angelobiondo.com

By: Angelo Biondo

 

Growing up as a kid, times were tough – the effects of the Great Depression left many scares and we were in the middle of World War II, food, gas, tires and a whole lot of necessities of life were rationed and people made do with what they had or improvised.  Victory Gardens were popular supplying hard to get expensive fresh vegetable allowing the hard working patriots a meal as close to gourmet as they can get.

 

Calamari, (squid), a favorite among Italians and Orientals at that time was scoffed by other nationalities and very cheap to buy.  Back then, the markets were almost giving it away.  Today the tides have turned. Calamari has become a popular appetizer in almost any restaurant from the local family restaurant to five star gourmet restaurants.  Naturally, the cost has been affected as well.  

 

I was recently asked if I had any calamari recipes and came up with a few that should satisfy the taste of most people, starting with the most popular appetizer variety on the menu of many restaurants today.

 

Since the cleaning is essential to all recipes, I’ll explain that process first.  You may be able to find fresh calamari at your local fish market or fresh seafood department of your local super markets, however you are more likely to find it in the frozen food section.  Since the cleaning process is such a hassle most store now carry the flash frozen cleaned and sliced variety. 

 

Being kind of fussy I like to know my diner has been processed properly, especially if that item is going to be stuffed.  I prefer to clean these foods myself, and calamari is one of them - a process I must say is not for the squeamish.  If you find a place to purchase fresh calamari consider yourself fortunate.  However you are more likely to find the frozen variety.  If you do buy fresh all you need do is take it home and follow the directions below.  If you are using the frozen variety let them first thaw out thoroughly in the refrigerator over night.

 

Calamari come frozen in several varieties:

• Whole – Complete with the heads and innards intact.
• Whole – Cleaned, with the tentacles and tubular body separated 
• Sliced – The tubular body portion is sliced into thin rings, with tentacles separate 
• Sliced – The tubular body sliced into rings sans the tentacles 

In our recipes we are interested in only the top two afore mentioned with the first selection being the most preferable.

 

To clean the fresh calamari:

1.    Separate the tentacles from the body by severing the tentacles just below the eye section, leaving that portion with just the tentacles.

2.    Turn the tentacle section over exposing the hard beak and remove same by pressing gently from behind and pulling the beak off. (set aside)

3.    Remove the fins and spotted membrane covering the tubular body. Save the fins

4.    Remove the interior cartilaginous skeleton by inserting your fore finger or small spoon in to the tubular body and removing the innards, making sure to remove everything from inside and rinse out the inside under running cold water .  If you are gentle enough you can invert (turn inside out) the body and rinse thoroughly under cold running water   Be careful not to split the body

5.    Repeat this process for each of the calamari, placing them in a bowl of ice as they are cleaned.

 

When served as an appetizer, calamari can be served with a garnish or dip of many varieties.  I like to serve them right from the frying pan, with a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice. Or serve them with a nice Jalapeno cheese dip. 

 

Jalapeno are an extremely hot pepper, but you can control the heat factor.  You should wear rubber gloves when handling and preparing hot peppers, the acid in the seed sac or membrane tends to burn tender skin or minor cuts. The hot spiciness of the pepper is contained in the seed sac and membrane of the pepper and depending on how well you clean out the seed sac and membrane determine the heat factor or spiciness when consumed.  Knowing this little tid-bit of trivia allows you to control just how hot you want your recipe to be.  If you are looking for flavor only then remove all the seeds and membrane, you will be surprised on how mild the pepper will taste.  Or if you don’t care to have any spiciness at all then substitute the Jalapenos with sweet banana peppers, etc.

 

Roasted Jalapeno Cheese Dip

 

Ingredients:

4 to 6 fresh jalapeno peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)

¼ C White sharp cheddar cheese, (cubed)

¼ C Chardonnay or juice from 1 lemon
¼ tsp sea salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper (fresh ground - to taste)

 

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350^o F  
• Place cleaned jalapeno peppers in a small pan and roast in over broiler for 10 to 15 minutes or until soft and slightly browned. 
• Remove and let cool 
• Place jalapeno peppers, garlic and cheese cubes into a food processor and puree until smooth. 
• Add the mayonnaise or miracle whip, sea salt, black pepper, chardonnay or lemon juice. 
• Blend until smooth, about 10 to 15 seconds.  
• Sauce is ready to serve, but can be heated and served warm if desired. 

