A Lesson in Squid

I love cookbooks. My collection has taken over nearly half our bookshelf, with the overflow stacked in a 5-foot leaning tower beside it. I use them as guidebooks, read them like novels, flip through them like picture books, and on occasion, use them to steady an uneven chair leg.

The limitations I’ve had with cookbooks are really a reflection of my own failure of imagination. I find it entirely daunting to dive into a recipe for a dish I’ve never tasted or cannot picture – or even pronounce. When I look at a recipe, I like to be able to visualize the whole cooking process all the way up to the end product and, admittedly, can get tripped up by the details.

Take calamari. Until recently, I’m not sure I’d ever seen it in its “naked” form, before it’s cut into little rings, breaded and fried to a crisp. I’ve always been fascinated about making it myself, especially some non-fried-and-dipped-in-marinara-sauce way. I consulted my cookbooks, which laid out several squid-related options, and eyed the fish counter at Whole Foods. And yet I never mustered up the courage to try cooking it at home.

Enter my friend Bryan. Although he was amusingly typecast in various Jewish roles during our time in college theater together, he is, in fact, a bona fide Italian boy. Thus, frying up some squid is apparently no more intimidating to him than sautéing a chicken breast is for me. I told him of my calamari fears and he gallantly offered to give me a lesson.

So, a few weekends ago Bryan and his handsome partner Brad invited us over for a hands-on lesson that begot a three-course calamari feast.

Our lesson began with the most challenging part of the meal: cleaning the calamari. Channeling his Italian grandma, Bryan first separated the tentacles from the sac. Then we stuck our hand in the exposed end of the sac and pulled out a cellophane-thin piece of bone that looked like a piece of clear plastic you’d find encasing a new Barbie doll, not dinner.

Then we peeled off any mottled skin enveloping the sac that the fishmonger missed. Finally, we let cold water run through the calamari “tube” and tentacles, and cleaned off any grime – but Bryan warned against getting too rough with the scrubbing or else we could inadvertently make it tough.

To avoid dreaded rubbery calamari, Bryan offered this pearl of wisdom: cook it quickly over high heat or slowly over very low heat. Anything in between is asking for trouble.

The easiest and most accessible of the three dishes we prepared was a starter salad of grilled calamari with roasted baby heirloom tomatoes over a bed of frisée. We simply took the cleaned calamari “tubes” and tossed them with lemon juice, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and a few good swigs of olive oil, and let them marinate.

Meanwhile, we sprinkled baby heirloom tomatoes with olive oil and roasted them until soft. Right before serving, we got a grill pan very hot and grilled the calamari until they started turning opaque and had the beginnings of grill marks, a few minutes per side.

Then we sliced them into thin rings, plated them atop a bed of frisée with a few roasted tomatoes, and gave a final splash of olive oil. The result was a lovely composed salad, and the kind of thing that sounds awfully intimidating – grilled calamari! – but was really a snap to put together.

The rest of the night was a blur of squid-related gluttony, including homemade pasta with squid ink sauce and stuffed whole squid simmered in tomatoes. We probably each consumed nearly a pound of squid that night, which seems terribly disturbing right now, but tasted decadently good at the time.

And I can assure you of one thing — I’m no longer intimidated by a little squid.

Bryan’s Grilled Calamari, Roasted Cherry Tomato, and Frisée Salad

Serves 4

4 cleaned calamari “tubes”

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

2 cloves minced garlic

A pinch of red pepper flakes

Extra virgin olive oil

½ pint mini heirloom or cherry tomatoes

4 cups frisée lettuce

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place calamari in a bowl and add lemon juice, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and a few good glugs of olive oil. Leave to marinate while you prepare the tomatoes or answer e-mail.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Halve the tomatoes toss lightly with olive oil on a sheet pan. Spread them out into one layer and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.

3. Get your grill on medium high heat. Once it’s hot, place the squid on the grill gently pressing down. Grill until they just turn opaque and you start seeing grill marks, a few minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and slice crosswise into thin rings.

4. Divide the frisée onto four plates and top with tomatoes and calamari. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

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