Faella - Sedani (500g)

Sedani gets its name from sedano - celery - a reference to the curved, ridged tube shape that vaguely resembles a celery stalk in cross-section. It sits in the middle of the short pasta vocabulary: larger than penne, smaller than rigatoni, with a curve that gives it a slightly unpredictable quality in the bowl. Pieces tumble and settle at different angles, which means the sauce reaches them differently depending on their orientation. That irregularity is part of what makes it interesting to cook with.

Faella has been producing in Gragnano since 1870, when Gaetano Faella founded what would become one of the ten original IGP-certified pasta producers in Italy. The IGP designation - awarded to Gragnano in 2012 and the first of its kind granted to any pasta-producing town by the EU - locks in the methods Faella had been using long before it was required: local Lattari mountain spring water, bronze extrusion dies, and air drying at low temperatures for a minimum number of hours.

The slow drying is particularly important for a shape as thick as Sedani. A pasta this substantial, dried quickly at high heat, loses the structural integrity that keeps it from turning soft in the pot before you've plated it. Faella's minimum 40-hour drying window preserves the protein and starch structure of the durum semolina - which is why the cooked pasta has real bite rather than compliant softness.

The ridges on the outside are a direct product of the bronze extrusion process and substantially increase the surface area available for sauce adhesion. Combined with the hollow tube interior - which fills with liquid sauce components as it cooks - Sedani performs well with preparations that have both a liquid base and solid pieces. Good with sausage and fennel, broccoli and anchovy, or a chunky chicken tomato.

Best for: Sausage and fennel, broccoli and anchovy, chunky vegetable sauces, chicken tomato, ricotta-filled baked pasta.