Calamares Rellenos a la Mallorquina

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy casserole or sauté pan with lid, about 30cm
• •Small frying pan
• •Mortar and pestle or small food processor
• •Wooden toothpicks
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the squid

   Pull the heads and tentacles from the bodies without tearing the openings. Remove the clear quills, innards and any remaining membrane from inside the bodies. Cut below the eyes to free the tentacles, push out the hard beaks, and remove the eyes. Pull off the fins and chop them with the tentacles into 5mm pieces. Rinse everything briefly under cold water, then dry it very well with kitchen paper.

   A fishmonger can clean the squid, but ask for the bodies whole and for every tentacle and fin to be returned. They belong in the filling.
2. 2

   Prepare the small things

   Cover the raisins with warm water and leave them for 10 minutes, then drain and dry them. Soak the 50g of filling bread in the milk. Heat 10ml of the olive oil in a small pan and fry the almonds and 20g of bread cubes until evenly golden, about 3 minutes. Lift them out and reserve them for the picada. Toast the pine nuts in the same pan until pale gold, watching them closely, then set them aside.

3. 3

   Build the filling base

   Heat 20ml olive oil in the wide casserole over medium-low heat. Add 150g onion and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and golden. Add 2 garlic cloves and cook for 30 seconds. Raise the heat to medium, add the chopped tentacles and fins, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until their liquid has evaporated and the pan is dry again. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and let it cool for 10 minutes.

4. 4

   Mix and test

   Squeeze the soaked bread gently and add it to the cooled squid mixture with the pork, egg, raisins, pine nuts, 12g parsley, marjoram, 5g salt and 0.5g black pepper. Mix with your fingers only until evenly combined; working it hard makes the filling tight. Fry a teaspoonful in the small pan until fully cooked and taste it. This small test is cheaper than discovering after eight stuffed squid that the seasoning was wrong.

5. 5

   Fill and pin

   Spoon the filling into each squid body, pressing it toward the pointed end without packing it firmly. Stop when each body is two-thirds full, leaving about 3cm empty at the opening. Push out any large air pocket and weave a wooden toothpick once through both sides of the opening to close it. Shape any leftover filling into 3cm balls; they cook in the sauce and nothing is wasted.

   Do not be tempted to add one last spoonful. The squid contracts and the filling expands during cooking. The empty third is what keeps the bodies from splitting.
6. 6

   Brown the squid

   Pat the filled squid dry once more and dust them lightly with the flour, shaking off every loose bit. Heat 40ml olive oil in the casserole over medium heat. Brown the squid in two batches for 2 to 3 minutes on each broad side, just until lightly golden. Brown the filling balls as well, then transfer everything to a plate. Lower the heat if the flour on the bottom begins to darken.

7. 7

   Cook the sofrito

   Add the remaining 30ml olive oil and 300g onion to the casserole with 3g of the salt. Cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring and scraping up the browned bits, until the onion is dark gold, soft and almost jammy. Add 3 garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato, the remaining 4g salt and 0.5g pepper. Cook gently for 15 to 18 minutes, until the tomato is thick, sweet and beginning to show oil at the edges. This slow sofrito is the floor of the sauce. Rush it and the sauce stays sharp.

8. 8

   Add brandy and braise

   Take the casserole off the heat before pouring in the brandy. Return it to medium heat and bubble for 2 to 3 minutes, until its raw smell has gone. Add the fish stock and bay leaf, bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, then return the squid and filling balls in a single layer. The liquid should reach roughly halfway up the bodies. Cover, lower the heat, and braise at the quietest simmer for 40 minutes, turning the squid once after 20 minutes.

9. 9

   Finish with picada

   Pound the fried almonds, fried bread, remaining garlic clove and remaining 8g parsley in a mortar until crumbly and fine. Work in 60ml of liquid from the casserole to make a loose paste. Stir the picada, the almond-and-bread thickener, into the sauce without pressing hard on the squid. Cook uncovered for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the squid yields easily to a small knife and the sauce coats a spoon. The pork filling should reach at least 71°C at the centre.

10. 10

    Rest and serve

    Remove the bay leaf and rest the casserole off the heat for 10 minutes. Pull out every toothpick. Serve the squid whole with the filling balls and plenty of sauce, or cut one crosswise into thick rounds to show the filling. If the sauce has tightened too much, loosen it with 30ml fish stock or water. Bread alongside is not decoration; that sauce has work for it.

Chef Tips

• •Choose squid with bodies about 15 to 18cm long. Smaller ones are troublesome to fill, while very large squid need another 10 to 15 minutes before they become tender.
• •Frozen cleaned squid is the sensible substitute when fresh whole squid are poor or unavailable. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and dry it thoroughly. It will be slightly softer and may release more water, so cook the chopped tentacles until the pan is dry.
• •Mallorca's tomàtiga de ramellet, the small hanging tomato kept for rubbing and cooking, is excellent here. Away from the island, use ripe plum tomatoes in season. When fresh tomatoes are pale and watery, use good canned whole peeled tomatoes; the sauce will taste deeper and less fresh, which suits a winter braise.
• •Add the brandy with the casserole away from the heat, then return it to the stove. There is no need to set it alight. Cooking it down quietly gives the flavour without singed eyebrows.
• •A dry Mallorcan white made with Prensal Blanc suits the sweet raisins and the seafood without fighting the pork. A light, young red made with Manto Negro also works if that is what the table prefers.

Advance Preparation

• •Clean the squid and prepare the cooked onion-and-tentacle filling base up to 12 hours ahead. Refrigerate both separately in covered containers, then mix in the pork and egg shortly before stuffing.
• •The squid can be filled and pinned up to 6 hours before cooking. Keep them covered in the coldest part of the refrigerator and bring them out only when the pan is ready.
• •The finished dish is better after one night in the refrigerator, when the sauce settles around the filling. Reheat it covered over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, adding a little water or fish stock if the sauce has become too thick.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 600g)