{"id":1213,"date":"2011-06-13T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2011-06-12T22:52:27","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T03:52:27","slug":"calamari-steaks-with-tomato-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/italian-cuisine\/calamari-steaks-with-tomato-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Calamari Steaks with Tomato Sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com<\/h4>\n<div id=\"attachment_1215\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/calmari_marinara_plated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1215\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1215\" title=\"calmari_marinara_plated\" src=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/calmari_marinara_plated-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/calmari_marinara_plated-300x215.jpg 300w, http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/calmari_marinara_plated.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1215\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Calamari with Tomato Sauce<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I really enjoy cooking with calamari steaks.\u00a0 They are listed as a Power Food by Weight Watchers and with good reason.\u00a0 Calamari steaks are low in calories and have zero fat, and they contain many elements necessary in good, healthy food.\u00a0 Not only are they low in calories and fat, but they taste great as well and hold up in many recipes.<\/p>\n<p>Calamari steaks come in 4 to 6 ounce portions, are flat, and about 3\u2033 by 4\u2033 in size.\u00a0 They can be grilled, pan fried, or even baked.\u00a0 If you have little squid in your mind, remove the vision, as the steaks are clean rectangles of food which can be easily cooked and eaten.<\/p>\n<p>As a bonus, children (and some adults,) will not even know what it is when served.\u00a0 This should help you with finicky eaters.\u00a0 The following recipe is for calamari with a tomato sauce, that turned out very tasty for my family the other day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ingredients (Feeds Four people):<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>5\u00a0(4-6) oz Calamari steaks<\/li>\n<li>2 Tablespoon Butter<\/li>\n<li>2\u00a0Tablespoon Olive Oil<\/li>\n<li>1 24 oz Can San Mateo Whole Peeled Tomatoes<\/li>\n<li>6 oz Shiitake Mushrooms<\/li>\n<li>1 Small White Onion<\/li>\n<li>12 Cloves Roasted Garlic (Found in Olive Bars of Grocery Stores)<\/li>\n<li>1 Jar Roasted Red Bell Peppers in Water<\/li>\n<li>1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar<\/li>\n<li>Salt and Pepper to taste<\/li>\n<li>Red Pepper flakes to taste<\/li>\n<li>1 Whole Lemon<\/li>\n<li>1 Teaspoon Sugar<\/li>\n<li>1 Package Fresh Basil (about 4 ounces, 20 leaves)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Prep Work<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thaw the calamari steaks if they are frozen.\u00a0 Dry them off completely once thawed.\u00a0 If they are wet they will not sear properly as you will spend more time evaporating water than cooking the protein.<\/p>\n<p>Finely dice the onion.\u00a0 Drain the red bell peppers and dice.\u00a0 Blend the tomatoes until smooth (I use my VitaMix blender for this.)\u00a0 Remove the stems from the shiitake mushrooms and slice the caps into thin strips.\u00a0 Wash and slice the lemon in half.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1216\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/cooking_sauce.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1216\" title=\"cooking_sauce\" src=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/cooking_sauce-300x193.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/cooking_sauce-300x193.jpg 300w, http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/cooking_sauce.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1216\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cooking the Sauce<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Put your stove on high and place a large skillet on the burner.\u00a0 Once it is warm, add 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil to the pan.\u00a0 Butter, when mixed with oil, helps food to develop a nice brown caramelization.\u00a0 You can use butter or oil alone, but it will not look or taste as good.<\/p>\n<p>Once the butter turns slightly brown, add the onion to the pan.\u00a0 Stir the onions to prevent scorching but let them sit long enough to develop brown spots.\u00a0 This should take about\u00a05 minutes.\u00a0 Once they are browned, and translucent, add the vinegar to the pan.\u00a0 Be careful as the food will steam quite a bit and splatter bits of hot oil around.<\/p>\n<p>Let the onions cook down for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.\u00a0 Once they are caramelized, add the tomato sauce to the pan and stir.\u00a0 Cook the sauce until it starts to bubble and turn down the heat to medium (a simmer.)\u00a0 Add the mushrooms at this point, along with the sliced roasted bell peppers.<\/p>\n<p>Add the sugar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.\u00a0 Taste it to ensure the spice level is correct.\u00a0 Zest the lemon pieces over the sauce (this means to shred the lemon skin over the sauce with a zester).<\/p>\n<p>Cook, stirring occassionaly, for about 20-30 minutes.\u00a0 You can start the calamari after about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Calamari<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Heat your Electric Griddle to 350 degrees.\u00a0 Put the remaining\u00a0butter and oil on the griddle and wait until the butter just starts to brown.\u00a0 This may take 30 seconds or so.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1217\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/grilling_calamari.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1217\" title=\"grilling_calamari\" src=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/grilling_calamari-300x179.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/grilling_calamari-300x179.jpg 300w, http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/grilling_calamari.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1217\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Calamari on the Griddle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Place the calamari steaks on the grill for 5 minutes OR until they are browned around the edges on the bottom.\u00a0 I say \u201cor\u201d here because the size of the steaks will alter how long they need to cook.\u00a0 Once browned, flip over and let grill for 3 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Keep the griddle on.\u00a0 Remove the steaks to a cutting board and dice.\u00a0 Each piece should be eaten in one bite once the steaks are cut.\u00a0 Once cut, put back on the griddle.<\/p>\n<p>Squeeze the lemon over the calamari pieces and toss to incorporate.\u00a0 Continue tossing the calamari every 10 seconds for the next two minutes.\u00a0 Remove from the griddle and set aside in a large bowl.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Putting It Together<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chiffonade\">Chiffonade<\/a> the\u00a0Basil and incorporate half in with sauce.\u00a0 Remove the sauce from heat and put a cup of sauce (or more) on each plate.\u00a0 Top each mound of sauce with 1\/4 of the calamari.\u00a0 Sprinkle the roasted garlic and basil over each mound of calamari.\u00a0 Serve and enjoy!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1214\" style=\"width: 189px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/3_plates_sauce.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1214\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1214\" title=\"3_plates_sauce\" src=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/3_plates_sauce-179x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"179\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/3_plates_sauce-179x300.jpg 179w, http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/3_plates_sauce.jpg 478w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 179px) 100vw, 179px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1214\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plating The Sauce<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com I really enjoy cooking with calamari steaks.\u00a0 They are listed as a Power Food by Weight Watchers and with good reason.\u00a0 Calamari steaks are low in calories and have zero fat, and they contain many elements necessary in good, healthy food.\u00a0 Not only are they low in calories and fat, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[327,5,329,4,350],"tags":[455,256,36,330,13,456,182],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-cuisine","category-general","category-low-calorie-food-healthy","category-italian-cuisine","category-recipes","tag-basil","tag-calamari","tag-garlic","tag-grilled","tag-italian","tag-shiitake","tag-tomato"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1225,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/1225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}