Recipe from Camille Orrichio Loccisano
Adapted by Francis Lam
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- 4(161)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Long a star on Camille Orrichio Loccisano’s traditional Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes table, these stuffed squid were also a hit at her restaurant, the appropriately named Casa Calamari. After a slow simmer in briny tomato sauce, diced shrimp and peppery crumbs plump up into a rich stuffing that fills tender calamari bodies; they're like seafood dumplings in reverse. —Francis Lam
Featured in: Casa Calamari
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves 3-4
- ½of an 8- or 10-ounce bag black-pepper taralli *see note
- 1½pounds large squid (about 12), cleaned, bodies and tentacles separated
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1½tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- Red-pepper flakes, to taste
- ¾pound peeled shrimp, cut into ½-inch pieces
- Kosher salt
- ¼-½ cup dry white wine
- ½teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Red-pepper flakes, to taste
- 4garlic cloves, crushed
- 228-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1handful Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped
For the Calamari
For the Sauce
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
In a food processor, pulse the taralli until it forms coarse crumbs. Measure 1¼ cups of the crumbs. Pulse the squid tentacles in the food processor to chop them fine, and pat them very dry with paper towels.
Step
2
In a large skillet, heat ¼ cup olive oil over medium heat. When shimmering, add the squid tentacles, and spread them out. Sear until golden brown, about 5 minutes, then add the butter, garlic and red-pepper flakes to taste. Cook, stirring, until the garlic just starts to color, about 1 minute.
Step
3
Add the shrimp, season with salt and cook until just pink, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, and simmer for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, and stir in the taralli crumbs and lemon zest. The crumbs should look like wet, clumpy sand. If the mixture is too dry, sprinkle in a little more wine, and allow the filling to cool until just warm.
Step
4
Stuff each squid body with the filling, leaving the bottom and top inches unfilled (the stuffing will expand as it cooks). Secure the tops with toothpicks, and season all over with salt.
Step
5
Make the sauce: In a wide, deep pan, warm ¼ cup olive oil over medium heat. Add red-pepper flakes to taste and the garlic, and cook until fragrant and just beginning to color. Stir in the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper.
Step
6
Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes. Add the calamari and any extra stuffing, and bring back to a very gentle simmer.
Step
7
Cover the pan, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat to make sure the sauce maintains a lazy bubble. Adjust with salt to taste. Garnish with the parsley. Serve with bread or pasta.
Tip
- If you can’t find black-pepper taralli (crisp ring-shaped breadsticks) or another savory flavor, substitute Italian breadsticks and lots of black pepper.
Ratings
4
out of 5
161
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Cooking Notes
Camille Orrichio Loccisano
A good quality bread crumb works nicely for stuffed calamari. However, the baking process of taralli deeply intensifies the flavor of the black pepper. This makes them a very desirable ingredient for the filling and yields a uniquely rich taste to the dish.
Jen in Astoria
Instead of starting with breadsticks, is there any reason to NOT use good bakery bread crumbs and lots of fresh black pepper?
Joe Bruno
This is a very typical Southern recipe, but with a very cool bit of technique that like-as-not made Camille Loccisano's stuffed calamari extra special. Besides the use of taralli, note that Camille seared the ground-up tentacles until they were golden before incorporating them into the filling. This raises the bar for stuffed calamari. Searing the creatures creates awesome flavor. Thank you Camille. Joe Bruno from Bay Ridge, now of bruculino restaurant in Norwalk, CT
jo-ann
Thanks for this. Our Italian family makes stuffed squid on Christmas Eve. It's great to see an interesting variation. (We use "fresh" but dried-out bread crumbs, also pignoli, and we don't add shrimp.)--Ours is baked. We make a separate squid tomato sauce (squid pieces and tomatoes only) and serve it with linguine or thin spaghetti. Those are two of our "seven fishes" dishes.
KW
"They are briefly boiled before being baked, which gives them a very interesting texture. Baked taralli can be kept in an airtight container for several months." (Wikipedia said that). And they are unleavened. So, bread crumbs not the same.
Sara Reifman
I made this using panko to make it easier, and it worked out really well. The filling expanded a lot though. Initially, I thought I didn't have enough, and put a couple of calamari tubes in un-stuffed, but the filling came out of some of my tubes. Definitely under-stuff. The squid itself came out amazingly tender.
Lily
We followed the directions exact and the squids came out perfect. Cooking time was ok for 45 minutes but I think when it comes to squid it has to be a low simmer and that is what the directions say in this recipe. As to the stuffing amount, he says to fill each one "leaving the bottom and top inches unfilled (the stuffing will expand as it cooks)" ----that is the same as filling them half.
Paul
I actually simmered for more than 45 minutes (more like 90), since I was busy with guests. I thought they turned out great and wonder whether the extended cooking time actually helped make them so tender. Went a little heavy on the pepper flakes that gave the dish a nice bite.
