Spicy Calamari With Fregola
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2pounds small to medium calamari, tubes and tentacles cleaned, cut into ½-inch pieces
- Salt and pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- ½teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 4anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
- 4small garlic cloves, minced
- 1large onion, diced (about 1½ cups)
- ⅛teaspoon crumbled saffron
- ½cup dry white wine
- 1cup diced canned tomato
- ¾cup chicken broth or water
- 1cup fregola sarda (add ½ cup for heartier appetites)
- 12basil leaves
- Pinch of dried oregano
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
349 calories; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 30 grams protein; 768 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Spread the calamari on a baking sheet and pat dry as best you can with paper towels. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, wide skillet over high heat. Add calamari and quickly stir-fry, cooking for only 1 minute, until puffed. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.
- Step 3
Return pan to stove, reduce heat to medium-high and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add crushed red pepper, anchovy and garlic and let sizzle, then add onions and stir well.
- Step 4
Season onions generously and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, until softened and faintly colored. Add saffron and wine and simmer for 1 minute, then add tomato and broth. Adjust heat so sauce simmers gently for about 10 minutes, until flavors are well mingled. Taste for salt and hot pepper.
- Step 5
Meanwhile, bring 4 cups salted water to a boil. Add fregola and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and keep warm.
- Step 6
Add par-cooked calamari to the sauce over high heat. Add basil leaves and stir well until everything is heated through and calamari are completely cooked, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a warm serving bowl and fold in cooked fregola. Sprinkle with oregano, add a drizzle of olive oil, if desired, and serve.
- The calamari are just briefly sautéed at the beginning and added to the sauce later, to keep them tender.
Private Notes
Comments
excellent dish. As noted in tip, brief sauté is critical step for tenderness. Calamari released almost a cup of liquid (not mentioned in recipe?). Poured it off before cooking garlic and onion, then added it back before tomatoes and cooked it down before continuing.
Hummm delicious. Made just a couple of tweaks. Used clam juice instead of chicken broth. Added a tablespoon of tomato paste instead of the tomatoes to the broth as that's what I had on hand. I suggest adding the almost finished cooked fregola to the sauce before adding the calamari. Letting it finish in the broth thickens the sauce and brings more flavor to the fregola.
Can frozen calamari be used?
What should I serve with this on the plate? I’m serving a salad first.
Run, don't walk! This recipe is outstanding. Made it for my birthday dinner and we both LOVED it.
Outstanding recipe! I appreciated reading through comments before cooking. A few tweaks…I added the liquid created from the calamari’s first cook to reduce in the sauce. I used 1 teaspoon tomato paste (estratto di pomodoro) instead of diced tomatoes, adding a little extra water. I also undercooked the fregola and finished it in the sauce, then finished the calamari. A keeper!
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