Half sleeves with squid and sea is a main course that I’ve named for its appetizing taste and the presence of squid that brings us back to the sea.
A preparation that is not complicated at all, in fact…if you read the steps you will realize how easy it will be to make it and what goodness you will bring to the table.
Even if you don’t cook fish I always try to illustrate all the steps in as much detail as possible to ensure that my dishes can really be an inspiration for everyone.
I’ll leave you right below other seafood recipes, if you get a chance you can take a look:⬇️
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
Let’s see the ingredients we need for the recipe preparation:
- squid (1.3 lbs)
- Cherry tomatoes (12)
- 3 cloves garlic (I love garlic in seafood preparations, even one clove is fine)
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- as needed fine salt
- as needed olives (Taggiasca or Leccino)
- as needed capers
- as needed pine nuts
- as needed parsley
- as needed chili pepper (if you like it, otherwise not essential)
- as needed white wine (about 7 oz for deglazing)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- water (1.3 cups)
- Half teaspoon sugar
Tools
A pasta sauté pan, where you will cook both the sauce and the pasta. I’ll leave you the recipe where I risotto the pasta (cooking it together with the sauce). If you prefer, you can boil it separately and add it at the end to the sauce.
Steps
In a pasta sauté pan or another pan with slightly high edges, first put in our squid, previously cleaned. I get them cleaned at the fish market, and when I get home, I rinse them a bit more. You can do the same, or if you prefer to use frozen fish, you can skip this step.
After you have put the squid cut into pieces or rings in the pan, let them release water for 5/10 minutes on medium heat. As soon as you see they start to dry, add the garlic, oil, pine nuts, capers, olives (for me the delicious Leccino olives➡️🫒 Madama Oliva), parsley, and chili pepper if you like it. Let them blend with the squid for a few minutes and then deglaze with white wine.
Now is the time to add fresh tomatoes cut into pieces, salt, and a bit of sugar. Let it cook for another 10 minutes, and now we prepare the water with starch to give creaminess and consistency to our sauce.
In a measuring cup or a glass, weigh 1.3 cups of water to which add two teaspoons of cornstarch and a teaspoon of salt. Remember, the water should be at room temperature, not hot, otherwise, the starch will clump
Stir well and add it to the sauce in the pan. I mentioned adding salt because we are going to cook the half sleeves directly in the sauce, so the water should be a bit salty to ensure the pasta doesn’t turn out bland. I always taste to check if more needs to be added.
Let the sauce cook like this for 30 minutes on medium-low heat, until you see that the squid is practically cooked. After tasting the squid and verifying they are ready, weigh the pasta, and add it directly to the sauce.
Check that the sauce is nice and watery, meaning that if the cooking has dried out the water and starch added earlier too much, you’ll need to add more, because the pasta needs to cook in this sauce.
After the pasta cooking time indicated on the package has passed, taste it to check its doneness and the seasoning of the sauce. Adjust if more salt is needed.
If everything is in order, sauté the pasta over high heat if there’s too much broth, the pasta should be well seasoned and combined with a creamy but dry sauce due to the cornstarch.
If you like, once the dish is ready, add another sprinkle of parsley and definitely a good drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil.
Enjoy this dish that will take you back to the SEA 🪼🏖️
FAQ
Will you remake this dish of half sleeves with squid and sea?
If you enjoyed this main course and feel like it, you can also leave me some appreciation stars below.
To follow my culinary adventures, you can also find me on➡️ INSTAGRAM BRICCIOLA