Thom
At times, meal planning goes like this: see what's fresh at the fish counter, then plan a meal. Tonight, it was calamari steaks. At the store, I used the NYT app and found this recipe but didn't read in detail. Instead of tubes, I used pounded calamari steaks. In lieu of tentacles, I ground up some vegetarian sausage. The Italian market didn't have black pepper taralli, but they had traditional. So, I ground some Tellicherry pepper berries and threw in. AMAZING!!!!!!!!! Served w/ Zucchini Frico.
Ann
I made this for a Christmas Eve dinner. My first time serving stuffed squid. I read a lot of recipes and liked this one best. Per my usual approach, I ramped up the amount of garlic. When I do it next time (and I will) I will add thyme to both the filling and the sauce and reduce the proportion of bread crumbs in the filling to shrimp and the yummy tentacles. Also will start sauce with a coup,e of anchovy fillets. Even without these tweeks, a total hit. Squid fork tender.
J
Phenomenal. Made as directed but with some shaved fennel and saffron in the sauce, which was lovely. It can be hard to find extra large squid but you can stuff even medium ones.
Suzi
Excellent! Made as written.
Deborah VC
I made this dish as directed using pepper taralli and thought it was delicious. I don't think the taralli I used had a strong enough pepper bite so next time, I'll add more black pepper to the mix. I bought what I thought were large calamari, only to find out that they were nearly impossible to stuff. Next time, I'll make sure they are larger. The next night, I threw some black olives and capers into the sauce. Both ways were great.
Paul
I actually simmered for more than 45 minutes (more like 90), since I was busy with guests. I thought they turned out great and wonder whether the extended cooking time actually helped make them so tender. Went a little heavy on the pepper flakes that gave the dish a nice bite.
Angela
Tried this recipe tonight. Flavor is good, but proportions & cooking time is way off.
I would reduce amount of cracker used by at least 1/2, cut shrimp into smaller pieces (about size of a jelly bean), reserve some shrimp or add extra to garnish and add crunch to the sauce. Make sure you're filling the squid only halfway as stuffing really expands.
Most importantly, do not cook the stuffed Squid for 45 min!! Cook sauce then add squid for only 10-12 min until just done.
Lily
We followed the directions exact and the squids came out perfect. Cooking time was ok for 45 minutes but I think when it comes to squid it has to be a low simmer and that is what the directions say in this recipe. As to the stuffing amount, he says to fill each one "leaving the bottom and top inches unfilled (the stuffing will expand as it cooks)" ----that is the same as filling them half.
Arcie
We made this twice and timing was fine. From what we see, if you add the squids the last 10 minutes, as you suggest, then the fish doesn't have enough time to flavor the sauce. Lam advises 45 minutes but a "gentle simmer." This makes a nice fish flavor while the squids will still be tender due to the 'low and slow" cooking method. I also wouldn't cut the cracker amount in half. Lam adds his extra stuffing to the sauce, and this made it even more robust.
Deborah VC
I'm thinking of making this next week and serving it over polenta. I know that seafood and cheese (in the polenta) normally aren't served together but has anyone tried this? For some reason, it sounds better to me than just using pasta.
Kathryn
Can someone please explain this direction? "Stuff each squid body with the filling, leaving the bottom and top inches unfilled...." Is there a word missing? Thanks.
Maralind
Just means fill about 1/2 way.
marcolius
Couldn't find taralli, and didn't want to wait for an Amazon order, so I used Delallo bread sticks and pepper. Turned out fine. Got the squid at Whole Foods, and next time, I'll ask the guy for large ones. They mixed in a few small ones, and they were very hard to stuff. Only the whole, though, less work than I expected. Was pleased with the result.
Chrissy
I used panko breadcrumbs and sauteed them with black pepper and butter and it worked well.
The only thing I don't understand about this recipe is the amount of squid vs. the pounds. I ordered 1 1/2 pounds and got 3 squid. How could I be so off? The size of the finished cooked squid looks consistent with the photo so I believe I had the right type. I'm new to cooking seafood so would love some help with this!
Sara Reifman
I made this using panko to make it easier, and it worked out really well. The filling expanded a lot though. Initially, I thought I didn't have enough, and put a couple of calamari tubes in un-stuffed, but the filling came out of some of my tubes. Definitely under-stuff. The squid itself came out amazingly tender.
Ernie Manfred
For a calamari stuffing, mix Italian bread crumbs and white clam sauce. You could add the tenicles also. Cover with sauce and bake.
Lorrie Grass
I can not eat shrimp. What else can I use as a subsitute?
David Bonfiglio
Just use the tentacles, and don't worry about it.
Joe Bruno
This is a very typical Southern recipe, but with a very cool bit of technique that like-as-not made Camille Loccisano's stuffed calamari extra special. Besides the use of taralli, note that Camille seared the ground-up tentacles until they were golden before incorporating them into the filling. This raises the bar for stuffed calamari. Searing the creatures creates awesome flavor. Thank you Camille. Joe Bruno from Bay Ridge, now of bruculino restaurant in Norwalk, CT
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