Giaconda's Calamari Stew or Spanish Callos (Tripe).

Version made with Octopus 

I saw this one on a cooking T.V. show that used to be on a few years ago. The presenter was a lovely young lady called Giaconda Scott. She was of mixed Spanish and English parentage and ran a restaurant in Andalucia, Spain. I taped a repeat of the show and was therefore able to write the exact recipe down. It is yummy!

Calamari heads and tentacles used to be very easy to find, and very cheap but nowadays are a bit more difficult as they now export them overseas.

We went on holiday to the North West of Spain in 2006 and one of the delicacies of the area was tripe cooked in a very similar way. I tried the recipe with tripe and trotters recently and it came out really nicely.

Ingredients.
1 kg calamari heads/tentacles or 1 pack of very clean and cut up lamb's tripe and trotters for the tripe version. (Delico butchery from Riebeeck Kasteel sells very nice packs of these. They also have an outlet at Potbelly Pantry near Klapmuts. 

1 bunch of fresh sage leaves.
1 x 410gm tin of chopped tomato's
8 fat cloves of garlic (Yes 8! not a typing error)
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of dry sherry (Spanish Manzanilla or Fino are the best).
1 teaspoon crushed chilli's (optional)
1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns
3/4 teaspoon salt.

Method 


Crush garlic cloves with the flat of a knife and add to heated olive oil in a heavy bottomed or cast iron pot and sauté for a few minutes. Add torn sage leaves and sauté a little further. Add calamari (Or tripe and trotters), chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and chillies(if used). Pour in sherry and bring to the boil and reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for + - 2 hours until calamari is tender (The tripe and trotters version will take around 5 to 6 hours), adding a bit of water if required. (I have never found this necessary and in fact have to cook it with the lid off for a while to reduce liquid for the calamari version). 

Serve with rice. 

Edit to remind me to try a new addition.

Add one Chourico sausage cut into small chunks after around three and a half hours cooking and a cup of cooked white beans or a tin of beans or chickpeas about half an hour later. I will try this next time and add to the recipe above if it's good.