Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [199]
Serves 4–6
1 kg (2 lb) medium-sized squid
peanut oil
175 g (6 oz) chopped shallot or red onion
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped Macadamia nuts
3 teaspoons lightly crushed coriander seeds
1 fresh chilli pepper, seeded, chopped, plus 1 whole chilli, seeded
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 stalk lemon grass or a little lemon juice
4–6 tablespoons tamarind water
scant ½ litre (16 fl oz) coconut milk
salt
Clean the squid, saving the body sack (cut into squares) and the tentacles and arms (cut into short lengths). Fry them briefly in a little oil to colour them lightly.
If you like the sauce very smooth, process or blend in a liquidizer the shallot or onion, garlic, nuts and coriander; fry the resulting paste. Or fry just the shallots or onions on their own, adding garlic, nuts, and coriander when they are soft. Add the remaining spices and tamarind water. Simmer it all together for a minute or two, then put in the squid. When it is almost tender, add the coconut milk. As the dish cooks, taste it and remove the whole chilli when it is as hot as you like it and add salt, if necessary. The sauce should end up thick and spicy: if it seems to be thickening too fast before the squid is done, add a little water and cover it.
Serve with rice and sticks of cucumber.
STUFFED SQUID IN ITS OWN INK (Calamares en su tinta)
To me, this is the perfect way of cooking squid. It reminds me of endless summer lunches in the sun, under the lime tree, usually on Thursdays, the day after Montoire market, because squid keeps reasonably well in the refrigerator and this is essentially a lunchtime dish; delicacies such as weever or miniature sole belonged to Wednesday night. I should qualify this picture by remarking that if you are nimble with your fingers and unlikely to be interrupted, you could make the dish on a small scale, with small squid, as the first course for a dinner: the secret of success is to allow room for the stuffing to swell and to make sure the cooking temperature is below boiling point, barely shouldering a simmer.
The particular blend of ingredients brings out the sweetness of squid, shows it off with sharp and savoury contrasts. The resistant texture of squid is reduced to an agreeable bite. Variations on the theme are numerous. I give some of them below.
Serves 6
6 medium squid, with bags measuring 15 cm (6 inches)
8 tablespoons white or red wine
olive oil
3 medium onions, chopped small
3–4 cloves garlic, crushed, skinned, chopped small
60 g (2 oz) serrano or Bayonne or other smoked ham, chopped
90 g (3 oz) fresh breadcrumbs
1 small bunch of parsley chopped
salt, pepper, cayenne
250 g (8 oz) firm, ripe tomato, skinned, chopped
small fried triangles of bread or fried, round slices of French bread to garnish
Prepare the squid as described above, putting the ink sacs into a basin with just under half the wine. Crush together so that the ink runs, and then set aside.
Chop the squid tentacles and side flaps. Discard the rest of the head, and peel off the fine purple membrane from the cleaned bags.
To make the stuffing, heat up enough oil to cover the base of a wide shallow pan. In it, soften the onion with the garlic. When soft and yellow, remove half the onion to keep for the sauce. To the pan add the chopped tentacles, etc. As they begin to brown lightly, put in the ham. Mix the breadcrumbs with the rest of the wine and stir the resulting, rather lumpy paste into the pan as well. Cook briefly, add parsley and seasonings, then cool slightly. With a teaspoon, put the stuffing into the squid bags, leaving them one-third empty. Take a stitch in the top of each bag, with a wooden cocktail stick, to close them.
For the sauce, put the onion you set aside into a heavy shallow pan or earthenware serving dish. Add the tomato, any left-over stuffing and seasoning. Lay in the squid, top to tail. Put in a little water to bring the