 

Grandma DeGeorge’s fried calamari recipe:

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh calamari (squid)

1 C all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper (freshly ground)

4 cloves of garlic – (minced) or

½ tsp garlic powder (alternate)

¾ C olive oil (cooking variety is fine)

2 lemons – (fresh, cut into slices) and/or

Jalapeno cheese dip

 

Directions: 

• Slice the tubular bodies of the calamari into rings ¼” to ¾” sections,  I prefer the thicker sections as it seems to enhance the flavor. 
• Set the calamari rings and the tentacles into separate containers over ice and set aside. 
• In a large zip-lock baggie, mix the flour, garlic, salt and pepper and set aside. An improvement from my grand-mothers time when she had to use a brown paper bag. 
• Pour the ¾ C olive oil into a large skillet and heat over a medium flame 
• Strain and dry the calamari rings and place a handful into the flour mixture.  Shake well until all rings are fully coated.  
• Empty contents of zip-lock bag into a colander and shake out excess flour over a dish, leaving the flour coated calamari rings. 
• Dump flour mixture back into zip-lock bag 
• Fry calamari rings turning often until they are a golden brown 
• While frying rings, line a baking pan with paper towels and pre-heat oven to its lowest warming temperature. 
• Remove the browned rings from frying pan an place in paper towel lined baking pan, place in oven to keep warm until the frying process is completed. 
• Repeat the flour coating and frying process until all the calamari rings are fried, then repeat the process for the tentacles. 
• Serve with your favorite dip, lemon garnish or try the Jalapeno dip recipe included in this article.

Another method to serve calamari is stuffed.  When serving stuffed calamari as a main entree, a larger variety is usually desired and is often mistaken by another species of squid, the cuttlefish.  Cuttlefish are larger by nature with a wider body and shorter tentacles.  They have a white elongated oval shaped bone instead of the clear cellophane like membrane of the calamari.  This white bone is used commercially for a variety of applications we won’t get into here.  The stocky wider body of the cuttlefish makes it ideal to use with stuffed calamari recipes and makes it an ideal alternative.

 

 

The Cuttlefish: Cuttlefish common name applied to cephalopod mollusks that have 10 tentacles, or arms, 8 of which have muscular suction cups on their inner surface and 2 that are longer and can shoot out for grasping prey, and a reduced internal shell embedded in the enveloping mantle. The body is short, broad, and flattened. Cuttlefish are carnivorous and excellent at capturing prey with their arms.squids , but like the squids cuttlefish have lateral fins used as stabilizers and for steering and propulsion. They swim by jet propulsion, forcibly expelling water through a siphon. During the day they lie buried in the bottom of the ocean; at night they swim and hunt for food.

Although good swimmers, they are not as fast as the related

Except for the squid genus Loligo, cuttlefish have the best cephalopod eyes, which are highly complex. When disturbed, cuttlefish eject a cloud of dark brown ink from an ink sac for protection. The ink gland and ink sac are specializations of the rectal gland. The ink is composed mostly of melanin. All cuttlefish are dioecious, i.e., the sexes are separate.^[1]

 

The Squid or Calamari: The common squid is a carnivorous mollusk belonging to the same class as the nautilus, cuttlefish, and octopus.  The squid has a large head and a relatively large brain. Its body, stiffened by an interior cartilaginous skeleton, is spherical or cigar-shaped, with two lateral fins. Around the mouth are eight sucker-bearing arms and two contractile tentacles with spatulate tips; on the latter are four rows of suction cups encircled by rings of chitinous (horny) hooks. The contractile tentacles, longer than the rest, are used to seize the prey and pass it to the shorter arms, which hold it to be torn by strong jaws shaped like a parrot’s beak. Squid can swim faster than any other invertebrate by rapidly expelling water from the mantle cavity through the ³funnel,² which can be turned to direct movement. Many deep-sea squid are bioluminescent. They shoot out a cloud of dark ink when pursued; one genus secretes luminescent ink. 

In the male squid, one smaller arm is modified for the purpose of planting a packet of sperm (a spermatophore) in the female’s oviduct. In some squid, such as the common squid of the east North Atlantic coast, the sperm can also be deposited in a vesicle below the female’s mouth; the spermatophore, already opened by the male, releases the sperm as the eggs are produced. The females fasten their eggs to seaweed or to the ocean bottom by a viscous filament. The eggs of deep-water squid are free-floating. 

