And I will be eating good for lunch.

Calamares con crema. Mom’s variation of Calamares al Ajillo but with more stuff added. One onion and one pepper chopped finely go in a pan with about 1/4 cup of olive oil, medium high heat and let the onion go golden brown. Add fresh oregano (1/8 cup) and fresh parsley (1/3 cup) and stir everything slowly. When evenly cooked, add the calamari, stir all again for 5 minutes while adding 1/4 cup of Spanish paprika and cover. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.

Next, add heated 2/3 cup of heavy cream with salt and pepper to your liking. You may want to thicken with a sprinkle of flour. When done, add to the calamari, stir well and then let cook in low heat for 20 minutes. Taste for tenderness and flavor if needed, give it another 10 minutes of low cooking till your liking. Add salt, paprika or other seasoning or herbs you think it need, but don’t go crazy: add a bit, taste and decide.

In old pre-”healthy-non-diet” times, we served it over rice making sure we added a lot of the sauce to it. It does go well over mashed potatoes or even steamed/boiled ones.

I used a one pound bag of clean tubes and tentacles (buy it like this, save yourselves the aggravation of cleaning) and in this household it serves one! The missus does not like calamari and it is good because this is a dish I do not share. It other households I figure 3 or 4 people may enjoy this recipe.

Now, if you excuse me, good lunch awaits.