Stuffed Squid Istrian Recipe
Stuffed squid is a light and delicate fish based dish packed full of flavour, with simple ingredients being used for the stuffing mixture to maximise the scent and flavour of the squid.
This is a very tasty seafood recipe, perfect for any occasion and any season, and makes a fantastic centrepiece, you will surely impress your family and friends.
Works for both rustic style eating or slightly more formal and elegant dining, whether for big parties or small groups alike.
Squid is a highly popular ingredient in Istrian cooking, it is used to make rosotti, fish soups and stews, grilled and deep fried squid are very much loved.
Stuffed squid represents one of the most quintessentially Istrian seafood based dishes, it is made in the households, maybe not perhaps as your average mid week supper but prepared during the weekends or festivities or to mark a special occasion. Along the Slovenian coast stuffed squid would be traditionally briefly cooked in white busara sauce (simple sauce made with olive oil, hint of garlic, white wine and fresh parsley), as supposed to the red busara sauce variation where tomato element is added to the basic white busara sauce.
This is the dish that would be prepared and cooked instead of a meat roast, and also commonly found on the menus in the restaurants (polnjeni kalamari or nadevani lignji, calamari ripien).
Stuffed squid has been very much loved in the family, my father especially adored cooking this dish, and here I am sharing his recipe, serve this dish to your guests and and you will most certainly not fail to impress.
Recipe
Ingredients
about 1 kg fresh medium size squid
(the sacks of the squid should be long between 13-15cm, if they are too short and small you will find it a bit tricky to fill, very big squid not particularly suitable for this recipe), bodies and tentacles separated, if using frozen squid, defrost first
about 80g dry breadcrumbs
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus some extra
1 small clove of garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
small handful (about 3g) fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus some extra for the sauce
50ml white wine, optional
sea salt
black pepper
Method
Clean and prepare the fresh squid and separate the tentacles. When cleaning the squid be careful not to damage the pockets (sacks), as the filling might come out during the cooking process.
If uncomfortable tackling this task, your fishmonger will be happy to do it for you.
Tap dry cleaned squid pockets with kitchen paper.
Start by making the stuffing.
Place the oil in a large non stick frying pan. Weight the squid tentacles, then chop quite finely and add to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, add white wine if using, and cook further until all the wine evaporates.
Turn off the heat and add an equal wight of breadcrumbs.
Add finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, crushed garlic and season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Mix well so all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning, set aside.
Stuff the squid sacks with the mixture, using the teaspoon, not too full, or they can potentially burst during the cooking.
Close the openings of the sacks with cocktail sticks (toothpick).
Use the same non stick large frying pan and pour a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Gently fry stuffed squid in batches, if making large quantity, (do not overcrowd the pan) for about a minute or so on each side until they start to colour.
If you have leftover stuffing mixture, add it to the pan.
Add a touch of water, cover with the lid (ideally a lid with a steam whole) and cook on a gentle heat for about 20 minutes.
Move them around gently, now and gain, taking care not to break them.
During the cooking a small amount of the filling will come out and become part of a delicious sauce that should not be too thick nor to watery.
If your sauce is too watery, cook for a short while until the sauce thickens to your desire, if on the other hand you think the sauce is too thick for your liking, just dilute a bit by adding a splash of water.
When the squid is cooked , remove the cocktail sticks (toothpicks).
Sprinkle with some extra roughly chopped parsley and serve hot with some fresh crunchy rustic bread, toasted bread, bruschetta or soft cooked or grilled yellow or white polenta.
Just a thought
You can add a bit of freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese to the breadcrumb mixture.
Sometimes when you buy frozen squid, they come with no tentacles. In this case you can replace the tentacles for the filling with 1-2 thin slices of finely chopped Prosciuutto crudo (Italian dry ham). Be mindful of the seasoning as the prosciutto crudo is quite salty.
It is quite common also to use parboiled white rice (cooked al dente) instead of dry breadcrumbs to make the filling, and you can also substitute bread crumbs with some old and stale bread (no crust) soaked in a bit of water, squeeze well to remove the excess, 1 lightly beaten egg.
This dish is best eaten fresh, when just cooked, but can be stored in a fridge for a day or two at most, in an airtight container, and it is not really suitable for freezing.
If you do want to be ahead of time you can clean the squid and make the filling a day before and store them overnight in the refrigerator in an airtight container or covered with cling film.
You can add some chopped tomatoes to the white busara sauce if you prefer red busara sauce variation.