One of our favorite fruite de marre is calamari. Cephalopods are regarded as the chewing gum of seafood. We’ve had it en salad as a side with sushi, fried as an appetizer in a few venues around the New York capital area and cooked into chunky tomato sauce on Christmas Eve with my family. Jeremy and I have taken the next step in our passion for squid and started a trilogy of dishes in its honor.
If by chance you can’t find any, abalone or conch will do just fine. *If you’re allergic to shellfish, you probably should consult your doctor or avoid these critters as they could trigger a reaction. Cephalopods are different from crustaceans, but better safe than swollen.*
Our first endeavor was inspired by our first bite of calamari salad at the sushi section of the grocery store, sort of like a drive-by. Obviously, we couldn’t find any bamboo shoots, so we settled on the idea of instead of adding chicken pieces to a salad, why not use squid?
Some people go pescatarian for the way they see how factories treat chickens and baby chicks as products rather than living animals. Fish is an excellent substitution for such cases with less hassle in creating proteins combining nuts and specific grains. Not only that, but fish can be farmed in a sense of being raised in a contained unit with the intent to use them as food.
Jeremy speaking. Here’s our typical shortcut salad with a little fish oil dressing on the side.
Did you know that squid can live up to one year at a time, are sustainable and have ink sacks that can be incorporated into black macaroni dishes. In fact, all but the beak, quill and organs of a squid is edible. Why not use it? With all that having been stated, we’ve chopped every squid body into neat little rings like you find pre-packaged and are ready to cook. We’re not eating these suckers raw. No offense to those who do. Back when I was in China, it wasn’t so odd to sink your teeth into some crawling octopus tentacles freshly chopped, but those have to be thoroughly chewed.
This is one of those fast and high heated recipes where it cooks in oil so quickly there’s no time for anything to turn to rubber. I excitedly threw in the tentacles in one by one with the chopped garlic and oil and witnessed the magic of how they curl around into flowery shapes at just the right temperature. They’re so squishy and gooey to hold in your bare hands, similar to worms and my old purple goooze. (Nowadays, kids have to make their own slime with glue and contact solution, but that’s beside the point)
At this point, we simply scooped them into the salad. I would recommend a small drizzle of balsamic or a vinaigrette on top for dressing as the avocado can be rather fatty. It may be 75% healthy unsaturated fats, but it can feel like a ton after too much. After all, England is famous for their fish and chips with vinegar for the acidic kick in the middle of every bite. Now that we’ve had our salad, on to the main course: Stuffed Calamari courtesy of “Nona’s Kitchen”.
