Italian Calamarata Pasta (calamari & tomato sauce)

Italian Calamarata Pasta is a classic Neapolitan-style pasta featuring succulent calamari bathed in a light tomato sauce. The thick ringed Calamarata pasta takes its name after its shape resembling calamari rings.

This specific shape – often paired with calamari or squid – catches the sauce and the calamari adds a light and briny flavor. I must confess that this authentic Italian dish is one of my favorite seafood pasta recipe and it is rather easy to make!

Why you will love this recipe

– This seafood pasta recipe requires 5 ingredients only and comes together in less than 40 minutes.

– You will learn with this recipe how a specific pasta shape better enhance the sauce you are making.

– It is a well balanced mediterranean style meal with carb, lean protein and vegetables.

What is calamarata?

Calamarata is a pasta shape that resembles calamari or squid rings. It is made using durum wheat semolina flour, and consists of short and thick rings. It is an extruded pasta, therefore it is a dry pasta type and cannot be made by hand. This type of pasta originated from Southern Italy, in the city of Naples.

The shape of calamarata resembles the longer paccheri pasta, which also originates from the Campania region.

In Italy you can find this pasta in the aisle of the supermarket. Elsewhere it is more rare and you can find it in some specialty stores that carry a good assortment of Italian products.

Calamarata Pasta Ingredients and variations

Pasta: the best shape for this unique pasta is calamarata. If you cannot find it, go for mezzi paccheri, rigatoni, or mezzi rigatoni. it is better in general to pair this recipe with a short-tube pasta shape.

Calamari rings: Calamari is the Italian word for squid. It is lightly sweet and absorbs the other rich flavors of the dish. I always go for fresh calamari. I buy the whole calamari and cut it in rings, adding as well the tentacles to the recipe. You could sub it with frozen squid ring.

Cherry or Vine tomatoes: definitely better with fresh tomatoes, this pasta can be done all year lomng using canned cherry tomatoes. Prefer a high quality brand.

Chili Pepper: a little bit of heat makes this recipe pops. Souther Italian recipes always include a bit of peperoncino. You can omit it if you like it.

Garlic. The garlic add a deep, aromatic quintessential Italian flavor.

Extra Virgin Olive oil: a bit of fat blend the flavors together and adds healthy fat.

White wine: choose a dry white wine. It adds a briny flavor and deglazes the pan, so that all those bits are in the sauce! Sub wine with broth of lemon.

Parsley: it adds a touch of freshness to the recipe. You can sub it with fresh basil in the summer season.

Tomato paste: it adds a deep flavor to the sauce.

Sea salt: use coarse sea slat to add to the pasta water. You will need to handful or 2 teaspoon. DO NOT SKIP IT!

How to make Italian Calamarata Pasta

PREP THE SQUID: Clean the squid by rinsing under cold, running water. Pull the head & tentacles from the body and cut the tentacles from the head, keep these for your dish. Remove the cartilage and anything else remaining in the main body of the squid. Once cleaned cut the body into calamari rings to a similar thickness of the pasta and set aside with the tentacles.

PREP THE PASTA: Bring a large pot of water to boil. When the water reaches rolling boil add 2 tbsp of salt and bring to boil again. the olive oil for about 5 minutes.

MAKE THE SAUCE: Add EVOO to a large frying pan, add minced garlic and chili flakes ( what we call in Italian peperoncino). Let the oil absorb the flavor of the aromas.

After a few minutes add the calamari rings with a pinch of salt and fry until the calamari turns pale white. Add a glass of white wine and let it evaporate.

Once all the alcohol has evaporated, add in the tomatoes and reduce the heat, simmering for around 10-15 minutes until slightly reduced. At this point add 2 teaspoon of tomato paste.

During this time, add in your calamarata pasta to the salted boiling water & cook according to the packet instructions. Remember to check a good 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time to ensure it’s perfectly al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta-water before draining the pasta. Once drained, add to the sauce. Add 2-3 tablespoons of pasta-water and mix for a few more minutes.

Serve immediately sprinkling it with fresh chopped parsley.

MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES FOR YOU

Mussels Spaghetti with Spicy Cherry Tomatoes

Shrimp Scampi Pasta (Italian-Style)

Easy Smoked Salmon Mascarpone Linguine

Pasta with Sardines

Pasta with clams

WHAT TO SERVE WITH CALAMARATA PASTA

This pasta dish works great as weeknight pasta dinner. You can serve it with an appetizer such as Baked Mussels, and with any side dishes such as Little Green Italian Salad, Cabbage Apple Slaw or Roasted Asparagus.

STORING SUGGESTIONS FOR CALAMARATA PASTA

I must confess that I prefer to enjoy this pasta immediately. However, if you have leftovers, store them in an air-tight container and keep in the fridge up to 1 day.

To reheat leftovers, heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan over low-medium heat. Add the leftover pasta and gently separate the pasta in the pan to cook. Place a lid on top of the pan and allow it to reheat, about 2-3 minutes.

Do not freeze.

WHICH WINE TO SERVE WITH ITALIAN CALAMARATA PASTA

Pair this pasta calamarata with a white wine from the Campania region such as Greco di Tufo. Tufo is the Italian name of a porous rock composed of compressed volcanic ash prevalent in the area.

This wine is best when drunk young. It has a taste of white blossom, dried apricot and turned earth aromas. It is a crisp wine astringent at first sip. But it mellows into a palate-coating creaminess and a dry, slightly tannic finish.