A Delicious Pasta Called Calamari - from Gragnano, Italy

For my birthday, my wonderful sister gave me two pastas I had never tried - Calamari and Elicoidali. Both of these pastas are from an Italian town called Gragnano, which is located near the Amalfi Coast between Pompeii and Sorrento. Pasta from Gragnano is made differently than other pasta. Since bronze rather than teflon dies are used to form the pasta, it has a rougher texture and holds sauce better than other pastas. The pasta is dried at low temperatures for two days. This supposedly gives it a nuttier aroma and chewier feel. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gragnano#Pasta) My palate is not sophisticated enough to detect that. All I know is that it is delicious!!

Last night, I tried the Calamari pasta using a recipe I found at http://www.levoni.it/en/doc-s-52-249-1-gratinated_paccheri_di_gragnano_with_sausage,_aubergines_ad_olives.aspx, The ingredients in the sauce were sausage, tomatoes, onion, garlic, eggplant, and basil. It was easy to prepare and was terrific.

Calamari pasta

The pasta my sister gave me is produced by a coop called Coop Pastai Gragnanesi. It is available at Amazon.com for $6.99 a package.