Squid

I love squid for a quick meal. And when The New York Times paid it's respect to the cephalopod this week it reminded me of how long it had been since I've had it. I think my first recipe for the stuff was based on the same Batali one mentioned in the article. Like the Times, I change it up a bit depending on what's around.

Also like the referenced recipe, this one started out with tomato sauce. One can of whole tomatoes was hand crushed and added to onion, shallot, and garlic that had been sweated with tomato paste and chili flakes. Lots of salt and pepper and a bit of sherry vinegar fine tuned the red sauce.

As the sauce was boiling away (it cooked for about 15 minutes) I prepped the squid, purchased fresh and whole from Kate's Fish (squid pictured below). I've never had fresh squid before, and with the quality and convenience of Kate's frozen stuff I've never really had much curiosity about it. But whole, tasty looking squid was in the fish case and I couldn't take my eyes off the things. Prepping turned out to not be such a big deal, and it's pretty self explanatory once the fish is in front of you.

I added the cut up fish and some chopped niçoise olives to the boiling tomato sauce and in about two minutes the squid was cooked through, tender, and ready to serve.

Garnished with parsley and enjoyed with grilled sourdough, it was a perfect Saturday lunch.

Also worth noting, it took all my self restraint to not add hot Italian sausage to the mix. Sometimes it's okay not to eat pork. Although it would be a nice addition if one was so inclined.