Silvia Colloca's Neapolitan seafood pasta salad. Vongole, mussels, squid and prawns steamed open with white wine, tossed cold through wagon wheel pasta with olives and good olive oil. Summer holiday food along the Amalfi coast, made for sharing from a single big bowl.

This sits in the broader Italian insalata di mare repertoire (the seafood salads that line every coastal restaurant menu from Liguria down to Sicily), here transposed onto a pasta base. The shellfish are cooked separately from the pasta and combined cold; the residual cooking liquid is reduced and used as part of the dressing, capturing all the seafood essence in concentrated form.

Wagon wheels (ruote) are the playful Italian pasta shape that suits cold pasta salads perfectly. The spokes catch small pieces of seafood and olive in their gaps; the central hub holds dressing; the round, flat shape means each piece sits evenly on the plate rather than rolling around. Substitute conchiglie or large fusilli if you can't find wagon wheels.

The ice-bath shock on the pasta is the critical technique. The pasta cooked to al dente, then plunged immediately into ice water to stop the cooking and lock in the firm texture; pasta that finishes cooling in air goes soft and pasty. The shellfish stocks reduced together and emulsified with extra virgin olive oil into a sauce that coats the pasta and the seafood. Parsley, lemon zest, black pepper to finish. Serve cold or at room temperature, never hot. A glass of Falanghina alongside.