I’m a big seafood fan. Living near Boston, it’s very easy to find fresh seafood at the market. My family really loves calamari, mussels and shrimp in particular. So, when I got Mediterranean Paleo Cooking in the mail, these were these recipes caught my eye.
The calamari were incredible. It’s one of the best dishes I’ve made in a while. I had no idea that chili powder goes so well with greens. I could have eaten the whole batch. The recipe feeds four, but you could easily serve these to six as an appetizer, as well. It was easy to make, too!
If you’re not a seafood fan, no problem. There are tons of pizza recipes, soups, chicken, red meat, and some really easy vegetable sides included in the book. This is really a book that I can eat out of – which is something I can’t say about many cookbooks. There are modifications for special diets like AIP, low FODMAP, nut-free and egg-free. I enthusiastically, highly recommend you add this book to your collection.
- 12 calamari, heads and tubes (I was only able to find tubes and tentacles at the store, so I used the tentacles in place of the heads for the stuffing)
- 1 pound fresh baby spinach (I used swiss chard because that's what I had fresh on the farm)
- 2 tablespoons butter, ghee, or coconut oil, divided
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- fine sea salt and ground black pepper
- 1 recipe basic tomato sauce (I used Rao's tomato sauce)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
- Rinse the calamari, making sure the tubes remain intact, and cut off the heads. Mince the heads and set aside.
- Rinse and drain the spinach. Heat a steamer pot over medium heat and steam the spinach until soft, about 2 minutes.
- In a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the fat over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, mint, parsley, chili powder, and a pinch of sea salt and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the steamed spinach and the calamari heads and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the mixture from the pan and let cool for about 10 minutes. (Do not clean the pan, you will use it again).
- Stuff the calamari tubes with the spinach mixture until they are tightly packed.
- Melt the remaining tablespoon of fat in the skillet over medium high heat and sear the calamari tubes for a few seconds on each side. Add the tomato sauce and simmer the tubes for about 3 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Plate the calamari, top with the tomato sauce, and garnish with the parsley to serve.
2 thoughts on “Spinach-Stuffed Calamari from Mediterranean Paleo Cooking”
wow, the calamary looks so yummy and tempting! Thank you for sharing this fab recipe. Gonna try it for our xmas gathering.
I want to serve this as an appetizer, one per. Served with spoonful of soft or triangle firm polenta. Garnish with chopped kalamata olives. Add chopped basil to the spinach and garnish polenta with whole basil leaf.