Grilled Stuffed Squid + Bodegas Muga Flor de Muga Rosé 2017 #FishFridayFoodies

It's time for Fish Friday Foodies' June event. We are a group of seafood-loving bloggers, rallied by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm, to share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month. 

And this month, Sid of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking is also hosting as we share appetizers that includes seafood. Before I get to my recipe. Here's the rest of the #FishFridayFoodies' offerings...

Deviled Crab by Palatable Pastime

Grilled Stuffed Squid by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Oysters on the Half Shell by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Shrimp Bites by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Shrimp Rémoulade by Karen's Kitchen Stories 

Sunshine Sauce Prawns On Cucumber Salad by Sneha's Recipe 

An Appetizer and A Wine Pairing

Next month one of my wine pairing groups - #WinePW - is focusing on Rioja wines and grilled foods. I received one bottle as an industry sample, for the event, but decided to pick up a few other bottles as well, including this gorgeous Rosé - Bodegas Muga Flor de Muga Rosé 2017. 

Then, I invited myself to our friends' house and asked Mike to grill for me. He graciously agreed and we had a Rioja party. Since I had a Rosé to share, I wanted to prepare some seafood for the grill. I decided to stuff some squid as our appetizer course.

On My Plate

You can grill these and slice them to reveal the stuffing or eat them straight off the skewer. I prefer the latter; everyone else in the group preferred the former. Go figure.

Ingredients

• 1 pound cleaned squids (How to Clean Squid)
• olive oil
• paprika
• sea salt
• Italian sausage, without the casing

Procedure

After you have cleaned, the squid, carefully stuff the sausage into the cleaned squids. 

Be gentle and don't overstuff them.  The stuffing will expand when cooking and squeeze out. It's not pretty!

Stitch the open ends together with a toothpick or two.

Bring a large, flat bottom pot full of water to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Gently lower the stuffed squid into the water and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes to precook the meat filling. 

After the squid simmers, drain, and remove toothpicks. Place the par-boiled squid into a flat pan and sprinkle with whatever seasonings you like; I used sweet paprika and sea salt.

If you are grilling immediately, skewer the squid and heat your grill or grill pan. If you're cooking at a later time, refrigerate once cooled.

Cook the squid on the grill to finish cooking the meat and to get nice grill marks on the squid, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from the grill and serve immediately.

I'm going to share a bit about this wine with which I paired, too...

In My Glass

If I hadn't bought the bottle for the Rioja posting, I almost certainly would have bought the bottle for its label. Yes, I do that. Not being a Spanish speaker, I was wondering if 'muga' means 'quince blossom'* because that's what the illustration appears to be. No matter. I love the color of those flowers.

*Just in, from a friend: "'Muga' means 'border' in the Basque Country. But the Muga Winery is named after founder the estate was created in 1932 by Isaac Muga Martínez and his wife, Auro Cano." Thanks, Otis!

This is a single varietal creation, being made with 100% Grenache grapes. From a quick reading, these grapes are selected from old, head-trained vines plated in the Rioja Alta. The winemakers sought out these high-altitude grapes for their aroma. 

To the eye, this Rosé displays a very pale salmon color with steely glints. On the nose, I got summer stone fruits and sweet honeysuckle. The palate is remarkably complex given the lightness of the hue. At least I wasn't expecting such a lush, fleshy wine.

This was a great match with my grilled squid! Next month the Fish Friday Foodies will be sharing grilled seafood recipes with Stacy of Food Lust People Love at the lead. Now I need to come up with a different seafood to grill. Stay tuned...