Day 14 - March 7, 2015 - Easy Calamari with Garlic and Parsley - Εύκολο Καλαμάρι με σκόρδο και μαϊντανό

Cooking squid is not for everybody.  Some people don't like that it takes a while to clean squid, removing the ink sack, removing the beak, the eyes, and that piece of cartilage that looks like plastic.  The nice part about cooking squid is that you can find it already cleaned in the freezer section of the grocery store!  You will also find it at many fish counters, and definitely at a fish monger.  If the squid is already cleaned, this dish ill take 15 minutes to make from start to finish.  It is a nice, quick appetizer that can be served any time of year.  There are very few ingredients, and they are all ones that most people have on hand regularly.

For this recipe, you will need the following: 

1 pound (about 450 g) Calamari, cleaned

3 TBSP Lemon juice

3 TBSP Oil

3 cloves Garlic, minced

2 TBSP Parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

First, put the cleaned and rinsed squid in a bowl with the lemon juice.  You have the choice to cut thee pieces of squid or leave them whole.  Most people would cut the calamari now before putting it into the lemon juice.  This time, we left ours whole because we thought it looked pretty.  In the past, we have cut it into large bite sized pieces, which works nicely.  Whether the calamari is cut or not, allowing it to soak in the lemon juice is a needed step.  Allow the squid to sit for 10 minutes to marinate.  This should be enough time for the acid of the lemon to help soften the outer layer of the  calamari.  

While the squid is soaking in the lemon juice, you have enough time to mince the garlic and measure the oil and parsley.  Ten minutes goes by quickly when you are busy!

Heat the oil in a frying pan using a medium high to high heat.  You don't want to fry at too high of a hat so not to affect the colour of the ingredients.  The amount of oil may seem excessive with only 3 cloves of garlic, but use all of it.  You are going to add the garlic right now, but in two minutes, you will add the squid, and you want to make sure there is enough hot oil for all the squid.  Keep the garlic moving around in the frying pan so that it does not turn brown.  

Now, add the squid.  Continue to move the garlic and squid around in the pan so that it cooks evenly all over.  When you see the colour change to a lovely darkened pink, with a purple hue to the tentacles, and some liquid forming in the pan, you know it is time to add the parsley.  This is only about three to four minutes, so you have to stay on top of it.

Add the parsley and mix it all through the calamari so that each piece is dressed with flakes of parsley leaves.  We used dried parsley here today, and in the past we have had the fresh parsley to add -- both are good, and if you are in a pinch, the dried parsley is an easy solution.

Once the parsley is softened and mixed in the pan, you can serve the calamari.  It should be nice and tender, and flavourful.  Remove the squid and put the pieces on a plate or bowl.  Then, you can pour whatever "sauce" is in the pan, or you can let the sauce cook down a bit on the high heat to make it stronger flavoured before adding it to the serving dish.  Husband likes this style of calamari without any of the juices poured on top, so he can get the bits of parsley and garlic stuck onto the pieces of squid, which is very flavourful.  Wife prefers to have a little sauce so she can dip her bread into the dish and enjoy the lingering flavour even more.  You should try it both ways and tell us which you prefer.

Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the squid before serving.  We also sprinkled some more parsley on top of the calamari for our garnish.  Serve this while it is hot -- that is when it tastes the best!

We like to serve a calamari when we need something different in our menu.  When having company over, this is a nice dish to serve because it is easy, but looks like a lot of work.  We think that the most work comes from having to buy the calamari, and if you buy the ones that are cleaned for you, this dish can be made (start to finish) in less than thirty minutes.  When your schedule is tight, and you need a good protein, this is an excellent choice.  Let us know how yours turned out!


A Christian must be courteous to all. His words and deeds should breath with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which abides in his soul, so that in this way he might glorify the name of God. He who regulates all of his speech also regulates all of his actions. He who keeps watch over the words he is about say also keeps watch over the deeds he intends to do, and he never goes out of the bounds good and benevolent conduct. The graceful speech of a Christian is characterized by delicateness and politeness. This fact, born of love, produces peace and joy. On the other hand, boorishness gives birth to hatred, enmity, affliction, competitiveness, disorder and wars. 

(St. Nektarius of Aegina, The Path to Happiness, 7)

Source of quote: http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm