Calamarata Pasta with Calamari (squid) in Tomato Sauce.

When I was growing up, Christmas eve dinners were always a big deal. We sat at the table for hours, eating fish course after fish course. Later on in the evening, some of the neighbors would stop by, enjoying my mother's cooking and joining the boisterous conversation. Most of the fish were fried - including smelts, eels, baccala and other staples of the Italian-American "Feast of the Seven Fishes." Once my brother Frank brought home conch when he was stationed in Boston as a tour guide on the U.S. Constitution (both he and my brother Joe were in the Navy). I don't have any recollections of liking it, although I've since grown to enjoy conch when we're in the Caribbean, in either conch fritters or ceviche. There was always spaghetti too on Christmas eve. To me, the pasta was the highlight of the meal, and I don't know which I loved more - the spaghetti with crabs we'd have some years, or the spaghetti with squid other years. Either way, they were always served in a red sauce, and you needed plenty of napkins to keep your hands cleaned while eating the messy crabs.

After decades of taking over the reigns for the Christmas eve fish feast, I still make sure to have at least seven fishes, but have pared down quite a bit, and no longer make the fried fish as I once did. We gather around the coffee table first, eating octopus salad, shrimp cocktail and several other offerings, all washed down with ample prosecco being poured. 

I get a lot of help from other family members like my son, who makes baccala mantecato, that I used to serve with grilled polenta. But since gaining a Jewish daughter-in-law, who makes latkes in keeping with her Hanukkah tradition, we now spread the baccala over a latke -- a perfect combo and one we jokingly call "baccalatkes."

After an hour or so, we move to the dining room, but instead of presenting numerous main courses as I did for years, now I narrow it to one, in addition to a salad. Most years, it's been pasta with shellfish, (spaghetti ai frutti di mare) but even that requires multiple pots to be going at once -- two pots just to boil the pasta, plus a pot to saute the shrimp and scallops and separate pots to steam the mussels and clams. 

It can be done but it's a lot to juggle, especially if you're serving 16 people, as I am this year. And I hate missing out on all the fun happening in the living room while I'm in the kitchen.

So this year, I'm planning to serve pasta with squid in tomato sauce, requiring only three pots (two to boil the pasta and one to cook the squid) It's a dish reminiscent of what my mother made, but not with spaghetti. I'll be serving it with calamarata pasta, named after the calamari it so closely resembles. You can buy it at Italian grocery stores or online, but I also found it at Home Goods, a store that sells everything from carpets to candy. The food section at Home Goods always has a great selection of pasta -- and the brand I found there -- made by Falco -- was really good quality - extruded with bronze dies, and with a slow drying process, it held its shape well after cooking. It was also designed with ridges and that helps the sauce cling. 

The squid is normally pretty clean when I bring it home from the store, so I just rinse it and cut it into rings. Be sure to get some of the tentacles too. If your squid needs to be cleaned first, click here for a useful YouTube video to guide you through the process. This amount below was only slightly more than 1/2 lb., enough for two people, but I would figure on 3/4 lb. of cleaned squid for two. 

Saute the garlic and shallots in olive oil until soft, along with the red pepper flakes, then toss in the squid rings and cook until they become opaque.

Add the tomato passata, wine, salt, pepper and basil, then simmer for about 30 minutes. You can do this an hour before serving if you're having company, then turn off the heat and gently simmer again for 10 or 15 minutes while you boil the pasta.

After the pasta is cooked to the al dente stage, add it to the sauce and stir to get everything well coated. Sprinkle with more fresh basil and serve with a good dry wine. We're planning to open up several bottles of nero d'avola. It's a red wine from Sicily and I know some people would say white wine only with fish. But squid in tomato sauce can hold its own with a medium to full-bodied red wine and nero d'avola is one of our favorites. But if you prefer white wine, do your own thing. But please, don't sprinkle parmesan cheese on this dish!

I think this is the perfect dish for Christmas eve, and one that's sure to please everyone around our table this year -- from my two-year old granddaughter to my 102 year-old father. I hope you make it too, whether for Christmas eve or another time.
Wishing you all a Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo.

If you'd prefer this dish with a garlic and olive oil sauce, click here for that recipe. For more Christmas eve fish ideas, click here.

Check out Ciao Chow Linda on Instagram here to find out what’s cooking in my kitchen each day (and more).

Calamarata pasta with calamari in tomato sauce

(serves four people)

printable recipe here

1/2 cup olive oil

2 small shallots

4 large cloves of garlic

red pepper flakes, to taste

1 1/2 lbs. squid, cleaned and cut into rings

2 - 2 1/2 cups passata (or tomato puree)

3/4 cup dry wine (red or white)

1/2 teaspoon salt, pinch of black pepper

fresh basil

1 lb. calamarata pasta

Saute the shallots and garlic in the olive oil until limp. Add the red pepper flakes and the squid and cook the squid a few minutes until they are opaque. Add the wine, the passata and seasonings. Cook for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Boil the pasta until al dente, then add to the sauce and stir everything together until the pasta is well coated. Sprinkle more basil on top and serve.

