Calamares con papas asadas

calamari with baked potatoes

A simple Spanish recipe for calamari with baked potatoes. We will advise you on how to clean calamari and what to watch out for in the recipe.

HOW TO CHOOSE CALAMARI?

Small calamari are best for this recipe. These are mixed with the baked potatoes at the final stage

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR?

Preparing calamari is always a bit tricky. Larger calamari go hard relatively quickly. The smaller ones are easier to work with, but make sure you have a really hot pan ( ideally with a thick bottom to keep the heat ). It is better to fry the calamari in several batches so that you don't have to drain the water.

VARIANTS OF THE RECIPE

If you don't have small potatoes, you can use large potatoes cut into similar sized pieces. In Spain, plain parsley is used, but you can try an almost identical recipe in Portugal with green coriander.

RECIPE: CALAMARES CON PAPAS ASADAS - CALAMARI WITH BAKED POTATOES

Preparation: 55 minutes

Serving: 3

700g of smaller uncleaned calamari (squid)
800g small whole potatoes (max 5 cm) - washed, unpeeled
About 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic - chopped
4 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley
salt

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 220°C. In a baking dish, mix the potatoes, garlic, a teaspoon of salt and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the potatoes should be nicely browned and tender when pierced with a fork. If they seem too hard, reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue for another 10 minutes. Remove the finished potatoes.

Potatoes should be roasted and soft when pierced.

Clean the calamari. Separate the head from the body, clean the inside of the body, remove the pigment membrane from the body, separate the tentacles from the head, remove the so-called “Beak”. You are left with the white, hollowed-out bell-shaped body and tentacles to use. Dry everything perfectly, try to dry the body cavity as well. More information can be found in the instructions for cleaning squids.

Cleaned squid ready for further processing
About 10 minutes before the potatoes are done, heat a frying pan (ideally with a thick bottom to keep the heat) on the stove over high heat. Drizzle with one tablespoon of oil. Carefully place the calamari in the pan so that they are not touching. Send from one side. Allow to fry vigorously without moving the calamari in any way. After two minutes (it depends on the size and temperature - the time can be shorter for small squids) carefully check one to see if it is browned from the bottom ( see picture below ). When turning, try to pick up the body perfectly, so you turn the calamari with the browned layer as well. Salt the other side and bake again for the same time. Remove the finished calamari to a plate.

The calamari squirm in the pan, it's a good idea to push them with a wooden spoon from time to time for even frying
To the container in which you baked the potatoes, add the prepared calamari, chopped parsley and the rest of the olive oil to the potatoes. Gently but thoroughly mix and serve.