So it would seem Sophia Loren and I have something in common: alas it's not staggering good looks. No, it's a love of spaghetti.

If I’m honest, I love pasta full stop. Personal favourites include penne, bucatini, pici, trofie, orecchiette and of course spaghetti and, when paired with the right sauce, they all make a perfect lunchtime meal. You know what? In my next life I’m so coming back as an Italian, better looks, better food, the best bikes in the world, clothes . . .

Riding 70kms a day with my daily commute, I eat quite a bit for lunch, so this Laziali delight is perfect for replenishing my calorific needs. Attenzione, here's one of preferred combinations: Spaghetti alla Puttanesca.

This tangy tomato-based sauce is very easy to prepare, doesn’t cost much and is flippin’ tasty. I’m not one for following recipes, so measurements are not really included here. I cook from the heart and it generally works out. Okay, so the time I used self-raising flour in a pizza base doesn’t count.

In a nice big pan bring your salted water to a rolling boil and add the pasta, ensuring that it gets completely submerged. Cook until al dente, say 8-9 minutes.

In another pan, heat up a good glug or two of extra virgin olive oil and sauté a sliced garlic clove, a pinch of chilli flakes, a chopped anchovy fillet (optional), a generous handful of halved cherry tomatoes and cook for five minutes. Once broken down, add some rinsed capers (I love these little salty fellas), a few chopped black olives and finish with enough passata (sieved tomatoes) to just envelope the whole lot into a sauce.

A flourish of chopped flat leaf parsley and you’re done. Now, and only now, check for seasoning, some black pepper and very little if any salt.

Admittedly I have a slightly unconventional way of taking lunch to work. Once the pasta is cooked, I drain and cool before placing into a sports water bottle that goes on my bike. The sauce? I vac-pack, seal and slide into my cycling jersey before heading off to work. How you take yours is, of course, up to you. Tupperware perhaps?

It’s only at lunchtime once heated in the microwave do I combine pasta and sauce and sit down to a tasty feast.

Anything missing? A glass of Chianti would be nice but apparently there are rules against this sort of thing: plus I’m still missing Sophia’s good looks. Mamma mia!