Mountain Cat
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- Joined
- 12 Apr 2019
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- Location
- Hilltowns of Massachusetts
- Website
- goatsandgreens.wordpress.com
There’s definitely a surplus of sauce in this upcoming recipe. Not a bad thing, but just take note. I’ve reserved mine, but you can use it at the same meal by serving it over whatever you prefer to consume as noodles — gluten-free, Paleo, or regular...
Are we Stuffed?? — Fill, but don’t overfill, compacting is a bad idea. Oh, the sauce goes on top for baking…
Here’s the stuffing!! Open up, here we come!
I used calamari bodies (“tubes”) about 4-6 inches long — the longer the better. Try to get an equal number of tentacles at the same time. (Unless you are squeamish about them.)
My squid stuffing mise en place, & prepped up, along with the squid bodies. (Seasoning and spices separate.)
Mine were already pretty much cleaned up — but if you have to clean them from scratch yourself, do reserve the ink for another dish. You can often find squid bodies at good supermarkets and fish shops.
So, let’s begin, assuming you have your squid body tubes and some tentacles.
Prep Time: 20 minutes, as some can occur while other parts are cooking
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Rest Time: Nada
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as appetizers.
BAKED STUFFED SQUID WITH ONION, MUSHROOM, SPINACH, SERVED IN A TOMATO SAUCE
Squid and Stuffing:
4 squid bodies, preferably 4-6 inches long (6 being better), cleaned, heads and tentacles removed, side fins removed.
Tentacles and side fins from above, diced into small pieces.
A little pat or two of butter.
1 small-medium onion, diced.
2 large baby bella mushrooms (or 4 normal-sized button mushrooms), diced.
5 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained through a sieve. (This is one half of a 10 ounce pack.)
1 medium sized bulb of Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke) OR about 3 water chestnuts, OR a quarter stalk of celery, diced.
1 large clove garlic, smashed. Add more at your discretion.
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder — adjust to taste
salt and pepper to taste.
For the Tomato Sauce:
10 ounces tomato sauce (preferably home-made, but find one with healthy ingredients sold in glass jars otherwise — some commercial ones have that horrid metallic taste and have lots of sugar added…)
Excess stuffing material from above.
1/2 teaspoon basil, or better yet, several fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped.
Up to 1/2 teaspoon more oregano
Up to 1/2 teaspoon more chipotle powder — adjust to taste
salt and pepper (and more garlic) to taste.
To Prepare:
Pre-heat oven to 375F.
Saute the onions in the butter, mid heat range until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and cook for another five, or until the mushrooms are cooked through. Add the drained spinach and saute in all the spices, another five minutes. Remove from heat.
Add the tentacle and fin pieces, and the Jerusalem artichoke/water chestnut/celery option — this will provide a little crunch. Mix together.
Stuff your cleaned squid bodies. You will have more stuffing material than you need, not to worry. Use 2-4 teaspoons worth and DO NOT OVERSTUFF — squid will shrink when cooking. You may need to use a narrow blunt object to push some stuffing down to the tail end of some of your squid if you have six-inch calamari bodies. Anyhow, judge by the amount of “stuffiness” I have in the below photo.
Use toothpicks to close the open ends of the squid bodies.
Make the tomato sauce for the calamari… add the sauce to remaining stuffing, and add additional spices from the list above. Mix.
Pour over the calamari, and place in oven. Cook at 375 F for 35 minutes.
Remove and serve. I reserved the extra sauce for future cooking ventures, but an ideal thing would be to prep up some noodle-ish things, and serve the sauce AND the stuffed calamari over the top.
I didn’t do that, because this ended up being my brunch on a rather busy and distracted Sunday!
One of the smaller squid, after being cooked. Just a mild amount of the tomato sauce on top. Add as much as you want! And, served over noodles if desired!
