Today’s Best Italian Recipe is calamari stuffed with red and black, or squid stuffed with a black and liver sauce and a sauce of sweet and sour dried tomatoes, a fish main course which is a tribute to the cuisine of Campania. He proposed it to us Nicola Zambrano, professor of Molecular Biology in the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II, with a passion for sport fishing, horticulture and cooking, especially fish. Nicola, curator and author of a text of recipes and anecdotes collected during the pandemic period, come on Prof. in the kitchen and in the cellar (a group of Federicians united by a sense of belonging to the institution and the desire to share) wrote to us: «I love preparing recipes with what I grow and fish, but when this is not possible I look for what the best my territory can offer.”
Regarding red and black stuffed squid, he explained to us: «Squid is a mollusk that everyone likes, it can be caught everywhere and it is always easily available. With this recipe I wanted to pay homage to ‘O ‘buttunate squid which here in Campania is a cult and every family prepares it in their own way.
At my house, my wife usually cooks it, but this time I was able to prepare it myself and the temptation to add contaminations took over. Tomato? It cannot be missing in the preparation of stuffed squid! So, I developed a thick, sweet and sour sauce with tomatoes preserved in oil, to which I added a delicate apple cider vinegar, in honor of Frederick II, the founder of my university. Federico’s secular, multicultural and eclectic personality in fact gave impetus to Arab customs in the rigid social environments of the Middle Ages; he revitalized at court the use of “scapece”, a well-known vinegar-based preparation, but also allowing the attenuation of the extreme acidity with sweet and sour preparations; in fact, the Free of coquina, of which he was most likely the inspiration, states, regarding the “scapeta”: «If you want to make it sweet and sour, appropriately dose cooked must or sugar. I used chestnut honey, the least sweet and most complex of common honeys. And my taste? Satisfied with the flavor and iodized scent of the sea that only the ink and very fresh squid liver can give. This sauce gives a strong flavor to the dish and allows you not to waste any of the squid.” Nicola concludes his long presentation by talking to us about piperna, a variety of wild thyme present in Ischia, where the plants grow lashed by western winds rich in salt, which gives a very fresh aroma. Ah, there is also a postscript: «My wife at the end of dinner, she said to me: “From now on you will prepare the stuffed squid”».
The recipe: calamari stuffed with red and black
Effort: medium
Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes
Styling and cooking: Joëlle Néderlants
Ingredients for 4 people
For the calamari
- 300 g potatoes
- 200 ml dry white wine
- 20 g cream
- 4 fresh medium calamari
- 2 dried devil’s peppers
- 1 clove of garlic
- Gaeta black olives in brine
- wild thyme (piperna)
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
For the red sauce
- 100 g drained dried tomatoes in oil
- 100 g cream
- 25 ml apple cider vinegar
- honey
- salt
For the black sauce
- 8 black olives in brine
- 4 bags of black
- 4 squid livers
- 1 clove of garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
Method
- To prepare the black sauce, heat a little oil in a pan, flavor it with the garlic clove and add the black sacs and the squid livers, the chopped olives and a little water; cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Filter the sauce through a large mesh strainer and continue cooking over low heat until you reach the desired consistency.
- To prepare the red sauce, transfer the drained cherry tomatoes into the glass of an immersion blender; add the apple cider vinegar and start blending; add 2 tablespoons of honey and, gradually, the cream, adjusting the consistency with the oil from the cherry tomatoes. Season with salt.
- Clean the squid, removing the head with the tentacles and the wings, which you will keep aside for the filling. Also keep the black pouches and livers aside (you can ask your trusted fishmonger to do this operation).
- Cut the potatoes into cubes and soften them in a little boiling water.
- Chop up the wings and tentacles of the squid, keeping a few tufts aside.
- Fry the garlic clove and chillies, cut lengthwise, in a pan with oil; remove the garlic, add the potatoes, well drained and dry, the squid pieces, a sprig of wild thyme and season with salt. Cook until the liquid has almost completely dried out, then add the white wine, let it evaporate and then remove the thyme and mix in the cream.
- Transfer everything into a bowl, flavor with fresh thyme leaves, mash the mixture with a fork, season with salt and let the filling rest.
- Blanch the squid in boiling water for 30 seconds, then cool them immediately in cold water; pierce the apex, if it is not already pierced, with the help of a toothpick. Fill the squid with the filling and close them with a toothpick.
- Brown the stuffed squid in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil for a few minutes, together with the tufts of tentacles kept aside, then place the stuffed squid and the tufts in a baking dish, brush them with oil and cook them in a convection oven at 160°C for 30 minutes.
- Dry about twenty Gaeta black olives in the oven, then chop them to obtain a crumble.
- Brush the plates with the red and black sauces, place a squid cut into 2 or 3 parts on each plate, sprinkle with the olive crumble, complete with a sprig of wild thyme. Pour the leftover sauces into small bowls and serve.
Send us the description of your dish to participate in the selection of The Best Italian Recipe, an exciting challenge open to everyone – home cooks, professional chefs, simple enthusiasts – to write together the future of Italian goodness. Find out how to do it here.
