This dish for Italian calamari is delicious and rich. Unfairly, calamari has a reputation for being difficult to handle and rubbery when cooked. The trick is right here. Cook it very briefly—for 45 seconds—or for 45 minutes—a long, steady simmer. I employ the prolonged simmer technique for this marinara recipe.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 56 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 11 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
- 1 serrano chile pepper, sliced thin
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
- 1 anchovy fillet
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup clam juice
- 6 cups crushed or pureed Italian plum tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 pounds frozen calamari (tubes and tentacles), thawed, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
- ¼ cup freshly chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 1 (16 ounce) package dry pasta
Instructions
- Drizzle olive oil into a saucepan. Add onions, chile pepper, garlic, anchovy filet, red pepper flakes, and salt; place over medium-high heat. Stir and cook until onions and garlic just start to turn golden, 3 or 4 minutes.
- Stir in wine and simmer until wine is reduced by about half, 3 to 5 minutes. Add clam juice, tomatoes, and oregano. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
- Gently stir in calamari and simmer until tender, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain.
- Stir some sauce into the hot, drained pasta. Serve in warm bowls topped with more marinara sauce and grated cheese.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 806 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 118 g |
| Cholesterol | 4 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 12 g |
| Protein | 53 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 921 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was really good! I have been wanting to try to cook with squid, so I bought some fresh then looked for a recipe. This seemed to be the least intimidating. YouTubed how to clean them and followed this recipe. Near the end of the simmer, I added muscles (just love how they look in a pasta sauce) and leftover crab meat. The calamari were tender, and the sauce was perfect. Served with a bit of bread and that’s all we needed. Another great dish for company. *used the leftovers to make a stew as the video suggested. Added leftover corn, potato and Pho broth, So fantastic!! Was worried about the calamari being reheated, nope, did great!
Excellent! Chef Joh has done it again!
I was pleasantly surprised at the texture of the calamari, as I was sure it would be chewy, but it was great! What stopped me from going 5 stars was that for some reason my sauce ended up a bit thin and watery, and I’m not sure why. Probably needed to simmer a lot longer before adding the squid? With that tweak it would’ve easily been 5 stars.
Absolutely delicious. Restaurant worthy dish. Followed recipe exactly as written. Flavors blended beautifully. I love calamari but have always shied away from cooking it at home. This is a keeper for sure.
An Incredible dish that will definitely make your guests think you spent hours in the kitchen. The serrano peppers & pepper flakes give a very nice “kick” to the dish without being over the top. Everyone went back for seconds. I’ll definitely be making this dish again!
Followed recipe. No need for changes. It was DELICIOUS!!!!!
Fantastic recipe! We live in the PNW and can get fresh squid…I didn’t use the clam juice, as I like my sauce a bit drier. The anchovy filet gives such a nice taste to this dish! We lived in Italy for 4 years with the military, and I felt transported back to that time when I ate this sauce!
Very bland sauce and calamari. Not really special
Awesome recipe it’s a fun spicy twist off of marinara
What can I say? Chef John did it again! The extended cooking method made the most tender calamari I ever had. Local grocer didn’t have serrano pepper so I substituted with jalapeno, which is just not as hot. Excellent recipe.
Pretty good, think it might be better with clams or muscles.
It made a spectacular sauce and meal. I substituted half tablespoon of black pepper and left out the anchovie to reduce the salt content. Very nice bite to it. Wil do again.
I made this recipe it was the best I’ve tasted the ingredients were perfect everything was super delicious
A Marinara sauce that kicks nicely, would be good with black mussels or other seafood as well.
Very good and easy!