An Italian Christmas Tradition – Calamari Tomato Sauce Recipe
If you’ve followed this blog long enough, you know I grew up in a rather large Italian-American family.
My grandparents lived two blocks from us and my great aunts and uncles lived within a five block radius. All said, about fifty of us cuginos lived within a few miles of each other. Christmas Eve was our night to all gather together, enjoy more than a few toasts and saluds, and feast on our traditional family dinner.
The menu menu has remained the same since, what I’ve been told, my mother was a child. And you guessed it, one of the featured items is the calamari tomato sauce recipe which I offer to the Wandering Gourmand community as my Christmas gift (since I can’t send a card to everyone…)
Here’s the full menu, which we looked forward to each year.
- Salad
- Sliced oranges (No idea why)
- Bowls of black olives (Once again, no idea why)
- Fried smelts (They’re like fishy potato chips)
- Garlic sautéed with some spinach in it (Yes, I wrote that right)
- Spaghetti with a calamari tomato sauce
- An assortment of homemade cookies (there were always pitzels)
- Enough beer, wine, and scotch to get the entire bunch sauced for singing and dancing
- Of course there were some extras like homemade pizza, hot peppers in oil, or whatever culinary treat someone wanted to show off (My cousin Janice always had a nice surprise).
Our family was responsible for the calamari tomato sauce as it had been for generations.
It started with my Grandfather, eventually my Uncle Mike joined, and later I was invited to help out. We’d start cooking first thing in the morning on Christmas Eve day, invading the house of whoever hosted that year’s party. Grandpa and Uncle Mike would begin with the most important ingredient– mixing their Coffee Royals. They’d sometimes even splash a little whiskey in my underage coffee mug (don’t tell my Mom).
The morning was then filled both shouting and laughter (which is how Italian men show love) and the unique aroma of the squid cooking in garlic, onion, and tomato. Around lunchtime, we’d put the sauce to rest and scrounge up lunch. Normally we’d head to Grandpa’s where there always seemed to be a homemade pizza at the ready during the holidays. This moment symbolized Christmas to me, and I looked forward to it every year – almost more than the party itself.
Last October I boarded a plane to Orlando for my last business trip of the year as 2013 wound to an end and my clients slowed down for the holiday season.
As we landed, I was grateful that this was my last trip for a couple months and was already looking forward to the upcoming holidays and time with family.
I never left the Orlando airport.
While I was in flight, my Grandfather passed away at the age of 93, and I boarded the next flight home.
I know this sounds selfish, but I was glad last Christmas my wife and I were scheduled to be in Houston with her family instead of in Youngstown with mine. My family probably needed me on that first Christmas without Grandpa, but I don’t think I could have sat through cooking the sauce dry-eyed without him there. I’m glad for the opportunity this year though and look forward to time in the kitchen with Uncle Mike. I’m sure we’ll make a few toasts with Coffee Royals in Grandpa’s honor.
MORE: Awesome travel gifts for Christmas!
Our family’s calamari tomato sauce recipe, from my family to yours.
The original recipe I learned from Grandpa, without any measurements or times, just watching and feeling, feeds 40-50 drunk Italians. The recipe below, with some times and measurements, feeds about 10.
The Ingredients
- Pot of fresh brewed coffee
- Bottle of crown royal
- Quarter cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 large onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- Teaspoon (and them some) of red pepper flakes
- 3 pounds of cleaned calamari
- Bottle homemade dago red wine (because that’s what we called it Chris Matthews…)
- 6 oz can of tomato paste
- 28 oz can of tomato puree
- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- Dried oregano
- Dried basil
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
The Cooking
- Pour a shot of whiskey into your coffee mug and then fill with coffee (Hey! If you’re going to make this as I learned…)
- Finely chop the garlic and onion.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot to slightly below medium heat.
- Once warm, add garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until translucent.
- Chop the calamari into half inch rings. If fun tentacle parts are too long, chop those, too.
- Add the calamari and simmer for about five minutes.
