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Stuffed Calamari
This is a great tasting take on the classic Italian stuffed calamari dish. Today any store that sells fresh fish will have cleaned calamari. It is not expensive and when stuffed makes a family meal in very little time and for very little money.
Ingredients
1 ¾ lbs. of prepared calamari (cleaned)
¾ lbs. of fresh chorizo
1 cup of ChileBoss™ Yucatan Amarillo
½ cup bottled clam juice
½ bunch cilantro chopped fine
a few mint leaves (optional)
2-3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves chopped fine
Juice of a half of lemon
Instructions
Wash and pat dry the prepared squid. Make sure that all bones have been removed.
Remove the chorizo from the casing and place it in a bowl.
Add the breadcrumbs and the chopped cilantro. At this point you can add the chopped mint leaves if you desire.
Using a fork, mix all of the ingredients but make sure that you do not mash it.
NOTE: It helps sometimes to use 2 forks, separating and mixing the meat at the same time.
In a pan with a little olive oil, cook the garlic until it is soft. Do not burn it.
Then add the chorizo mixture and cook completely. The meat should be browned and in very small grains. NOTE: If the mixture is getting too dry, add some of the ChileBoss™ Yucatan Amarillo sauce. The mixture should be soft enough to be a stuffing and hold together. If it is too dry it will fall apart when cooked. You should be able to make a ball out of the mixture and it will hold together like a meatball.
Remove the mixture from the pan and put it back into the bowl. Add a ¼ cup of fresh finely chopped cilantro and mix it in. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
When it is cool enough, very carefully stuff each squid. NOTE: Keep in mind that if you stuff the calamari to high it will expand and fall into the sauce as it is being cooked. That can be a great addition to the sauce but you may not want that so be carful as you stuff.
Now place the stuffed squid in a large pan with a cover in one layer. If you do not have a pan with a cover that large, you can cover the pan with 2 layers of tin foil.
Cover the squid with the ChileBoss™ Yucatan Amarillo, the clam juice and the lemon juice.
Cover the pan and place over a low heat until the squid is cooked. About 15 minutes. Make sure the sauce does not get dry. Add a little clam juice, making sure that you maintain a good sauce all the time.
Remove the calamari and place them in a serving dish.
If you have too much cooking liquid, reduce it by a third and pour it hot over the hot calamari and serve it either sliced into 1 ½” rings or whole.
