If you love the combination of seafood and meat in one dish, this recipe is for you. Regularly, for the stuffing I would take quite fatty pork, but since during the fall and winter our summer clothes seems to have significantly shrunk in the closets, I temporarily replace fatty pork with leaner chicken or turkey. But you can take pork, beef or any combination of meats you like.
You will need:
- 3-4 large squid tubes or 7-8 medium ones (about 1.5 lb total)
Stuffing:
- About 2/3 lb ground chicken or turkey (I prefer to grind it myself)
- ½ medium sized onion, grated or pulsed in a food processor or finely chopped
- 2 handfuls of spinach leaves
- ½ tsp salt or more to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp toasted fennel seeds
- a handful of panko or other breadcrumbs
Sauce:
- ¼ medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup semi-dry white wine or red/white vermouth
- 10-11 oz tomato puree
- About 1/3 cup chicken , vegetable stock or water
- Salt, to taste
- 2-3 fresh marjoram sprigs, leaves only (can be replaced with fresh oregano)
- 1-2 Tbsp oil
- Hot red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
- 1 15oz can of great northern beans or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
I buy squid tubes in HT Market, Ranch 99 or Uwajimaya, frozen seafood aisle. They usually come already cleaned with fins removed. All you need to do is defrost them, either slowly in the fridge or quickly in cold water. Fill the sink with cold water and put squids into it right in a package. In an hour or so, take the squids out of the package and wash under running cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Check the inside and remove cuttlebone, if any left, which looks like a long thin piece of transparent plastic.
For the stuffing, blanch spinach in hot water for several seconds, transfer to cold water, take out and gently squeeze the water out. Chop coarsely. Combine together ground chicken or turkey, ground/grated onion, spinach, salt, black pepper, fennel seeds and mix well.
Stuff the squid tubes. Generally, squids and meat stuffing both shrink during cooking, but since it’s not quite clear which of the two will shrink more, it is safe not to overstuff squids and leave some space at the open end. Secure the openings with toothpicks.
For the sauce, heat oil in a wide pan. Add onions and sauté on a medium high heat until they become translucent and only start getting some color. Add garlic and a bay leaf and sauté for another half minute. Pour in wine or vermouth and let it boil down until almost nothing of it left in the pan. Add tomato puree, water or stock and beans*, if using. Season with salt and bring to a simmer. Spice the sauce up with some hot pepper flakes if you feel like it.
Put the squids into the pan, cover with a lid, reduce the heat to low and cook about 45-60 minutes. Since the squids are not completely submerged in the sauce, turn them over several times to ensure even cooking and baste their tops with the sauce every now and then.
When the squids have become very tender, add marjoram or oregano leaves to the sauce and remove the pan from the heat. Let the squids rest about 7-10 minutes. Before serving, remove the toothpicks by holding the the squids in place with tongs and pulling the toothpicks out with your fingers or another pair of tongs.
If the squids are large, slice them before serving. If they are medium sized, serve whole, 1 or 2 per person. If using beans, ladle the sauce with beans on a plate, arrange the quid(s) on top, pour with a bit more sauce and finish with a handful of arugula.
If you’re not using beans, serve the squid(s) on top of simmered Israeli couscous (aka pearl couscous and ptitim), generously drizzle with the sauce and top with baby arugula tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.
*Acidic tomato sauce doesn’t let cooked beans become mushy even after an hour of cooking. However, if your beans are already too tender, add them to the pot about 10 minute before the end of cooking.
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