- Add tomato paste, half a bottle of red wine, salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of oregano, and a pinch of basil. Simmer on low for an hour while you pour another Coffee Royal and catch up with family.
- Add can of tomato puree and simmer for another hour.
- Add can of crushed tomatoes, the rest of the wine, about a tablespoon each of basil and oregano, a half tablespoon each of garlic powder and onion powder, another pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and allow to simmer on low for 6 hours or more.
- Taste the sauce throughout the day and adjust the seasoning.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does! As I don’t spend every Christmas with my side of the family, I still make it for my wife’s family. They love it!
One of my family’s traditional Christmas dishes was spaghetti and meatballs! My grandma made it every year, and sometimes even made some Italian sausage as well. Italian cookies were a must as dessert, as well as some Fannie Mae chocolates — just because my Grandma loved them! Thanks for sharing your family traditions and recipe.
There’s nothing like Italian cookies! Did your family have them at weddings, too? We’d have tables filled with them at our family weddings. Heck, I went to one wedding that had an entire room with just cookies. While I’ve captured the savory recipes from my family, i hope someone captured these sweet recipes.
Bryan,
My grandfather always said you either cook the calamari all day or for five minutes. If you have all day….. then throw it in for the morning. And drink all day…. lmao
Great story Bryan. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Every year we look forward to my Auntie Vicky’s seafood salad.
She has made it in her in her small basement kitchen in Garfield Hts., Ohio for the last 35 years. It consists of calamari, shrimp, scallops, crab meat, garlic, olive oil, lemon and the large squid tentacles. My Nannu passed away a couple years ago, and he reminds me of your grandfather. He wasn’t much if a cook, but he learned how to make really good canoli at a young age. He worked in a bakery in Palermo. He made these canoli from scratch every Christmas for dessert. And he would make them at dessert time, not ahead of time. Very fresh and sweet with lots of powdered sugar and cherries. Cheers and buon natale !
Thanks for sharing those delicious memories. Food plays such a major part of our relationships that I love hearing stories like yours – especially Italian ones. I’d also love to try those canolis! I miss the culture and heritage I grew up with in Youngstown. I’m trying to recreate some of those experiences here in Charlotte like homemade pizza Fridays.
Cheers and buon natale to you, too!
This is great and pitzels are a holiday must-have!
It’s not Christmas without them!
Bryan- the calamari sauce turned out excellent! The whole house smelled amazing and reminded me of my Nanna & Nannu’s house growing up.
Thanks for the follow up! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. Nothing justifies what a blogger does more than hearing a recipe, tip, etc helped a reader.
Christmas Eve Fried Dough, Smelts, Lupini Beans, I oy (anchovies and angel hair), Baccala, Pitzels, Squid in red sauce….. My Grandmothers house had a central hall that ran from the back door through the Kitchen, Dining room , Past the stairs going up and out the front door. So friends of the family at different times would “visit” in the back door as they walked through they would sometime be singing, then out the front door not to be seen again til next Christmas Eve.
Just a quick note to say thank you for this recipe and the story behind it. I wanted to share that for the past 17 years, I attended a Christmas Eve “Feast of the 7 fishes” celebration at my wife’s family home, occasionally bringing a side dish or a bottle of wine. Last year, I was tasked with bringing the calamari in red sauce, and followed this recipe exactly. My wife thought it was too spicy, and was concerned that it deviated too much from the family norm. Until her Uncle Carmine, the patriarch of the family celebration declared: “This is the best calamari and red sauce I’ve ever tasted.” He said it 4 times. Her father Luigi also declared his affection for the dish. (Italian names are included to prove the authenticity of this story.) Carmine passed away a few months later, and I will always treasure the experience of having made this for him. Luigi passed away three weeks ago and I will miss pouring a ladel of this deep, dark, delicious red sauce into his bowl. But this year we are hosting Christmas Eve. And my house is filled with the smell of a slowly-simmering pot of your calamari and red sauce. Italians on the way. Thank you.
P.S. — I substituted a healthy amount of beer for the coffee and Crown Royal.