Stuffed Calamari

A few years ago Michelle and I had the best stuffed calamari dish at Boulevard.  I have been seriously craving it ever since.  After making the stuffed game hens last month I thought "what else can I stuff?"  (feel free to insert your own joke here...).  While it was not the same as Boulevard, it was delicious nonetheless.  I paired the calamari with some super simple sauteed veggies to round out the meal.

For a delicious dinner for 2, you will need:

For the stuffing: 

2/3 cup wild rice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 small red onion

1/3 cup drained dried tomatoes packed in oil (about 2 1/2 ounces)

1 shallot

1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves

8 ounces of sausage (I used bulk pork sausage from the Whole Foods meat counter)

For the rest:

8 calamari

3 cups of spinach

1/2 red onion

1 clove of garlic

3 cups of sliced mushrooms

1 drop of dry white wine (maybe 1/4 cup)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

olive oil

salt and pepper

This is the same stuffing that I made for the hens.  Click here for step by step instructions.  Just leave yourself time to cook the rice (at least an hour).  I made mine the night before.  We are going to bake the calamari that's left over so preheat the oven to 375.

Calamari tubes are at the Whole Foods fish counter and are pretty cheap.  They should be clean, but give them a quick rinse and trim any cartilage if needed.

No magic here, just stuff the tubes with the stuffing.  

I filled them up to the top, but did not pack the stuffing in.  The calamari will shrink when you cook them so don't fill them too much.

And repeat...  After stuffing the tubes take the remaining stuffing and add it to an oiled casserole dish.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Next, slice up the veggies, they actually take longer to cook than the calamari.

Add some olive oil to a pan and saute the mushrooms and onions.

Once they are browned, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two until fragrant.

Then wash the spinach and add it to the pan.  It should just take a minute or two to wilt.

Heat another pan over medium high heat and add some olive oil.  Then add the calarmi once the pan is nice and hot (but not too hot).  They only need to cook for a few minutes.  After a minute or two flip them over to cook on the other side.

By now the veggies should be done, make a bed of veggies on each plate.

Then add the calamari on top of the veggies.  5 points for presentation.

To finish the dish make a quick pan sauce.  Crank up the heat on the dish that the calamari was in and add a drop of wine to deglaze.  Scrape up all of the brown bits with a wooden spoon.  Then add the juice of half a lemon to the pan and continue to cook.

Cook over high heat for a few minutes until the sauce is reduced a bit.  Taste and season well.

Then spoon a bit of the sauce over each plate.

By now the stuffing in the oven should be done and ready to rock as well.

Voila.  Enjoy.