Stuffed Calamari
SERVES: 4
PREP TIME: 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour
COURSE: Appetizer
"It’s become a tradition that I cook the Feast of Seven Fish for friends on Christmas Eve. But if you know me, I don’t stop at seven. No way. I cook something more like ten or eleven dishes, and this stuffed calamari is always one of them."
—Joe Gurrera
- Joe Gurrera, Citarella's Owner & Original Fishmonger, author of JOE KNOWS FISH
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons plus ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 8 small white mushroom trimmed, cut into ¼-inch pieces
- 8 (4- to 6-inch) whole calamari (bodies and tentacles), cleaned
- ½ cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- Sea salt to taste
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1½ cups marinara sauce store-bought or homemade
- Chopped chives for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes, or until slightly tender. Set aside in a medium bowl.
- Heat another teaspoon of the oil in the pan and sauté the calamari tentacles for 3 minutes. Let the tentacles cool and chop them into ½-inch pieces.
- Add the tentacles to the bowl with the sautéed mushrooms, the breacrumbs, the remaining ¼ cup oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine. The stuffing mixture should be moist.
- Using your fingers, stuff the body of each calamari with the mushroom mixture, being careful not to pack it too tightly. Thread a toothpick through the open end of each calamari to keep it closed.
- Cover the bottom of an 8 by 10-inch baking dish with 1 cup of marinara sauce and place the calamari snugly in the dish.
- Top with the remaining marinara sauce and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove the toothpicks before serving.
- Sprinkle with chopped chives for garnish if desired.
The dish reheats well the next day: cover the baking dish with foil and heat the calamari in a 350°F preheated oven for 15 minutes.
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VIDEO RECIPE: HOW TO MAKE STUFFED CALAMARI
Citarella owner Joe Gurrera shows you how easy it is to make this extremely impressive dish: calamari stuffed with sauteed mushrooms and prepared with marinara sauce. This recipe is a staple for Joe's Christmas Eve Feast of 7 Fish dinner.
