Two-Minute Calamari Sicilian Lifeguard Style

After spending most of the time leading up to Christmas gorging with Alex and my mother, I wanted something light, but hearty for dinner tonight.  Over the course of a few days, we had lobster rolls at Luke's, amazing seafood at Il Pesce (the seafood restaurant at Eataly), really tasty noodle soups and dumplings at Lanzhou Handmade Noodle in Chinatown, and global tapas at Tolani.  So I immediately thought seafood.  And when I looked in the freezer I saw we had some calamari in there.  While I never tried this dish the one time I ate at Babbo, it has become the calamari go-to recipe in our apartment.  I first stumbled across the recipe online on the Food Network website and then realized that it was also on my bookshelf in The Babbo Cookbook.  I'm not sure what the name is supposed to mean, or if it is supposed to mean anything at all, but it doesn't do the dish justice.  It almost seems like ordering a dish on a Chinese takeout menu - where "Phoenix Rising Shrimp" turns out to be fried shrimp with pineapple chunks in a variation on sweet and sour sauce.  What is that all about anyway?  I am not sure what I would call this dish, except that I think the name should be more descriptive of what is on the plate.  Perhaps that's a little simplistic of me, but that's how I feel.

Moving on!  This calamari is something like a stew.  It has a wonderfully spicy and flavorful broth.  There is something about the mix of the spicy red chili flakes, the sweet currants, the briny caperberries and the buttery pine nuts combine to create what the cookbook calls a "sweet, hot and sour Arabic kiss."  I dunno about that description either, but it is delicious nonetheless.  I do play with this recipe a bit from time to time.  I love the brinyness of the caperberries so I tend to add more than the recipe calls for, but that's just me.  I have also substituted fregola for the Israeli couscous in the past and that works well, but you have to cook it a lot longer than the couscous.  This time we used a Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend, which contains Israeli couscous, orzo, red quinoa, etc.  It was wonderful and perhaps my favorite adaptation yet.  If you make the Basic Tomato Sauce in advance, the entire dish takes less than 30 minutes to create, including prep time!  One warning - be careful not to overcook the calamari or you're going to end up with little white rubber bands in your lovely broth.

Recipes after the jump!

Two-Minute Calamari Sicilian Lifeguard Style

The Babbo Cookbook

By Mario Batali

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Israeli couscous

1/4 cup evoo

2 tbsp currants

2 tbsp pine nuts

1 tbsp hot red pepper flakes

1/4 cup caperberries

2 cups basic tomato sauce (recipe below)

1 1/2 lbs. cleaned calamari, tubes cut into 1/4-inch rounds and tentacles halved

s&p

3 scallions, thinly sliced

Bring 3 quarts of water to boil in a large saucepan.  Add 1 tbp kosher salt.  Set up an ice bath nearby.  Cook the couscous in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain and immediately plunge into the ince bath.  Once cooled, remove and set aside to dry on a plate.

In a 12 to 14-inch sautee pan, heat the evoo until just smoking.  Add pine nuts, currants, and red pepper flakes.  Saute until pine nuts are golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.  Add caperberries, basic tomato sauce, and couscous.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Add calamari, stir to mix, and simmer until calamari is just cooked and has turned completely opaque, about 2-3 minutes.  Season with s&p to taste.

Ladle mixture into 4 serving bowls, top with scallions, and serve immediately.

Basic Tomato Sauce

(makes 4 cups)

1/4 cup evoo

1 Spanish onion, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

3 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded

2 28-oz cans peeled whole tomatoes (use San Marzano if you can find them)

kosher salt

In a 3 quart saucepan, heat the evoo over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook until softened and light golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.  Add the thyme and carrot and cook until carrot is very soft, about 5 minutes more.  Using your hands, crush the tomatoes and add them along with their juices.  Bring mixture to a boil, stirring often, then lower to simmer.  Simmer until the sauce is as thick as cream of wheat/grits, about 30 minutes.  Season with salt to taste.

(**This sauce lasts up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer)