Air-Fried Stuffed Calamari
by Val CucinaAir-Fried Stuffed Calamari
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Stuffed calamari is a popular dish served in and around the Mediterranean in Europe, Spain, Italy and Portugal. It is normally eaten as beginning course for a meal or as light snack to accompany wines or sherry as “tapas”.
This dish is easy to cook in the air-fryer because the stuffing is already cooked and the calamari (squid) itself cooks fairly quickly. Afterward, you can make a loose “tapenade” with garlic or shallots, anchovies, capers, a few chopped olives, lemon zest and good quality olive oil, to spread over the calamari before serving. Brush some olive oil over thinly sliced baguette pieces and crisp them in an oven (or in a sauté pan even better) to eat with the calamari will be an amazing food memory to share.
Ingredients
- 4 small-medium size squid tubes, cleaned & peeled
- ½-¾ cup small prawns or fish meat, chopped
- 1 tablespoon of shallots, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Zest of ½ lemon
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne chili powder (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon of home-made breadcrumb or panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
- Coarse salt & freshly grounded black pepper
- Pinch of fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil for frying
- 4-5 capers, slightly chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon of Italian parsley, chopped
- ½ teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 2 small strips of anchovies, smashed & finely chopped
- 2-3 olives, black or green, chopped
- A few capers, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon quality olive oil
- Zest of ½ lemon
- Crushed chili peppers (optional)
TAPENADE
Directions
- Set “air fry” function to “A4”; set temperature to “375F”; set timer to “9” minutes; place cooking basket in the middle of the air fryer when cooking; preheat the air fryer;
- First thing you will need to do is to wash & cleaned the squid. It is easily done by rinsing the squid in and out, then remove the translucent backbone from the inside;
- After removing the backbone, carefully remove the thin outer layer of the squid by tearing it away;
- Save the head, clean it and chop up the remaining bits for the stuffing;
- Rinse the cleaned squid and rub it in a little olive oil to keep it from drying;
- Chop the prawn or fish meat to small pieces and mix it together with a little lemon juice, lemon zest, cayenne, herbs and salt & pepper;
- Last, add the panko and mix the fish/squid meat together;
- Place the olive oil in a frying pan, with low medium heat add the shallots first, sauté for a minute or so, then add the fish & squid mixture;
- Toss the mixture in the pan gently for 3 minutes or so, then take the pan off the heat;
- Let the mixture in a separate bowl, the stuffing is complete;
- Stuff each squid with the just cooked stuffing, do not over-stuff the squids, you will need to seal the top of the squid with a toothpick when cooking;
- Mix together the chopped capers, anchovies, minced garlic, a little lemon juice and olive oil together in a bowl;
- Place a piece of parchment paper on aluminum foil in the air fry basket;
- Place the stuffed squid on the parchment paper, drizzle the mixed capers, anchovies and garlic mixture over top;
- Place the basket in the middle of the oven and start air frying;
- After 9 minutes, remove the tray from oven, place the squid on a plate, sprinkle the Italian parsley over the squid and serve;
- If you have time to make the tapenade, you can also serve it with the air fried stuffed squid.