Mushroom Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce

Stuffed calamari with tomato sauce

I've never really been in the habit of publishing starter/appetizer recipes on this blog but I am very much making an exception for this tantalizing and incredibly tasty little creation. I devised and first published this recipe around 15 years ago and managed to salvage it from the site on which it first appeared before that site went out of business. This dish could also be made in larger portions to serve as a main course, perhaps with additional accompaniments such as broccoli.

Ingredients

• 2 cleaned and prepared calamari squid mantles, wings and tentacles*
• 14 ounce (400g) can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
• 1 large garlic clove
• 2 closed cup mushrooms
• Butter for frying
• Salt and pepper
• Freshly chopped parsley to garnish

 *Please note that you can find simple but detailed cleaning and preparation instructions for the calamari in my Dab a la Meunier with Calamari Rings post on my fish and seafood blog.

Method

Put 2 (unmedicated!) wooden toothpicks or cocktail sticks into a small bowl of cold water for 10 minutes to let them soften.

Pour the tomatoes into a small saucepan, season with salt and pepper and put the pan onto a medium heat until the tomatoes start to simmer. Adjust the heat to maintain as gentle as simmer as possible for 10 to 15 minutes, until a lush sauce is effectively formed. Be sure to stir frequently with a wooden spoon.

Calamari wings and tentacles are fried in butter

Melt a little butter in a frying pan and stir fry the calamari wings and tentacles for a couple of minutes. Remove to a holding palate and leave for a few minutes until cool.

Sauteing mushrooms and garlic in butter

Finely dice the mushrooms and peeled garlic clove. Melt a little more butter in your pan and stir fry the mushrooms and garlic for a couple of minutes before finely chopping the calamari wings and tentacles and adding to the pan. Stir well, turn off the heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Stuffed calamari

Very carefully, use the cooled stuffing mix to almost but not quite fill the calamari mantles (bodies). This can either be done with a teaspoon or by hand but be very gentle and do not overfill the cavities. You don't want them to burst during cooking. Use a toothpick/cocktail stick to seal each package as shown in the image above before sitting them gently in the simmering tomato sauce and covering the pan to simmer for 5 minutes.

Lift the calamari from the sauce with a slotted spoon to a small plate or saucer and carefully twist and gently pull the sticks to remove. plate the sauce in a deep serving plate before sitting the calamari on top and garnishing with the chopped parsley to serve.