Squid for the Squeamish

Even people who don’t necessarily like squid flip when they taste chef Saverio Posarelli’s calamari stew, an age-old dish of Florence, Italy. No wonder--it tastes great.

So what’s the secret?

“There is only one secret: soffritto ,” says Posarelli, a native of Florence. Posarelli worked at Rex and Pazzia restaurants in Los Angeles, and Il Cibreo in Tokyo before becoming executive chef at Gladstone’s 4 Fish in Malibu.

Soffritto is a sauce base of onion, celery and carrot, used in traditional Florentine cookery, especially with sauces, soups and meats. “You have to remember that Florence, an inland city, had no fish cuisine to speak of,” Posarelli says. “So when Florentine cooks prepare fish, they cook it the way they would meat, with a rich sauce base that heightens flavor.”

As a result, the soffritto -based sauce is rich enough to use with pork and even game stews, as well as squid or other shellfish.

Posarelli serves the squid stew on a bed of polenta. “Rice is fine,” he says, “but not as complementary as polenta. I think the soft texture of polenta perfectly balances the texture of the stew.”

CALAMARI STEW

1/2 cup olive oil

1 large red onion, chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

5 small chiles, minced

1 cup dry red wine

6 to 8 Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped

2 pounds spinach, stemmed

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt, pepper

1 1/2 pounds squid, cleaned and cut into rings

Polenta, optional

Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add red onion, carrot and celery. Cook until vegetables are golden. Add chiles, red wine and tomatoes. Bring to simmer. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes.

Add spinach, garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add squid and cook 1 minute or until squid turns opaque. Serve as stew over Polenta or rice. Makes 6 servings.

Polenta

2 cups cold water

Coarse-grained salt

1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat water until boiling. Add salt to taste. Gradually add cornmeal in stream, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add olive oil. Continue to cook and stir 15 minutes or until mixture thickens to mush. Makes 2 cups.

Each serving contains about:

450 calories; 347 mg sodium; 264 mg cholesterol; 23 grams fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 1.32 grams fiber; 47% calories from fat.