All recipes are for 2 servings unless noted. Oil is canola oil and salt is kosher salt.

2014-04-05

Aatichooku to ika no ringuiini / linguine with artichoke and calamari

Starchy artichoke with its mild tangy taste is the perfect partner for calamari. Fresh tomatoes are reduced almost to paste, fully infused with calamari for a deep taste, then loosened with pasta cooking water to blend flavors with pasta in the final dish. Grate some parmesan cheese or throw in several olives if you want slightly more punch or saltiness.




1/2 of recipe:
528 calories; 27.4 g protein; 12.1 g fat; 71.6 g carbohydrate; 63.1 g net carbs; 240 mg sodium; 93 mg cholesterol; 8.5 g fiber


<Ingredients>


160 g linguine
1/2 tbsp salt (to boil pasta; not in photo)

1 artichoke (438 g in photo)
1 small lemon (1/2 small lemon is enough; to soak artichoke)
7 California market squid (298 g in photo; 170 g after cleaning)
3 roma tomatoes (274 g in photo)
1 clove garlic
1 taka no tsume red chili pepper (slices)
Several sprigs parsley
3 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp olive oil


<Directions>
1.

In a medium bowl, put plenty of water, and squeeze juice from half lemon.

Remove outer petals from artichoke, and trim green surfaces.
Divide between top and stem. Cut stem lengthwise into 4-6. Quarter top, core, and slice each section lengthwise into 3-4.
Work on this preparation while keeping sections in lemon water.
When done, keep all cut pieces in lemon water.

2.

Grate tomatoes.
Discard skins.

3.

Finely chop parsley.
Cut off end of garlic, smash with side of knife, and peel off skin.
Clean squid, and slice into 2-3 cm.

4.

Rinse artichoke, and drain.

5.

In a frying pan, put olive oil and garlic, and cook on low to medium low heat until lightly brown.
Tilt frying pan so that garlic is immersed in oil.

When garlic is lightly brown, add red chili pepper.

6.
Meanwhile, start boiling water for pasta.


7.

Add calamari, raise heat to medium high, and saute until starting to turn opaque.
Add artichoke, and continue to saute for 1 minute or so (until coated with oil). 

Add white wine, and cook for a few minutes.

8.

Add tomatoes and 2/3 of chopped parsley (save 1/3 for topping), and cook on medium low heat until tomatoes are reduced almost to paste, 15-20 minutes.



9.

When tomatoes are reduced by half or one-third, start cooking pasta.

Put salt in boiling water, and add pasta.

Here, the pasta package gives 12 minutes as the cooking time, with 10 minutes for al dente; start checking the texture after cooking pasta for 9-10 minutes.

10.

When tomatoes are reduced, add 2-3 tbsp of pasta cooking water, and quickly shake frying pan.

Add black pepper to taste, and mix.

11.

When pasta is done, drain, and add to frying pan.
Mix well. 
Serve on plates, and top with parsley.

<Notes>
  • Tomatoes can be diced after quickly blanching and skinning. I grate them, simply because it is easier for me.
  • If using canned tomatoes, watch for sodium content. Because the sauce is reduced so much, salted canned tomatoes would likely result in an overly salty sauce. If you want to use canned tomatoes, mixing them with fresh tomatoes should help to some degree.
  • Most sodium (approx. 200mg) in the above recipe comes from cooking pasta in salted water. Cutting back on salt in pasta cooking water significantly reduces overall sodium intake.
  • The sauce can be prepared ahead of time through Step 8.
  • Squid is another species where sodium content greatly differs by region. According to USDA data, California market squid contains 44 mg sodium per 100 g raw edible portion. Sodium content of squid in Japanese databases ranges between 220 and 330 mg per 100 g raw edible portion (the high figures may be due to inclusion of intestines, but I have not confirmed this yet). If sodium is a concern, check local data.
     

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