What else says "Valentine's Day" like squid???

Happy belated Valentine's Day!!

So... the instant I saw it being made on TV, I wanted to try Braised Calamari Stuffed with Shrimp, Spinach and Herbs. When I mentioned it to the hubby, his reply was "You can do that?!?!?!?!!!!"

I always see frozen squid at the one market I go to and it is dirt cheap... why not try it?? And heck... it'll make a nice Valentine's Day dinner, right??



Oh, because the squid are TOTALLY NOT CLEANED?? That might be a reason.

I usually don't get squimish about food... but dead calamari eyes looking up at me as I tried to clean them? Not the most fun thing ever.

However, they were easy to clean. Really. Pulled apart easily, I thought the outter membrane was going to be hard to peel off... totally not.

The filling? As long as you have a food processor, totally easy. I'd consider doing just the filling as some nice seafood burgers in a minute. And I used frozen chopped spinach, mainly because I was not smart and did not check the recipe before I went shopping. But it all turned out OK.

Now, the actual recipe calls for larger squid than I had. Which is probably well worth the effort to find, since filling the calamari tubes was not easy. The way I was fumbling with them and trying to get them filled... well... maybe it was just the Valentine's Day mood... but all I could think about was condoms. And I am not good with condoms. I've "been" with the hubby since I was 18 and I am well into "30" territory now, and while we've been married only since 2004... well... I was thankful to be on the pill and not have to deal with condoms too much. Because my crappy lack of manual dexterity leaves me totally frustraited.

And, apparently, when you're dealing with small squid, it's much the same situation.

But... being Valentine's Day and all... I finally managed to get the buggers filled....



And then into a sauce bath for 20 minutes. Didn't make my own sauce. Used Prego. Deal with it.

Overall?? Hubby loved them, and since I did the squid ahead of time it was quick when I actually got dinner started. I don't know if I was still picturing dead squid eyes or what... I didn't enjoy as much. Mind you... cooked perfectly, nice and tender, but it just wasn't floating my boat.

Oh, and while I was worried that I wasn't filling the squid tubes enough... totally not a problem. The filling expands as it cooks and I had a couple small squid blowouts... but still, all turned out OK.

So... filling? Awesome.

Small squid? Do they make a pill for that????