Mideast Eats: Stuffed Calamari

This week Mideast Eats celebrates Valentine's Day with an invigorating stuffed calamari. Maya & Yonatan- a couple both in life and in the kitchen- make the dish together and reveal their secret to keeping the fire burning in their love life as well as in cooking. Gili Elad brings us into their kitchen.


For the Calamari filling:

12 pieces of clean calamari
5 tbl. of breadcrumbs
A handful of chopped parsley
10 medium-sized shrimps, peeled and chopped into half-inch cubes
100 grams of "Hameiri" crumbled cheese
Tsp. of olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
A handful of toasted pine nuts

For the cherry Vinaigrette:

One pound sliced cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
Sliced Chili
4 sliced garlic cloves
Tsp. of salt and pepper
Pine nuts for decoration

Preparation

Stir fry the shrimp on a hot pan with a teaspoon of olive oil for about two minutes, put aside for cooling, mix with all the other ingredients and fill the calamari.

For the sauce:
Put the oil, garlic and chili in a skillet over high heat. When it begins to simmer, add the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium, simmer for about 7 minutes.
Drain the tomatoes with a thin strainer, keep the sauce and throw away the tomato skin.

To Serve:
Heat the sauce on low heat until it bubbles. Sear the stuffed calamari on all sides for about 5 minutes, and serve it on the hot vinaigrette, sprinkle the rest of the pine nuts on top.