Marinated calamari “sto fourno” – what a simplicity of living and enjoying healthy food! If you never heard the expression “sto fourno” then let us enlighten you. It’s a typical Greek expression for oven-baked meals. Fourno (φούρνος) is the oven in Greek, but also in Italian. And those meals from the “fourno” are the simplest ones! All the artwork is in herbs, vinegar, sea salt, spices and aromatic olive oil. Naturally, our ancestors baked food in clay pots and clay ovens for thousands of years. They mastered the marination of seafood to perfection. When you hear that something was marinated, you can’t help but wonder what the sea has to do with it. Well, it has to do everything you could think of!

The meaning of the word “marinade”

As a non-native English speaker, I love to go to the Cambridge English dictionary and see the etymology and the story behind certain words. Well, when it comes to cooking, most of the expressions come from French. However, in this case, it looks like ancient Romans were the name-givers! The word marinade comes from the French mariner, “to pickle in sea brine,” from the Latin Marinus, “of the sea.” So, let’s just say it’s the best combination of Poseidon‘s gift (sea salt), Athena‘s gift – olive oil, Demetra‘s gift -herbs, and something from Dionysus – red wine vinegar.

Fresh or frozen calamari?

We totally understand that fresh seafood is not available to the vast majority of people around the globe. However, did you know, if seafood was frozen immediately after fishing, you are more than safe? Naturally, it’s important to read the label and make sure no harmful additives are added, because the food industry just loves them. 😉 Furthermore, it’s good to see the origin of the product. If you don’t live in the Mediterranean zone, it’s good to choose the calamari from South America. For example, Chile and Argentina are our preferable choices when we cannot find Adriatic calamari.

Marinated calamari – Greek goes Keto style

We love these simple, old-fashioned recipes. As you might know, we recommend eating seafood more often, at least two times a week. When it comes to seafood, marinated calamari is our favourite way to prepare something delicious and inviting. It always reminds us of our great Greek adventures, and perhaps our Keto Mediterranean retreat! Have you heard about this event? If not, we invite you to check out how great it was last year and perhaps consider joining us on one of our next retreats. And in the meantime, let’s cook marinated calamari sto fourno – you will just adore this recipe!