Squid species vary greatly in size. The common squid of the east North Atlantic coast is 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18 in) long, and the giant squid, at least 18 m (60 ft) long, is the largest aquatic invertebrate. It lives at depths of 300 to 600 m (985 to 1970 ft), where it is the prey of sperm whales. Scientific classification: Squid belong to the order Teuthoidea of the class Cephalopoda. Squid that secrete luminescent ink are classified in the genus Heteroteuthis of the family Sepiolidae. The common squid of the east North Atlantic coast belongs to the family Loliginidae and is classified as Loligo vulgaris. The giant squid is classified in the genus Architeuthis of the family Architeuthidae.^[2] 

 

So now that we know the difference, here are a couple of good “Stuffed Calamari” recipes I think you will find to your liking – enjoy!

 

I grew up in the years following the Great Depression and WWII.  Times were tough and rationing was still in place.  People had victory gardens to supplement their food supply and everyone was looking for bargains.  My Grandmother was no exception and calamari was cheap.  She used to cook calamari in a variety of ways, and one of my favorites was stuffed, cooked in a tomato base and served over linguine.  As I have stated before, she never used a written recipe, she came from the “Little of this and a little of that” school, so once again I’ve done my best to put numbers to the recipe.

 

 

Stuffed Calamari

This recipe calls for fairly large calamari or cuttlefish about 6” to 8” inch tube section.  It can be used as a main entre or served over pasta (linguine) with a nice loaf of hot garlic bread coupled with a nice Caesar salad or anti-pasta.

 

Ingredients

8 - 10 large squid (calamari or cuttlefish)

1 pound Ricotta cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup grated Romano Pecorino, or Parmesan cheese

1 egg

¼ C finely chopped fresh parsley

¼  tsp salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper (freshly ground - to taste)

¼ tsp oregano (Pinch)

¼ C all-purpose flour

½ C Chardonnay (or good white wine)*

2 cans (28-ounce) crushed tomatoes

¾ C olive oil (for frying)

 

Directions: 

• Remove tentacles, fins and spotted membrane from body of squid. 
• Clean out the tubular body of squid.  
• Remove eyes and beak from tentacle part of squid. 
• Boil tentacles and fins for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and let cool 
• Chop tentacles and fins finely to mix with stuffing.  
• In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, egg, cheese, parsley, chopped tentacles and fins, salt and pepper.  
• Stuff squid with cheese mixture closing each end with a toothpick.  
• After stuffed, dredge in flour. 
• Heat the oil in large pan and sauté squid until brown on all sides.  
• Remove from pan. 
• Drain oil from pan, add garlic and Chardonnay 
• Bring mixture to a boil, and turn heat down and let simmer until volume is reduced to half.   
• Add tomatoes, salt pepper, and oregano, bring to a boil and cook for 10 more minutes. 
• Place squid In roasting pan cover with the tomatoes and cover pan with foil, 
• Bake in a preheated 350^o F oven for 20 minutes.  
• Remove from oven, sprinkle with parmesan and serve.  

 

Grandma DeGeorge’s Stuffed Calamari

 

Ingredients

8 - 10 large squid (calamari or cuttlefish)

4 Tbsp olive oil

½ C Italian bread crumbs

½ C All-purpose flour (for dredging)

½ C olive oil (for cooking)

4 cloves garlic, (fresh minced)

1 Tsp fresh oregano, crumbled

1 Tbsp parsley, (fresh minced)

¼ tsp salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper, (freshly ground)

¼ C Pecorino-Romano cheese, (freshly grated)

2 C of your favorite tomato sauce

1 lb linguine

(If you need a tomato sauce recipe I’ve included one at the end of this article)

 

Directions:

