Named for its uncanny resemblance to rings of squid, Calamarata is the Neapolitan shape that has sent more than one dinner guest hunting for the calamari. Thick, generous rings with a satisfying heft to them.

Egisto Grilli's Calamarata is made in Italy from durum wheat semolina, pushed through bronze dies and then slow-dried at low temperature. The bronze leaves a rough, chalky surface on every ring, and the slow drying protects the flavour of the wheat — the two things that separate artisan pasta from the supermarket kind.

Cooked, the rings stay pleasingly firm with a proper al dente bite, and that porous surface holds on to sauce rather than letting it slide off. The flavour is clean and wheaty, a quiet backbone for whatever you pair it with.

It is at its best with a seafood ragù of calamari and prawns, cooked down with cherry tomatoes, garlic and a splash of white wine, then finished with parsley.