These are the sisters of maccheroncini. The same cooking advice, including timing, and the same irregularity of shape. They’re first rate with a piquant sauce all’arrabbiata, perfect with any condiment meant to be easily absorbed.

Pennette have a fairly thick, firm shell.  

Serve them cold with diced tuna and even 3 or 4 hours later you’ll note that they’ve lost none of their original flavor or texture.

One of Gianfranco Vissani’s first recipes for the Venerdì di Repubblica magazine was for pennette with baby squid. With that, he also reintroduced to Italian cuisine the long forgotten shallot.