush, then either quarter or tear the figs across the plate.

Slice the red onion very finely and scatter across, along with the capers, pangratatto, and fresh basil.
Finish with a few slices of lemon, shavings of pecorino and spoon over some of the chilli oil if you want a little extra heat.