• Remove the tentacles and fins and set aside. 
• Clean the body of the squid and remove the spotted membrane covering the body. 
• In a bowl mix the bread crumbs, garlic, 2 Tbs olive oil, oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper.  
• Gently stuff the squid with the bread crumbs, (don’t over fill). 
• Close the end by gently weaving a toothpick, metal squewer threw or sewing the opening shut  (This recipe does not use a binder ie: egg, etc. in the filling and will fall out if not careful) 
• Keep any leftover bread crumbs.  
• Roll (dredge) stuffed calamari in flour and place to side (remove all excess flour) 
• Add the ½ C olive oil to a skillet large enough to hold all calamari and heat.  
• Brown calamari on all side and then; 
• Gently transfer the stuffed calamari to a sauce pan to finish cooking. 
• Place sauce pan containing calamari over a medium heat. 
• Pour the tomato sauce over the calamari and bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat and let simmer in covered sauce pan over a low heat for 30 minutes  
• Be careful to not stir the calamari too much so as not to disturb the filling anymore than necessary 
• Turn the heat to low and gently stir in any remaining breadcrumbs.  
• Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the Pecorino-Romano cheese. 
• Serve over a bed of linguine

Serves 4 

 

 

Grandma DeGeorge’s Broiled Stuffed Cuttlefish or Calamari

4 large whole Cuttlefish
4 cloves garlic (minced)
½ C onions (finely chopped)
½ C Pecorino-Romano cheese, (freshly grated)

1 green pepper, (roasted and diced)l
½ C Italian bread crumbs
¼ tsp Sea Salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
2 tbsp olive oil (for cooking)

 

Directions: 

• Sauté the onions and garlic in the 2 tbsp of olive oil using a small skillet until soft and translucent.  
• Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.  
• In a medium size bowl, combine cheese, roasted pepper, and bread crumbs.  
• Mix in the onion and garlic.  
• Stuff each of the cuttlefish or calamari with the filling until nice and plump   
• Close the open end with a toothpick or metal skewer (a clean 3” 6 penny nail works great) 
• Baste each the cuttlefish or calamari with a little of the oil used to sauté the onions to prevent from sticking while broiling. 
• Broil each tube for 2-3 minutes on each side, 
• Cut each tube into 4 or 5 nice pieces using a French or angle cut.
• Using the Jalapeno sauce included above or your favorite dipping sauce, spoon a generous amount over the top and serve..

 

Stuffed Calamari and Linguine

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds calamari (fresh or frozen and cleaned)

2 cans tomatoes (28 oz crushed + 1 can of water) 

4 cloves of garlic (chopped)

¼ tsp sea salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper (fresh ground - to taste)

½ C Pecorino-Romano or Parmesan cheese (freshly grated of your choice

2 tsp Old Bay seasoning  

Stuffing Ingredients

4 C Italian bread crumbs

¹/₈ C fresh parsley (chopped)

¼ C of grated cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Oil (enough to moisten mixture)

1 clove garlic (minced)  

1 C milk

1 egg

 

Instructions:  

• After removing the tentacles and cleaning the calamari 
• Remove the fins and spotted membrane covering the calamari setting the fins aside, 
• Prepare your tomato sauce and allow to simmer while you finsh preparing the stuffing  
• In a large bowl, combine 4 C Italian bread crumbs, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 cup of milk, and 1 egg. 
• Add the cheese of your choice and the chopped tentacles and fins.  
• Mix thoroughly until a thick moist mixture emerges. (add more milk if necessary). 
• Fill each of the calamari being careful not to over stuff.  
• Place each of the stuffed calamari in a lightly oiled casserole, layering if necessary. 
• Spray or drizzle the stuffed calamari with olive oil. 
• Sprinkle with the grated cheese of choice and cover calamari with the tomato sauce, covering the entirely. 
• Cover casserole with foil and or lid and place in oven pre-heated to 450^o F. 
• Bake casserole for 1 hour or until calamari pierce easily with a fork 
• Remove from oven.  Can be served as a main entree, or over linguine.  

 

Basic Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

 

Ingredients

½ C onion, (chopped)

2-4 cloves garlic, (to taste - minced)

2 Tbsp olive oil

15 oz can tomato puree (+ 1 can of water)

1 large can whole tomatoes, (un-drained & crushed - optional)

6 oz can tomato paste (+ 3 cans of water)

1 large bay leaf

½ tsp basil

¼ tsp oregano (crushed)

2 Tbsp Parmesan or Pecorino-Romano cheese, (freshly grated)

1 tsp sea salt (to taste)

¼ tsp black pepper (freshly ground)

 

Directions: 

• Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to a large sauce pan and sauté chopped onions and garlic until translucent 
• Add tomato puree, and paste plus the water. 
• Add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, oregano, cheese, salt and pepper and stir thoroughly 
• Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. 
• Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer until reduced in volume by 1/3. 
• Sauce is ready to use with your favorite pasta or recipe.  

 

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