Baked squids stuffed with spinach and rice

This is a classic and delicious recipe to enjoy this tasty seafood with a filling that is so close to a popular vegetarian Greek dish, the "Spanakoryzo". What is good to keep in mind when your filling includes rice, is that you should not fill the squids too much because the rice will swell while cooking and the squids will "burst". The solution to this is, after the filling is in, to make a small hole at their bottom end to help the steam trapped in the squids to escape while cooking. This tip also helps when we fry squids and want to avoid all that annoying splattering of oil making a mess in the kitchen...

Recipe of Dina Nikolaou

a prominent Head Cook and restaurateur

"Gastronomos" magazine of "KATHIMERINI" newspaper (2010)

Ingredients (for 6 people)

For the squids:

6 large whole squids, fresh or frozen (or 12 smaller)
1 Litre of vegetable stock
1/2 tea-cup of olive oil

For the stuffing:
3 tbsp of olive oil
3 Spring onions, finely chopped (both white and green tender part)
400gr. of spinach leaves, washed and coarsely chopped (600gr. bought)
1 tea-cup of dill, finely snipped
150gr. of long-grain rice
200ml of white dry wine
1 lemon, the juice
pinch of ground nutmeg
salt

black pepper

Method:

If using frozen squids prefer the ready-cleaned type. If using fresh, gently pull off the head along with the entrails. Then pull out the long, transparent cartilage and cut off the head under the eyes and the beak. Chop the tentacles up and keep aside so to use later in the stuffing.

Wash the squids well and season generously with salt and pepper inside out. Leave aside as you prepare the stuffing.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

In a deep frying pan warm the oil on medium heat and sauté the chopped tentacles for 1-2 minutes stirring with a wooden spatula. Add the Spring onions, the spinach, season with salt and pepper and sauté for 4 minutes.

Then add the rice, stir and season with the nutmeg. Sauté for 3 minutes and pour over with the wine. Sauté for another 2-3 minutes and then add the lemon juice. Give the ingredients a good stir and take off the heat. Check the seasoning, add the dill and stir.

Using a small spoon fill the squids with the stuffing. To ease the filling into the squids gently squeeze from the outside being careful not to stuff more than 3/4 of the way (see tip on the top of the recipe).

Seal the opening of each squid by weaving a toothpick through the two sides (see photo on top) and make a small incision at the tapered end for steam to escape while cooking.

Place the squids in a deep oven pan in one layer (one next to each other) and arrange any remaining stuffing around them. Pour over with the vegetable stock and the 1/2 tea-cup of the oil and cover with aluminium foil.

Put in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Discard the foil and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until the squids are lightly coloured.

They can be served immediately or lukewarm.