Oven baked Calamari

Calamari (squid) is easy to make and also tastes good. Squid can be bought frozen, once out of the packet thaw in running water. The tentacles has to be removed from the body, which is a good compliment for bar service, once it is fried dusting it with seasoned flour. The tube is the body of the squid, it has to be cleaned of all impurities by running water into the tube slowly. There is a thin cartilage inside the tube, which needs to be removed. Once it is cleaned, poke tiny holes in the tube for air to escape once the tube is stuffed. The stuffing consists of sausage stuffing, that has be cooked on slow heat until the it turns color from red to opaque. After it has turned opaque add julienne swiss chard and cook for about three minutes. Take it off the flame and cool it removing all the excess moisture in the mixture. Once it is cold stuff the mixture into the tube. Take a ceramic or earthen dish and pour one six ounce ladle of tomato concasse, Place the stuffed squid over the sauce and sprinkle grated mozzarella cheese on top and garnish with bread croutons. Once it is ready for service you can bake it either in a pizza oven or a convection oven at 400*F. You can identify if the squid is done when the tube tighten up and holds the filling. It can be garnished with chopped parsley before service.

Mussels Fantasy

This is a beautiful dish, which is basically mussels, cooked in pork broth. It is garnished with coarsly chopped fennel and is served in the shell. Topped with crostini.

The best technique to open up the shell is to cook them in white wine covered with bouquet garni (Herbs tied up in a Cheese Cloth).

Mussels are of the clam family, They are both slatwater and fresh water. In the present day of high demand in restaurants and hotels, there are mussel farms that cultivate these in large numbers.