BABY SQUID STUFFED WITH ESCAROLE ON A PUMPKIN CREAM WITH CANNELLINI BEANS
Chef Antonella Chirichella,
“Il Cefalo” Restaurant, Ogliastro Marina (SA)

  Time: about 1 hour
  Difficulty: moderate
  Serves: 4 people

  INGREDIENTS

• 1 round pumpkin (about 1 kin weightg)

• 4 potatoes

• 2 cloves of garlic

• extra virgin olive oil

• thyme, to taste

• salt, to taste

• nutmeg, to taste

• 400 g canned cannellini beans

• 1 large onion

• parsley, to taste

• 4 baby squid

• 400 g escarole

• 200 g Taggiasca olives

• 75 g salted anchovies

• 4 slices of country bread, as garnish

METHOD

To prepare the pumpkin cream, first sauté the garlic and thyme in extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan. When golden, remove the garlic and add the peeled and diced pumpkin and potatoes. Sauté gently for a few miniutes and then add half a glass of water and season with salt. Cover and cook gently for twenty minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Pulse in a blender, season with grated nutmeg and more salt, if needed.
At the same time, cook the canned cannellini with half the onion. Leave to cool and prepare a bean salad, adding finely chopped parsley. Mix the bean salad with the pumpkin cream before placing the stuffed baby squid on top.
To prepare the baby squid, prepare a filling of escarole cooked in a frying pan with the olives and a chopped salted anchovy. Clean the baby squid carefully keeping them whole and stuff with the escarole mixture, roughly chopped. Then soften the rest of the onion in extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan, add the stuffed baby squid and sauté. When cooked, place a baby squid on the pumpkin cream with the beans on individual plates, and garnish each portion with a slice of toasted country bread.