Squid-and-pea sauce is ideal for spaghetti. It's an authentic Italian pasta dish.
Make it for your family or for your guests if they like fish pasta. Everyone will love it included your kids.
Its ingredients are: spaghetti, squids, peas, pureed tomatoes, onions, aromatic herbs (bay leaves, chives and parsley), extra virgin olive oil and white wine.
Here's the recipe as we make at our home without browning the onion for an healthier recipe.

Prepare the aromatic herbs. Clean, wash and chop parsley and onion.

Prepare the squids. Clean the squids and wash them under cold running water. Slice them finely.

Prepare the pasta sauce. Put the squids in a non-stick frying pan together with puréed tomatoes and tomato paste, parsley and onion, chives, dried bay leaves and wine. Season to taste with salt and begin cooking on medium heat, half-covered, stirring now and then. Add hot water only if necessary. Pour in the peas, well drained from their preservation juice, only few minutes before switching off the gas.

Cook the spaghetti. After half an hour you can boil the spaghetti in abundant salt water until al dente stage. Follow the instructions on the package or our directions to cook well Italian pasta.

The last step. Drain pasta very well and pour into the pan with the sauce. Stir and flavor all the ingredients on medium heat for a minute. Switch off the gas, add extra virgin olive oil, stir accurately and serve at once. These are the two secrets for a perfect pasta fish: finishing the pasta cooking in its sauce and adding the olive oil only at the end.

Note

• - You can also use frozen squids but you have to remember to thaw them at room temperature in advance.
• - Use fresh chives in the right season for the best result.
• - As you can see we don't use garlic because we think its aroma covers the other ingredients too much.
• - Obviously you can sauté the onion in the olive oil if this is your normal way to prepare pasta sauce.
• - 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.

Healthy eating

• - Generally we use whole-wheat spaghetti or spelt or kamut spaghetti to increase the fibers with this fish-and-vegetable sauce but you can use the pasta you prefer. This tip applies particularly when you prepare this dish for a special event.
• - Another detail for eating healthy. In this case we aren't used to sauté the onion and aromatic herbs in the olive oil. We put all the ingredients in the pan without the olive oil and add it only when we switch off the gas. All that to preserve the nutritional properties of olive oil.
• - This dish is full of ingredients so we use less than 70 g of pasta per head. We remember the right amount per head is 80 g (2 3/4 oz)
• - Daily menu. 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.
  We remember pasta should be eaten preferably at lunch and the calories eaten at lunch should be 500 - 700 (30 - 35% of energy needs for an adult if his daily needs are about 2000 calories and he correctly divides his calories into 5 micro-meals).
  Here are the doses per head: 70 g (2 1/2oz) pasta, 100 to 120 g (3 1/2 to 4 1/4oz) squids, 1 tablespoon peas, aromatic herbs and vegetables in the amount you want (they don't increase significantly the nutrition facts), about 80 ml white wine (less than a glass - 1/3 C) and one tablespoon olive oil.
• - Special occasion menu. Don't worry about fat, calories, sugars ... it happens rarely, doesn't it?
• - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
• - If you want to know more about Italian pasta and its nutrition value read this page.
• - We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavours that substitutes salt. Other no salt recipes ...

What's the right wine for " Spaghetti with squids and peas " ?

Our suggestion is: Vernaccia di Oristano (a white wine of Sardinia) .