Ocean Made Chef – February - Ocean Made Seafood

Stuffed Calamari

Jesse Gerner, Añada Restaurant

Serves 6

“It’s Anada’s tenth birthday and this dish is one of the first dishes we ever put on the menu here. I love cooking it and cooking it at home with the kids and on the barbecue.

You can treat the calamari like a sausage, they’re easy to cook, easy to prepare, take them to a picnic…they’re delicious!”

Method

In a pan place the sliced onions and half the olive oil over a medium until soft, sweet and golden. Stirring regularly.

To clean the squid pull the head and tentacles away from the body. Cut off the tentacles and put aside for later. With your fingers, empty out the inside of the squid and discard. Gently pull the wings from the side and remove any pinkish membrane. Rinse under running water. Add the wings to the tentacles and chop.

In a frying pan heat the remaining oil and add the garlic, bay leaf and tentacles/wings and pancetta. Cook for about 5 minutes then add the sweet onions and the sherry and cook for another 15 minutes. Season then remove from the heat. Add the chopped egg, parsley and sumac. Cool mixture then stuff into the body of the squid leaving enough room to skewer the end together with a toothpick.

Put salt, pepper and a splash of olive oil over the squid and cook on a hot charcoal grill or bbq until golden.

About Chef

Born and trained in Adelaide, it was well over a decade ago that chef Jesse Gerner and his wife Vanessa, travelled extensively through Spain and Morocco and on their return to Australia, settled in Melbourne.

They opened Anada in Fitzroy which is celebrating its tenth birthday this month and Jesse and Vanessa have gone on to co-own and operate Bomba Tapas Bar and Rooftop in the CBD, Park St. Dining in Carlton North and Nomada, also in Fitzroy.

Other restaurants:

Why this recipe?

“It’s Anada’s tenth birthday and this dish is one of the first dishes we ever put on the menu here. I love cooking it and cooking it at home with the kids and on the barbecue. You can treat the calamari like a sausage, they’re easy to cook, easy to prepare, take them to a picnic…they’re delicious!”

Jesse has been working with Ocean Made for eight years, “They always tell us about what’s about at the market, what’s coming in and what’s looking good. We’ve never had an issue with them, if there’s anything that we need to sort out they fix it straight away. They’re great to work with.”