Calamarata

Wide pasta rings cooked with squid rings cut to the same size.

Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains shellfish.

Ingredients

• 400 g calamarata pasta
• 600 g squid, cleaned
• 400 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 1 dried chilli
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• parsley
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

Method

1. CUT THE SQUID BODIES INTO RINGS THE SAME WIDTH AS THE PASTA, about 1 cm. The dish is the resemblance — on the plate you cannot tell which rings are which until you bite one, and that is the whole joke and the reason the pasta exists.
2. Warm the oil with the garlic and chilli, then add the squid rings and tentacles.
3. COOK THE SQUID 2 MINUTES, THEN LIFT IT OUT. Squid is tender for the first two minutes and then tough for the next forty; leaving it in while the sauce cooks ruins it.
4. Add the wine to the pan and let it go, then the tomatoes, and cook 15 minutes until they collapse.
5. Boil the pasta — these rings are thick and want the full packet time, which is usually 15 minutes.
6. Finish the pasta in the sauce with a ladle of its water, then return the squid for the last 30 SECONDS only, to warm through.
7. Parsley, and no cheese.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes