Stuffed Calamari For Christmas Eve Dinner 2011

I would like to state for the record, that this photo is of my left overs. I didn't even think of taking a photo, when we got back from church. My apologies.


My family does not take part in the Feast of the Seven Fishes. As far as I know, we never heard of this feast. What we had was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 different fish dishes on Christmas Eve. The number never mattered...money did. As I mentioned on Tuesday, we sometimes had octopus or scungilli, but there were other things served. Usually fried smelts, sometimes scallops, once and only once we tried making baccala, but it was so salty that it never did make a repeat appearance. My Dad always got a care package of eels from my Aunt Mary (the same Aunt who made the snowball cookies). In later years (read, after I left home) they would have lobster tails with dinner. In my day, fried shrimp was an absolute and here in LA, I make it with both flour and bread crumbs. I prefer the flour and my guy prefers the bread crumbs. :-)

What I am going to show you today is the stuffed calamari that is the centerpiece of the Christmas Eve dinner here in the angel house.

This was my Mother's Family recipe.



As you can see, this year I got cleaned (large) calamari and oh so yummy frozen large mussels, both from the Asian Market down in the Valley. Thank you so much "son" number 2 for cluing me in about this place. :-)

Trader Joe's is where I ended up getting some semi-decent shrimp and since it is Christmas Eve, I went with the extra large. I also bought a package of calamari rings, but being it was just the 3 of us for dinner this year, I cut some of the large calamari into rings and saved the package for another time.

The first thing you do is clean them, if they are not cleaned. In my case, I just defrosted them and checked the inside for anything left behind from their cleaning. I found nothing and was quite surprised. You then get 2 eggs and beat them. Add parsley and maybe Parmesan Cheese, along with the inside of several slices of white bread. I don't use the crust, unless I have no choice. Today I used 4 and should have used 5, at least. You never get it right, so just deal. I used the fork to stuff a small amount of the egg and bread mixture into the tube and then you close it, with a toothpick. I drop them, one by one, into the boiling sauce that I make. It is just a standard red sauce, nothing fancy. According to how many you have coming over, use 1 can of puree and 1 can of paste, for a family of 4 to 6. Any more then that and you might want to make more sauce and more pasta (I used 1 pound of angel hair pasta).



They boil in the sauce for at least an hour. If you over stuff them, you will find out very shortly, because they start breaking open and the stuffing comes out. Oh well, live and learn. :-)

After about an hour, it is OK to shut the heat and put a lid on the sauce. Reheat just when you are cooking the angel hair pasta, to bring the sauce back to a boil. Serve immediately and don't expect much left over.




You may ask, what did I do with the mussels that I bought. Good question!
You can do the same thing as with the calamari. Except they go into the sauce, as is. Even with shells, they go in after washing and making sure they are still live mussels. If they can't shut their shell, discard them. After they cook for an hour, you can remove the meat from the shells, if desired. Serve on the angel hair pasta and really enjoy a treat!



Stuffed Calamari with Angel Hair Pasta

1 lb of Angel Hair Pasta
1 can of tomato Puree
1 can of tomato Paste
1/2 an onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp of Parsley
2 Tbsp of Oregano
2 Tbsp of Basil
2 Bay Leaves
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil

Brown the onion in the olive oil. Toward the end of browning, add the garlic for about a minute or so. Do not burn any of it. Be careful.
Add the cans of paste and puree with at least 2 cans of water (use the puree can).

1 package of calamari (cleaned is so much better, seriously!)

Defrost them and check the insides for any things that were left in the tube after cleaning.

Stuffing

4 or 5 slices of White Bread, cut into small pieces
2 eggs beaten
1 Tbsp parsley
1 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese

Mix all things together and then stuff the calamari with a small amount. Close the opening with a tooth pick. Drop each into the boiling sauce and cook for an hour.

Serve with angel hair pasta.

Yum!