While everyone else was moving to the UK to do their OE, I gravitated to Italy in 2004. I had worked for a Sardinian and a Napolitana at a restaurant called La Gabbia in my late teens and early 20s and was drawn to the way those men ate, drank, dressed and waved their arms when they talked. So I got a job working in Sardinia for an exceptional chef who was catering for wealthy Europeans visiting their summer homes or having a break from their superyachts. After that I moved to Rome, where I worked at private parties, nannied for the UN's head interpreter and did some nights pouring pints in an Irish bar.
Rome was a dreamland because I lived a stone's throw away from the Colloseo, eating out was affordable and I was spoilt for choice when it came to restaurants. I would walk the streets at night and learn new areas and history and I got in with a local crew who would take me to places I would never have seen as a normal expat.
I've been back to Rome many times since then and my favourite restaurant is still Da Valentino on Via del Boschetto. The food is simple, seasonal and sourced from trusted suppliers, which is the ethos of my latest business, The Realness. The menu is small but what they do, they do well.
This recipe, for pasta pomodoro, is one of my favourite Italian dishes. It's simple, flavourful and features my favourite ingredient, capers. Capers make life good.
Damaris Coulter is the co-founder of Coco's Cantina and founder of The Realness, an app to find owner-operated eateries.
Pasta Pomodoro
4 cloves garlic
1 small jar of capers, drained (keep brine)
Bunch of organic basil
2 fresh tomatoes
250g dried spaghetti
Tsp of coconut sugar
Good olive oil
Good Parmesan
Roughly chop garlic and capers, then sweat them in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
Add tinned tomatoes and cook on a low heat for a good half an hour.
Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water.
Add brine to season the sauce and a teaspoon of coconut sugar. Then whizz the sauce in a food processor or with a hand whizzer into a reddy-orange colour.
Serve over the pasta with crusty bread and good olive oil on the table.