 

Fried Calamari (Squid)

Through the years, I've gotten away from my childhood tradition of eating fried fish for Christmas eve, opting instead for dishes that are prepared in the oven or sauteéd on the stove top, like pasta with mixed shellfish, or swordfish involtini.  My kids threaten to mutiny if I omit those dishes, or the baccala mantecato or the stuffed squid (which my son now prepares) from the menu, but I have managed to wean everyone from the fried smelts, and all the other fried seafood, including squid. Aside from the difficulty of navigating several pans of sizzling, deep oil amid the chaos and confusion of choreographing seven to nine different dishes to be ready at the same time, frying fish just leaves a huge clean up job and a penetrating smell in the house that doesn't go away for a couple of days.

But a couple of nights after Christmas eve, when I was home alone and rummaging through the refrigerator, I found a container with a few squid that hadn't been used for our family dinner. I couldn't resist the urge to fry up some squid "rings." 

And let me just say, due to unforseen circumstances - which involved another leftover - namely a third of a bottle of Prosecco - these were the best fried squid rings I'd ever made - or eaten. The batter had the perfect lightness and crunch without being greasy and the squid were tender too. I've made fried squid using a simple dusting of flour, and I've made it with a batter of flour, eggs and beer. My favorite way has been to use just flour and San Pellegrino water, but I figured since I had the Prosecco, why not use the bubbly to give the batter a little "lift." With New Year's eve just a day away, you'll most likely have some Prosecco or Champagne in the house, so why not treat yourself to some fried calamari too?

Just mix some flour (I used about a cup) and pour in some Prosecco (start with 1/4 cup or so) until you get a consistency of a thin pudding. Add a little salt and a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper to give it some "zing." 

Slice the cleaned squid bodies into "rings." They're limp when you slice into them, but will take shape as soon as they hit the hot oil. Make sure the oil is good and hot. Test it first with a small piece before filling the whole pan with the squid.  Turn them over once, drain them on some paper towels and sprinkle with salt while they're hot.

Serve them immediately with lemon slices (or some tomato sauce) and hopefully, you'll have enough Prosecco leftover to pour a glass for yourself. 

But don't let my kids know I whipped up this batch of fried squid, or I'll be back on fry duty again next Christmas eve.

Buon Anno Amici! 

 May 2015 be filled with as much joy as you have given me, 

dear, faithful readers. - Ciao Chow Linda

Batter for Fried Calamari (can be used for other fish, or frying vegetables too)

printable recipe here



1 cup flour (approximately)

1/4 cup Prosecco (approximately)

dash of salt

dash of cayenne pepper



Add all the ingredients together, using a whisk to blend. Add more Prosecco (or seltzer water if you don't have enough Prosecco) until the batter is the consistency of a thin pudding.

Dip the sliced squid rings into the batter, lift with a fork to wipe off excess, then drop into hot oil. Turn once when golden on the first side and remove when golden on the second side. Drain on paper towels and season with salt immediately.

Calamarata

It's fun to try new pasta shapes, especially when they mimic the main ingredients you're pairing with the pasta. In this case, it's calamarata, which closely resemble the calamari, or squid, that I cooked with them. In the past, it was nearly impossible to find calamarata here in the states, but nowadays, I have seen it not only in Philadelphia and New York, but even in my hometown of Princeton, N.J. The brand I used was "La Fabbrica della Pasta di Gragnano," an excellent artisanal pasta made with extrusion machines that employ the traditional bronze dies. In case you can't find this brand, click here for a couple of other brands available online.

Try to find squid that are on the small size. They're more tender. These were only about three inches long. Pat them dry and cut them into rings. Dry them again before cooking with them. They'll release a lot of water anyway.

Saute the scallions and garlic in olive oil, then remove them when they've wilted.

You should be roasting the tomatoes too. Use a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet to make clean up a little easier. Roast them until they have burst open and have taken on a bit of color.

Toss the tomatoes together with the squid, the pasta and the remaining ingredients. All you have to do now is grab a fork and dig in.

Calamarata with calamari

printable recipe here
1 lb. calamarata pasta
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs. squid, cut into rings
1 pt. grape tomatoes
a couple of tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic salt
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. chopped scallions
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 lemon, squeezed
red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1/4 cup minced parsley
small handful of basil, minced

Place the grape tomatoes on a cookie sheet (I put parchment paper down first). Pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Roast in a 425 degree oven for about 20 min. until they start to turn color.

Start the water boiling for the pasta, adding some salt. While you're boiling the pasta, make the sauce by placing 1/2 cup olive oil in a large saucepan and adding the chopped scallions and minced garlic. Sauté until soft, then remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside. Turn up the heat, add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and add the squid rings, tossing and sautéing for only a few minutes. Do not overcook.  Squid will get tough if you leave it in for more than a few minutes. Remove the squid and set aside. Add the wine to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes in the pan with the liquid that the squid released. Drain the pasta and add that to the pan, also putting back in the sautéed scallions and garlic that you had set aside. Add the roasted tomatoes, juice from 1/2 lemon, salt, pepper and enough red pepper flakes to give it the spiciness you prefer. Sprinkle the minced parsley and basil on top and serve.