Calamares Rellenos are squid bodies stuffed with a paste of their own tentacles, onion, garlic, and sometimes prawns or pork, then seared and simmered in a sauce of onion, tomato, and the squid's ink. The stuffing stays moist inside the squid; the sauce is dark and briny. It is a festive Catalan and Valencian dish, served on special occasions.
Stuffed squid is a festive dish of the Catalan and Valencian coast, where squid is a daily catch. The cleverness of the dish is in using the whole squid — the body becomes a container, the tentacles become the filling, the ink becomes the sauce. Catalan cooking calls this principle aprofitament (making the most of everything). It is a Sunday or feast-day dish because it takes time to make.
A squid tube sliced into rounds, sitting in a glossy dark sauce. The squid is tender; the stuffing is savory and slightly bouncy, flecked with the pink of prawn or the green of parsley. The sauce is briny and deep, with a faint bitterness from the ink. Mop it with bread.
The squid bodies are filled loosely (overstuffing makes them burst) and sealed with a toothpick. They are seared hard to develop flavor, then simmered gently — too long and the squid turns rubbery. The ink (sold in sachets) gives the sauce its black color and a briny, faintly metallic depth. The stuffing is bound with a little egg and bread.
Variations
Some add prawns or minced pork to the filling; some use squid ink in the sauce, others do not; some add peas; some finish with a picada of garlic and parsley.
On the Palate
Where Calamares Rellenos sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 50 min active + 25 min waiting
- 18 min
Clean 8 medium squid; keep bodies whole; chop tentacles finely.
- 210 min
Make filling: sauté tentacles with minced onion and garlic; cool; mix with 1 beaten egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt.
- 38 min
Loosely fill each squid body to two-thirds full; seal the opening with a toothpick.
Watch outFill each body only two-thirds — the stuffing swells as it cooks, and packed tight the squid splits and spills in the pot.
- 44 min
Sear the stuffed squid in olive oil in a wide pot, 2 minutes per side; remove.
Watch outSear the stuffed bodies hard and fast just for color, not to cook through — leave them in and they toughen before the braise even starts.
- 56 min
Soften sliced onion and garlic in the same oil; add grated tomato; cook 6 minutes.
- 64 min
Add a splash of white wine and a sachet of squid ink; add water.
- 725 min
Return squid; simmer covered 25 minutes, turning once, until tender.
Watch outSimmer gently and pull at just-tender — squid has a narrow window; a few minutes past and it turns to rubber.
- 85 min
Remove toothpicks; slice squid into rounds; serve with the sauce.
