Stuffed SQUIDS

 ...You can’t deny the squid there is something grotesquely sensual about the squid.

Upon seeing the styrofoam box brimming with squid at the West End markets, we thought it was time to get learned in gutting and stuffing these little numbers.

Lemon, parmesan & oregano stuffed baby squid in tomato caper sauce 

6 baby squid, cleaned
Toothpicks 

With the tentacles, you can either chop them and add them to the stuffing, or coat them in rice flour or semolina + salt and pepper, fry em up and eat em.

How to clean them:

How to gut squids from Bookery Cook on Vimeo.

Stuffing

1 cup breadcrumbs (make these fresh!! – cut of the crusts of at least day-old bread. Toast. Turn to crumbs in a processor or wrap in tea towel and smoosh with rolling pin or similar implement. If this fails, VERY finely chop)
1 tblsp oregano, finely chopped
2 tblsp parmesan cheese
1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped or 1 tsp lemon zest, grated
2 tblsp lemon juice
2 tblsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Sauce

1 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 anchovy fillets
1x 400g tin tomatoes
1/2 fresh chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tblsp capers
1/4 cup water
salt & pepper

Heat oven to 180•c.

For the stuffing, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Stuff squid with breadcrumb mixture and seal with a toothpick speared through the top to hold the edges together. Avoid over-stuffed the squid tubes, as tempting as it is.

For the sauce, heat olive oil in a saucepan, add onion and garlic and cook until onion is transluscent. Add anchovy and cook for a few minutes, smooshing it up. Add tomatoes, salt and sugar and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Add capers and cook for a further 5 minutes, then taste for seasoning. Add water if sauce is too thick.

Lay squid in a baking dish in a single layer. Coat with sauce and bake for about 10 minutes.

And if that wasn't enough squid for you.. 

Very talented artist and cook and Bookery Cook artist contributor, Wah, has a long-standing relationship and deep love affair with squid, who admits he could happily eat squid 7 days a week.

When he was still a young’un Wah’s folks taught his to gut squid. They would buy 10-15kg worth of squid and Wah would spend hours in the afternoon cleaning squid on a high sink. Squid supplies for the next month in the freezer!

Wah stuffs his squid with brown rice, sultanas, garlic, pine nuts and a bunch of other stuff (basically a rice salad)

YUM!