Date night done right! Tonight, I whipped up this incredible Paccheri with Baby Calamari and let’s just say she was swooning over every bite. The secret is in the perfectly cooked calamari and that spicy tomato sauce!
See how simple it is to create this great-tasting dish below and don’t forget that you can always print it.
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Paccheri Pasta with Baby Calamari
Servings: 4 People
Ingredients
- 500 g Paccheri Pasta
- 750 g Baby Calamari , skin and bone removed
- 1 Long Chili Pepper , deseeded (as per your heat liking) and finely chopped
- 100 ml White Wine
- 250 g Cherry Tomatoes , halved
- 300 g Tomato Passata , preferably Mutti
- 2 Cloves Garlic , peeled and smashed
- 1 tsp Sweet Chili Flakes , ground
- 3 tbsp Fresh Parsley , finely chopped
- 3 tbsp EVOO , Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Parmesan Cheese , grated (optional)
- 3 Litres Water , well salted
- 1 tsp fine Sea Salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- In a large pot bring water to a boil on high heat adding a generous amount of salt. Add the pasta, stirring occasionally so as not to stick and cook half the time of the suggested time on the box of the pasta. Reserve 1 cup of cooking water.
- In the meantime, Separate the body of the calamari from its tentacles and cut the body on rings of about 1 ½ cm. Pat dry and keep aside.
- Place a large and deep sauté pan over low-medium heat and pour the oil and wait for a minute to heat-up. Add the garlic and sauté for 2’ for the oil to be infused and then add the chili peppers. Sauté for 2’ more, add the sweet chili flakes, increase the heat to the max and a minute later drop in the calamari rings along with the tentacles. Sauté for 1 ½’ and deglaze with the wine.
- Once the alcohol has evaporated add the cherry tomatoes along with the tomato pulp, season with the salt and pepper and simmer for 6’ while gently tossing every now and then.
- Add the half-cooked pasta into the pan along with ½ the cup of the reserved pasta water and mix well. Cook for 4-5’ and if needed add more of the pasta water. A minute before removing from the heat add 2 tbsp of the parsley and mix well.
- Serve in a deep serving plate, sprinkle the remaining parsley and optionally sprinkle with some parmesan cheese.
