Spaghetti neri con calamari e peperoni
Squid-and-pepper black spaghetti
Black spaghetti with calamari and peppers is first of all an excellent main dish for your Sunday lunch but a perfect choice for your Halloween menu too. If you're looking for Halloween recipe ideas read it. Just a little scenography (black flat plate) and one or more whole squids on the top that turn into ghosts ... for the delight of your kids.
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yeld for 4
- 200g (7 ounces) squid ink or black spaghetti
- 500g (1.1 pound) thawed clear whole squids (calamari) with their arms and tentacles
- 300g (10 1/2 ounces) red bell peppers
- 80g (2.8 ounces) fresh young onion, sliced
- 200g (7 ounces) ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon dried chives
- 1 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 1/2 tablespoon virgin olive oil
- Salt
- For the squid filling
- 200g (7 ounces) frozen spinach
- Half a sun-dried tomato, cut into pieces
- 20g (3/4 ounce) stoned green olives, sliced
- 30g (1 1/4 ounce) fresh young onion, sliced
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Time:
preparation: 30 minutes
plus spinch cooling time
cooking: 1 hour
total: 1 h 30 minutes - Difficulty:
easy recipe - Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 356 (kCal) 18 % GDA (*) - 1490 (kJ)
Protein: 18.5 (g) 37 % GDA
Total fat: 10.8 (g) 16 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 48.9 (g) 19 % GDA
Sugars: 9.8 (g) 11 % GDA
The recipe of squid ink spaghetti with pepper-and-squid sauce
Preparation and cooking
- - Begin cooking the frozen spinach and preparing some boiling water or vegetable broth if you prefer.
Put the spinach in a non-stick frying pan together with the other ingredients (dried tomato, olives, onion and olive oil).
Cook over gentle heat, stirring now and then. Add some tablespoons of hot water only if necessary.
Let the cooking juice reduce very well.
At the end of cooking season to taste with salt.
Let the spinach cool.
You can prepare the spinach some hours ahead and keep them in the fridge until you use them. - - Cut two squids into rings and all the arms and tentacles into pieces.
- - Fill the body of the two remaining squids with the spinach mixture.
Close the open end with a toothpick and steam.
You'll need about 20 minutes if they are not too big.
Keep them warm until you use them. - - Put the onions in a non-stick frying pan together with the olive oil and bay leaf. Let all the ingredients fry slightly.
- - Add the rings and pieces of the squids and stir frequently.
- - Dilute the tomato paste into a ladle of hot water.
- - Add the diluted tomato paste and the tomato pulp.
- - Meanwhile clean the bell peppers.
Cut them into little pieces and add to the pan with the squids. - - Season to taste with salt and stir.
- - Continue cooking over gentle heat adding other hot water or vegetable broth if necessary.
Remember to stir now and then. - - After 20 minutes bring to the boil abundant water to cook the spaghetti.
- - Season to taste with salt just before adding the pasta.
- - Cook al dente stage and drain very well.
- - Meanwhile complete the cooking of the sauce. Add the chives and parsley just before turning off the stove.
- - Transfer the spaghetti into the pan with the sauce.
Just before serving
- - Let the spaghetti flavor in the sauce over high heat, stirring with delicacy. The secret to do a good Italian pasta dish is really this: complete the pasta cooking in the pan with its sauce!
- - Turn off the stove.
- - Transfer the black spaghetti on a serving plate and place the whole squids on the top.
- - For your Halloween menu dinner: drain the spaghetti and season with 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil. Transfer the spaghetti on a serving plate. Spoon the pepper-and-calamari sauce on the top and place the whole squid as you can see on the photo.
- - At the end remember to slice the whole squids and add them to the single pasta portion.
Tips and menu planning
- - Black spaghetti with peppers and squids may be prepared for your Halloween party. They are very tasty for both adults and children.
Here's our tip if you do this main dish for your children! Read the story of Bertha the Witch to keep them entertained and create the right atmosphere in the Halloween night. Simply use the imagination and make them believe you're doing the dishes the witch is used to cook at her house. Bertha the Witch is one of the Fairy Elle's characters.
Berta is a blundering witch and therefore she doesn't take care so much of her dishes. The important thing is the food for her not the appearance ... This spaghetti dish may be called Spaghetti of Bertha The Witch! - - If you choose to prepare this spaghetti dish for another occasion you can use all the squids for the sauce. In this case increase the amount of tomato pulp.
- - You can use other kinds of pasta, the shape you prefer. We like tagliatelle very much with this sauce.
- - For a better taste use fresh chives and parsley.
- - If you have some pasta left don't worry. It tastes fantastic if heated the day after.
- - Spaghetti with bell peppers and calamari is a perfect main dish for your Sunday lunch.
But you can prepare it for a special occasions with your friends too. Here's out tip for an authentic Italian menu. Begin with a starter: crostini with fish salad. Then serve this spaghetti dish. In Italy we are used to serve a second course after pasta dish. In this case you could choose among a fish or poultry recipe. Complete with a typical Italian dessert.
Healthy eating
- - Daily menu. Squid-and-pepper black spaghetti is a tasty one-plate meal. It is a low-fat recipe, ideal for your lunch.
In fact we remember you 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).
Complete your meal with raw seasonal vegetables or a green salad dressed with one teaspoon olive oil and vinegar according to your own taste (per head) and, to finish, fresh fruit.
Here are the doses per head: 50g (1 3/4 ounce) pasta, 80g (2.8 ounces) bell peppers, 50g (1 3/4 ounce) tomato pulp, half a squid, 1 teaspoon olive oil and the aromatic herbs you want. Then you have to consider the whole squids to steam. If you don't want to garnish your pasta dish you can use a whole squid per head. - - A tip for hungry people. Don't change the doses of this pasta dish. Eat raw vegetables if you're still hungry.
- - Special occasion menu. You can choose it for a full menu, sure to impress your guests as it is explained above. Don't worry for calories, fat, sugars in such an event. It's rare, isn't it?
- - Pasta with calamari and bell peppers has 4.5g of fiber (daily value is 23.0g)
- - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
- - Read more about Italian pasta and its nutrition value.
- - We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavors that substitutes salt. Other no salt recipes on the Italian cooking page
By Loretta
What's the right wine ?
Our suggestion is Lambrusco di Sorbara rosé (wine of Emilia - Italy).
The author Loretta Sebastiani lives in Italy (IT)
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