Stuffed Calamari with Creamy Orzo

What is your favorite dish in summer?
My favorite is any simple but delicious seafood and tangy pasta with summer vegetables, either tomatoes or summer squash.

I really don't have a story for today's recipe. It is just my kind of food for summer. :) Slightly spicy but moist stuffed calamari with lots of herbs, and creamy orzo with tangy green flavor with spinach, tomatoes, feta cheese and lemon.

The creamy orzo can be a good side dish for any of your summer dish.

Stuffed Calamari with Creamy Orzo
(Yield: 2 servings / Cooking time: 2 hours)

Ingredients:

Stuffed Calamari + four calamari bodies + two tentacles, minced + 5 medium shrimps, peeled & deveined then, minced + 1/4 finely diced medium onion (50g) + 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced + 1/4 finely diced red bell pepper (40g) + 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes + 2 Tbsp panko bread crumbs + 4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaf + 1 tsp dried oregano + salt & pepper + vegetable oil

Creamy Orzo + 1/2 cup orzo + two calamari tentacles, minced + 1 lemon + 1 clove garlic, minced + 1 Tbsp finely diced shallot + 2 cups baby spinach* + 1 Tbsp feta cheese + 10 cherry tomatoes, halved + olive oil + salt and pepper

* Clean and dry spinach. If spinach is not baby spinach, please chop roughly.




Procedures:
1. Sweat finely diced onion in a pan with a bit of vegetable oil. When the onion becomes translucent, add finely minced garlic and diced red bell pepper. Cook about a few minutes more over low-medium heat. Finally, add red pepper flakes and sweat until you smell the hot red pepper. Transfer the cooked onion, garlic and red bell pepper to a plate and cool down to room temperature.


2. Mince shrimps and two calamari tentacles. Add the minced shrimps and calamari to #1 with chopped parsley, dried oregano and panko bread crumbs in a bowl. Season lightly salt and pepper. Mix well. This is the filling.


3. Loosely stuff each body of calamari with the filling. Secure the open side of calamari with a tooth pick. Please do not over stuff the calamari... as it cooks, the calamari will shrink. Now, you can store the stuffed calamari in a fridge until you are ready to cook.


4. Boil a pot of water to cook orzo and preheat your oven at 370°F (188°C).

5. While the water and oven are heating up, cook stuffed calamari. First, drizzle little bit of vegetable oil in a pan, and sear all sides of stuffed calamari for about 3-4 minutes until lightly browned over high heat. Then, place the browned calamari in the pre-heated oven for about 10-15 minutes.


While the calamari is cooking in the oven, let's cook creamy orzo!

6. Season the boiling pot of water for orzo with enough salt, and add orzo.


7. Sweat garlic and shallot with olive oil. Add minced calamari tentacles and sauté until the tentacles are cooked throughly. Then, add spinach and sauté until wilted. Add halved cherry tomatoes. As tomatoes shrink while they are cooked, season the vegetables with salt and pepper.


8. Turn off the heat, and add cooked orzo to the cooked vegetables (#7). While the orzo and vegetable are warm, add feta cheese and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Keep the creamy orzo warm. Right before serving, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, and add lemon zest and little bit of lemon juice.


9. Take out stuffed calamari from the oven, and let them cool slightly. Slice the stuffed calamari and serve it with creamy orzo.

Enjoy~