For this Christmas Eve dish, calamari is simmered in a sauce of stewed tomatoes, vinegar, onions, garlic, pepper flakes, and sprinkled with parsley. A simpler version of Feast of the Seven Fishes.
*How to Buy and Store Calamari
The creepy, otherworldly tentacles Domenica mentions above are still commonly available, along with their accompanying sacs, at many seafood counters. To select impeccable calamari, look for white, shiny specimens that look slick and smell like the sea. Store them on ice in your fridge for no more than a day. Although fresh is lovely, frozen squid can sometimes be fresher in the sense that it’s not been sitting around unfrozen for that long and compromises little, if anything, in taste or texture. Simply thaw under cool running water immediately prior to using.
☞ READ THE ARTICLE: CHRISTMAS EVE CALAMARI
Christmas Eve Calamari
Ingredients
Directions
Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, cut the calamari sacs (bodies) into 1/2-inch-wide rings. Cut each crown of tentacles in half lengthwise to yield bite-size pieces.
In a large sauté pan with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring from time to time, until softened and translucent, 7 to 8 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix together the garlic and the salt to form a paste. Add the paste to the onion in the pan and then stir in the red pepper flakes and oregano, mixing everything thoroughly. Add the calamari and stir to combine. Sauté for a minute or two. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the wine, and let the mixture bubble for 2 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes and their juices, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover partially, and simmer gently until the calamari are tender, 30 to 45 minutes.
Uncover and continue to simmer gently until the sauce has thickened somewhat, up to 15 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook, uncovered, for 2 more minutes. Taste and season with salt if desired. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Spoon the calamari and sauce into shallow bowls and serve with the bruschetta or bread.
Recipe Testers' Tips
I like calamari and I love this recipe! The sauce has a rich seafood flavor, with just the right amount of herbs and spices. The calamari has just the right texture as well.
The recommendation of two large garlic cloves is there to make sure you don’t skimp on it, and that works well for me. To get the sauce to the right consistency, it took about 25 minutes after uncovering, about 10 minutes more than recommended. You’ll appreciate the bread to mop up all of that delicious sauce. Just add a light green salad and a good glass of vino to make for a very satisfying meal.
This tasted fantastic. The calamari had just the right bite, with a bit of heat from the pepper flakes, and a nice depth of flavor.
By the end of the cooking time, the liquid had mostly evaporated. Since the liquid seemed to be evaporating quickly, I kept the lid on fully instead of partially for some of the cooking time, and I turned the heat to low. I’d have liked more tomato, so I’ll add a little extra next time, perhaps using crushed tomatoes or tomato puree in place of stewed tomatoes. This should also help boost the amount of liquid for the sauce.
Overall, the finished dish was worth the effort.
This recipe represents an easy way to prepare calamari. In the future, I’d probably increase the sauce-to-calamari ratio, because while there was some sauciness to sop up with the bread, there wasn’t nearly enough, in my opinion.
For me, the cook time was too long, but luckily the recipe says to use your best judgment, and calls it done when the sauce is reduced. I skipped the last 15 minutes of cooking and at that point the calamari was cooked perfectly and the sauce was nicely reduced.
This is a classic recipe that I absolutely loved.
I did, however, make my own stewed tomatoes instead of using canned ones. I believe a little chopped bacon would’ve given this recipe another edge.
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Made this tonight. Had a pound of frozen Calamari ( body and tentacles) cleaned and ready to use.
Followed the recipe as written even though I only had 1 pound of calamari. Always add more garlic to my recipes. Served with warm Polenta. Yummy
Thanks, Nancy! It looks like you had a fantastic meal. Thanks for taking the time to let us know.
Absolutely lovely! I had ordered some frozen calamari to make Linguine allo Scogilo for Christmas Day, 3 lbs is how it came…so I had exactly two pounds to work with. So happy to see your recipe! I substituted 2 tins of tomato sauce, and dried Sicilian oregano, as that is what I had. And we poured it over cheese ravioli…at the request of my 10 year old. This is definitely a hit!
That looks and sounds divine, Mary! We’re so glad you gave this a try and that it turned out so well for you.
This is a delicious recipe! We used capellini pasta and made a meal of it. So good!!
Thanks, Shay! Appreciate you taking the time to let us know.
I’m curious if there’s a way to make this ahead of time and reheat? At what stage (if any) may this be possible? Thanks!
Hi Laura,
This is an excellent question. Calamari can be a fussy ingredient because if not cooked properly it can become rubbery. In this case, however, it is cooked at length, until super tender, and so reheating it doesn’t cause it to suffer in texture. Although I do like it best served fresh, I have reheated leftovers many times over the years (and have even tossed them with pasta), always with delicious results. If you decide to make this ahead, I would make it the day before you intend to serve it. Refrigerate it in a tightly lidded container. To reheat, add a generous splash of water to loosen the sauce and only cook it until heated through. Buon appetito!
This is a wonderful recipe, delicious and easy. I only had 8 oz. of squid (just one serving) but made the full recipe of sauce anyway. Mine had completely thickened and absorbed the liquid after the first 30 minutes. That was fine with me, because I didn’t want bread. I had it over rice like in Greece. I just now realized I forgot the vinegar and parsley at the end. That would have been good too. Next time.
So nice to hear this, Theano! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know. Greatly, greatly appreciate it!