French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [188]
LES CALMARS, SEICHES, ENCORNETS
INKFISH, SQUID, CUTTLEFISH
Both on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of France (where they go by the name of chipirones), squid are a popular dish. They can be stewed, stuffed, fried, grilled, added to fish soups and to rice dishes. They have a rich, slightly sweet flavour, and although they are not to everyone’s taste, there are many people who regard them as the poor man’s lobster.
At one time the only places one could buy squid in England were two fishmongers’ shops in Soho. Recently, fishmongers in other areas where there are foreign customers have started to supply them. I would not say squid is a fish one would want to eat every day, but if you know how to clean and cook them they make an occasional excellent and cheap dish.
To clean them, put them in a bowl of water and pull out the tentacles and head to which are attached the intestines; these you detach and throw away, as also the transparent spine bone. Rub off the purplish outside skin, which comes away very easily. From each side of the head remove the ink bags, and also the little horny bit in the centre of the tentacles. Turn the pocket-like part of the fish inside out and rinse it free of grit under running cold water. By the time this cleaning operation, which is very quickly done, is finished, the inkfish is a beautiful milky-white colour and does not look at all frightening or unappetising.
CALMARS A L’ÉTUVÉE
STEWED INKFISH
Having cleaned 4 medium-sized inkfish as above, cut the body part into inch rounds and slice the tentacles. Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in an earthenware or other stew-pan, and in this melt a couple of large sliced onions and a clove or two of garlic. Put in the inkfish and, after a minute or two, add a glass (4 oz.) of red, white or rosé wine, let it bubble a minute, then turn the flame low. Season with salt and pepper; put in a bouquet of herbs which should include, if possible, a sprig of fresh or dried fennel. Cover the pan, and cook very slowly indeed for an hour to an hour and a half, either on top of the stove or in the oven.
Just before serving, cook 4 or 5 skinned and chopped tomatoes in a little olive oil in a separate pan; when they have turned almost to a purée, season them rather highly and add them to the inkfish mixture. After another minute or two of cooking, the dish is ready. It is best served with plainly cooked rice. Enough for three or four.
One or two small inkfish cooked in this way can be added to the mussel and rice dish described on page 320, and give it a very rich flavour.
Rounds of stewed inkfish are also excellent dipped in frying batter (see page 245) and fried in a deep pan of oil.
POULPE
OCTOPUS
‘In France, Octopus vulgaris is highly prized for bait, and is also considered very good as food; and in Life in Normandy, Vol. I, is the following recipe for cooking it:
‘A dish of cuttlefish is divided in the centre by a slice of toast; on one side of the toast is a mass of cuttlefish stewed with a white sauce; and on the other a pile of them beautifully fried, of a clear even colour, without the slightest appearance of grease. The flour of haricot beans, very finely ground, and which is as good as breadcrumbs, is added.’
M. S. LOVELL: Edible Mollusks, 1867
Lovell seems to be confusing octopus with cuttlefish but then there are those tiny cephalopods called suppions which, crisply fried in olive oil, make delicious and quite tender little morsels. Although often referred to as octopus, I think they are, in fact, technically a variety of squid.
LES ESCARGOTS