Spaghetti with squid and pea sauce
( Spaghetti con calamari e piselli )

Recipe for spaghetti with squids and peas

Preparation

• - Prepare aromatic herbs.
  Clean and wash parsley and chives.
  Pat dry with absorbent kitchen paper.
  Put apart them.
  Chop onions.
• - Prepare squids.
  Clean squids and wash them under cold running water.
  Slice them finely.

Cooking

• - Prepare pasta sauce.
  Put onion, bay leaf and olive oil in a non-stick frying pan.
  Saute on low heat, stirring now and then.
  Stir in squids to flavor for a minute.
  Pour in wine and let it evaporate.
  Add puréed tomato and tomato paste.
  Stir very well.
  Continue cooking until your squids are tender.
  Add peas a couple of minutes before turning off the stove.
  Season to taste with salt and complete cooking.
  Add hot broth or water if necessary.
• - Cook spaghetti.
  Meanwhile bring to a boil a kettle of water.
  Salt water as soon as it begins boiling.
  Cook spaghetti al dente stage.
  Meanwhile chop parsley and chives with hands or cut with a ceramic knife to prevent them from oxidizing.
  Put them apart.
• - The last step.
  Drain pasta very well.
  Transfer into the pan where you've cooked your sauce.
  Stir and flavor all the ingredients on medium heat for a minute.
  Turn off your stove, sprinkle with herbs.
  Stir with delicacy.
  This is the secret for a perfect Italian pasta dish: finishing cooking pasta in its sauce.

Just before serving

• - Place pasta on individual plates and serve at once.

Note

Tips

• - You can also use frozen squids but you have to remember to thaw them at room temperature in advance.
• - As you can see I don't use garlic because I think its aroma covers the other ingredients too much.
• - My husband and I have been testing a new healthier cooking technique for some months. So you can make this pasta sauce in another way. Simmer onion in little water in a non-stick frying pan. When water is going to be reduced, put squids together with puréed tomatoes and tomato paste, dried bay leaf and wine. Season to taste with salt, stir well and begin cooking on medium heat, half-covered, stirring now and then. Add hot water only if necessary. Pour in peas, well drained from their preservation juice, only few minutes before switching off the gas. Transfer pasta once cooked and stir on high heat. Turn off your stove. Pour in olive oil and sprinkle with herbs. Stir. Your pasta dish is ready. Iit's healthier because ou have fried nothing and added olive oil without cooking it so you can preserve their fantastic nutritive properties. Besides it tastes fantastic as much as the other version. I assure you!
• - Generally we use whole-wheat spaghetti or emmer or kamut spaghetti to increase the fibers with this fish-and-vegetable sauce but you can use the pasta you prefer.
  

Menu planning

• - Make it as one-plate meal for your family or prepare it for a special event (seated lunch or dinner with your family and/or friends). In the second case the doses are enough for more people.
• - You can find a fish-only menu idea of mine in the next paragraph!
  

Useful links for this recipe

• - Follow the link to Italian fish-only menu for all season.

Healthy eating

• - This dish is full of ingredients so I use less than 70g (2 1/2 ounces) pasta per head.I remember the right amount per head is 80g (2.8 ounces) according to Mediterranean diet.
• - Spaghetti with squids and peas is a perfect one-plate meal. You can complete your meal with fresh fruit. If you are still hungry you can munch some raw vegetable.
  Here are the doses per head if you want to change servings: 70g (2 1/2 ounces) pasta, 100 to 120 g (3 1/2 to 4 1/4 ounces) squids, 1 tablespoon peas, aromatic herbs and vegetables in the amount you want (they don't increase significantly nutrition facts), about 80ml white wine (less than a glass - 1/3 C) and 2 teaspoons olive oil.
• - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
• - I remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt. Their taste derives from combination of flavors that substitutes salt.

What's the right wine for " Spaghetti with squid and pea sauce "?

My husband and I always serve not-aged Vernaccia di Oristano (a white wine of Sardinia) with this seafood pasta.