Watching Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt over lunch at the corner table at the glamorous new Cipriani restaurant in Mayfair last week, I was reminded of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953). Brad and Jen had that same air of having escaped the rigours of real life to just sit down together and have a simple plate of pasta. It wouldn’t have surprised me if two scooters had awaited outside the restaurant, bu t sadly there was only a boring chauffeur-driven car.

The second of my week-long Summer Holiday recipes is inspired by my own Roman Holiday. In search of la dolce vita, I found the modest little Trattoria Al Gran Sasso, just a stroll from the Piazza del Popolo along Via di Ripetta, where the daily menu is simply the fresh produce shown in the open window. Mimma Persi and her husband Ugo came from Mascaone in Abruzzo to open the trattoria 36 years ago. At lunch you sit in the small dining room surrounded by noisy local teachers and shopkeepers wolfing down pasta e ceci (thick pasta and chickpea soup), crisp, golden fritto misto platters of expertly fried calamari and prawns, or linguine with crabmeat that tastes sweetly of the sea.

This rich but light pasta is my way of being there when I’m here, with its remarkable ability to make me feel as if I am on holiday even if I am not.

Ingredients
Serves 4

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 10 min

Quick cooking keeps the flavours fresh and light.

2 ripe tomatoes
300g tagliolini or angel-hair pasta
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 small red chilli, minced
1 tbsp salted capers, rinsed
3 tbsp dry white wine
2 tbsp torn parsley leaves
1 tbsp torn basil leaves
300g fresh cooked crabmeat, picked over
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sea salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil for serving

METHOD: Cut the tomatoes in half, squeeze out and discard the seeds and juice, and finely chop the flesh. Cook the pasta in a large pot of simmering salted water until al dente, tender but firm to the bite. (Fine egg pasta cooks in 2 minutes.) Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic, chilli, capers and white wine; cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the chopped tomato and most of the basil and parsley, stirring, and simmer for 2 minutes.

Reserving one ladle of the pasta water, drain the pasta well. Add the crab, lemon juice, salt and pepper to the sauce and heat through. Add the pasta, tossing lightly to combine well to coat, along with a few spoonfuls of the pasta water if dry. Divide between four warm pasta plates, scatter with remaining herbs and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

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