Spicy Calamari With Fregola
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 2pounds small to medium calamari, tubes and tentacles cleaned, cut into ½-inch pieces
- Salt and pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- ½teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 4anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
- 4small garlic cloves, minced
- 1large onion, diced (about 1½ cups)
- ⅛teaspoon crumbled saffron
- ½cup dry white wine
- 1cup diced canned tomato
- ¾cup chicken broth or water
- 1cup fregola sarda (add ½ cup for heartier appetites)
- 12basil leaves
- Pinch of dried oregano
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
349 calories; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 30 grams protein; 768 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Spread the calamari on a baking sheet and pat dry as best you can with paper towels. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, wide skillet over high heat. Add calamari and quickly stir-fry, cooking for only 1 minute, until puffed. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.
- Step 3
Return pan to stove, reduce heat to medium-high and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add crushed red pepper, anchovy and garlic and let sizzle, then add onions and stir well.
- Step 4
Season onions generously and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, until softened and faintly colored. Add saffron and wine and simmer for 1 minute, then add tomato and broth. Adjust heat so sauce simmers gently for about 10 minutes, until flavors are well mingled. Taste for salt and hot pepper.
- Step 5
Meanwhile, bring 4 cups salted water to a boil. Add fregola and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and keep warm.
- Step 6
Add par-cooked calamari to the sauce over high heat. Add basil leaves and stir well until everything is heated through and calamari are completely cooked, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a warm serving bowl and fold in cooked fregola. Sprinkle with oregano, add a drizzle of olive oil, if desired, and serve.
Tip
- The calamari are just briefly sautéed at the beginning and added to the sauce later, to keep them tender.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Jim and Donna
excellent dish. As noted in tip, brief sauté is critical step for tenderness. Calamari released almost a cup of liquid (not mentioned in recipe?). Poured it off before cooking garlic and onion, then added it back before tomatoes and cooked it down before continuing.
Betsy Rosenberg
Can frozen calamari be used?
Jean
Hummm delicious. Made just a couple of tweaks. Used clam juice instead of chicken broth. Added a tablespoon of tomato paste instead of the tomatoes to the broth as that's what I had on hand. I suggest adding the almost finished cooked fregola to the sauce before adding the calamari. Letting it finish in the broth thickens the sauce and brings more flavor to the fregola.
Christine Hickman
I learned from my Italian fishmonger that previously frozen calamari are more tender. By all means, use them.
dimmerswitch
Reills, This can be found in the pasta aisle of many well stocked groceries, at least in larger cities. We used to have to get it from Italian specialty food vendors but these days we find the Rusticella Abruzzo brand in general grocers. If push comes to shove, you can order from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Rustichella-Abruzzo-Fregola-Sarda-17-5/dp/B000B38...
JP
Yes. Be sure to completely defrost it and dry it out as well.
robert
a bit of botargue does wonders
Elaine
Of all the NYT recipes I've tried, this was far and away the most successful! I followed the recipe exactly. It would serve four generously, and could be made ahead in stages: sauté the squid and set aside, make the sauce and set aside, cook the fregula and set aside, assemble all just when people are sitting down to dinner. Delicious!
Marc and Ruth Cooper
We tried this last night with frozen Point Judith calamari and Israeli Couscous and really enjoyed it. Good textures and flavors. Most everything is always in the pantry. I think you could add or substitute other seafood if you can't find good quality squid. Might even be a good make-ahead dish combining pre-parcooked calamari and tomato sauce with basil leaves when everyone at the table. Do not over cook squid or it will get rubbery. We will try this again with the fresh Bahamian conch.
stephanie
Winner winner calamari dinner! This is delicious.
Rebecca
Then try using calamari i stead, which is what the recipe calls for.
Rebecca
Another person used prawns instead of calamari and also complained about soupiness. Try using.calamari, which is what the recipe calls for.
Lisa
Outstanding recipe! I appreciated reading through comments before cooking. A few tweaks…I added the liquid created from the calamari’s first cook to reduce in the sauce. I used 1 teaspoon tomato paste (estratto di pomodoro) instead of diced tomatoes, adding a little extra water. I also undercooked the fregola and finished it in the sauce, then finished the calamari. A keeper!
Mvdar
Omitted the chicken stock and added green onions and used frozen calamari and served over polenta. Nothing left and as others mentioned this is a perfect prep before dinner guests arrive kind of meal!
Chris
I forgot to mention three other adjustments, in addition to my other notes: - Soak the calamari with for an hour in the fridge in water, tsp of salt, and juice from two lemons. Bring to room temperature before sautéing. This helps to tenderize. - Use a 14oz can of whole peeled tomatoes. Diced tomatoes have extra preservatives to maintain the shape (impacting the taste). - Save about a half a cup of pasta water and add it into the sauce towards the end to bind things together.
Chris
Fantastic flavor and recipes, but I still have a few notes based on personal preference. First, I think a pound of calamari is plenty, and I’d suggest making the “heartier” 1.5 cup fregola version. Second, when sautéing the calamari, it releases about a cup of liquid. I drained and didn’t reuse. With the anchovies and calamari, I felt the sauce was already plenty briney. I also doubled the basil leaves, used fresh oregano (delicious addition), and finished with a squeeze of lemon.
Holly
I substitute the fregola sarda with palmini (hearts of palm pasta). It goes perfectly with the flavor and makes it keto!
WmFryk
A wonderful recipe- impressive both when served and consumed. My fish market only had a pound of calamari so I supplemented with tail-on, deveined shrimp with success. I found saffron was much more reasonable bought online than in my local market. Enjoy!
Mary W
Loved the dish except it was too spicy for me (and I usually like spicy). Next time I will only use 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper.
stephan
Add capers in sea salt, great
ZGBNM
Tender but squishy, squid didn’t have a pleasing texture at all. I prefer charred a la plancha or fried. The sauce was tasty but 1 cup of tomato sauce wasn’t nearly enough. Certainly not like the photo. Should’ve used the whole 14 oz can of chopped tomato. Mystified by this recipe and rating, wish there was video.
stephanie
Winner winner calamari dinner! This is delicious.
Andrew
Made without pasta. Served with rice. Very tasty.
Brian
Tried to pull off moisture by spinning the calamari in a salad spinner and leaving them on a rack in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Excess cooking the calamari yields rubber, so I cooked them 45 sec and then added them back to the pan immediately prior to serving. Who uses just 4 anchovies? Amp it up!
jessie
Super delicious!!! I didn’t have access to fregola so used Israeli couscous, and I think I would toast it in a little butter before cooking next time. (Couscous maybe takes longer? so start the water a bit earlier.) I added a little bit of fennel (bulb with the onion, fronds with the basil) and extra basil. Forgot the oregano.
Rena
Fabulous as written! But - it cannot be done in 30 minutes!!!
Margie SS
Cooked exactly as written (although halved the calamari because I only had 1 pound on hand) and it was excellent. I used frozen calamari and let thaw and then sit for about 15 minutes to get all of the water out prior to flashing, which resulted in very little liquid (maybe 1 tsp) left in the pan. Would definitely make again.
Private notes are only visible to you.
Advertisement