One final note: If you have leftover stuffed squid for a future date – DO NOT NUKE THEM IN A MICROWAVE. This will be Messy to say the least. (No, I didn’t try to do this — I rather figure this to be something no one wants to clean up after…) I was fine with re-heating in the oven at 375 F for about ten minutes.
Are we Stuffed?? — Fill, but don’t overfill, compacting is a bad idea. Oh, the sauce goes on top for baking…
Here’s the stuffing!! Open up, here we come!
I used calamari bodies (“tubes”) about 4-6 inches long — the longer the better. Try to get an equal number of tentacles at the same time. (Unless you are squeamish about them.)
My squid stuffing mise en place, & prepped up, along with the squid bodies. (Seasoning and spices separate.)
Mine were already pretty much cleaned up — but if you have to clean them from scratch yourself, do reserve the ink for another dish. You can often find squid bodies at good supermarkets and fish shops.
So, let’s begin, assuming you have your squid body tubes and some tentacles.
Prep Time: 20 minutes, as some can occur while other parts are cooking
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Rest Time: Nada
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as appetizers.
BAKED STUFFED SQUID WITH ONION, MUSHROOM, SPINACH, SERVED IN A TOMATO SAUCE
Squid and Stuffing:
4 squid bodies, preferably 4-6 inches long (6 being better), cleaned, heads and tentacles removed, side fins removed.
Tentacles and side fins from above, diced into small pieces.
A little pat or two of butter.
1 small-medium onion, diced.
2 large baby bella mushrooms (or 4 normal-sized button mushrooms), diced.
5 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained through a sieve. (This is one half of a 10 ounce pack.)
1 medium sized bulb of Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke) OR about 3 water chestnuts, OR a quarter stalk of celery, diced.
1 large clove garlic, smashed. Add more at your discretion.
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder — adjust to taste
salt and pepper to taste.
For the Tomato Sauce:
10 ounces tomato sauce (preferably home-made, but find one with healthy ingredients sold in glass jars otherwise — some commercial ones have that horrid metallic taste and have lots of sugar added…)
Excess stuffing material from above.
1/2 teaspoon basil, or better yet, several fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped.
Up to 1/2 teaspoon more oregano
Up to 1/2 teaspoon more chipotle powder — adjust to taste
salt and pepper (and more garlic) to taste.
To Prepare:
Pre-heat oven to 375F.
Saute the onions in the butter, mid heat range until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and cook for another five, or until the mushrooms are cooked through. Add the drained spinach and saute in all the spices, another five minutes. Remove from heat.
Add the tentacle and fin pieces, and the Jerusalem artichoke/water chestnut/celery option — this will provide a little crunch. Mix together.
Stuff your cleaned squid bodies. You will have more stuffing material than you need, not to worry. Use 2-4 teaspoons worth and DO NOT OVERSTUFF — squid will shrink when cooking. You may need to use a narrow blunt object to push some stuffing down to the tail end of some of your squid if you have six-inch calamari bodies. Anyhow, judge by the amount of “stuffiness” I have in the below photo.
Use toothpicks to close the open ends of the squid bodies.
Make the tomato sauce for the calamari… add the sauce to remaining stuffing, and add additional spices from the list above. Mix.
Pour over the calamari, and place in oven. Cook at 375 F for 35 minutes.
Remove and serve. I reserved the extra sauce for future cooking ventures, but an ideal thing would be to prep up some noodle-ish things, and serve the sauce AND the stuffed calamari over the top.
I didn’t do that, because this ended up being my brunch on a rather busy and distracted Sunday!
One of the smaller squid, after being cooked. Just a mild amount of the tomato sauce on top. Add as much as you want! And, served over noodles if desired!
One final note: If you have leftover stuffed squid for a future date – DO NOT NUKE THEM IN A MICROWAVE. This will be Messy to say the least. (No, I didn’t try to do this — I rather figure this to be something no one wants to clean up after…) I was fine with re-heating in the oven at 375 F for about ten minutes.