Читать книгу Made in Italy: Food and Stories - Giorgio Locatelli - Страница 57

This is a lovely, quite rustic dish. It is simple to make, but relies on very good quality ingredients, so it is another one to do in the summer, when tomatoes and basil are at their best.

The dish dates back to the days when I was cooking at Olivo, and each week we used to get three large boxes of calamari arriving in the kitchen, full of squid of all different sizes.

Because I hate waste – all Italians do – I came up with this recipe using all the squid, big or small, tentacles and all, and it tastes fantastic – despite the fact that this is yet another case of breaking the cardinal Italian rule of never putting cheese with fish.

The finished dish is something between a starter and a soup, almost like squid in a broth of warm tomato salsa. Serve with a knife, fork and spoon and let people dip bruschetta into it.

enough squid (including tentacles) to give you 16 small, intact bodies, plus 2 or 3 extra for the stuffing, prepared as above

4 tablespoons light extra-virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for brushing

2 very ripe large tomatoes, diced

handful of basil

salt and pepper

For the stuffing:

2 anchovy fillets

4 tablespoons light extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves

handful of flat-leaf parsley

handful of basil

breadcrumbs made from stale bread (a quantity equal to the chopped-up squid tentacles and reserved bodies—so for a handful of squid, you need a handful of breadcrumbs)

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

To serve:

8 slices of ciabatta bread

1 garlic clove, halved

a little extra-virgin olive oil

a few basil leaves

Make the stuffing by putting the anchovies, oil, garlic and herbs into a food processor and processing until finely chopped, then adding the chopped tentacles and extra squid bodies, together with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Do not add any seasoning at this point. Pulse until the mixture will come together in your hands without being too sticky.

Since both the squid and the Parmesan are quite salty, you need to check whether any extra salt is needed, so take a small amount of the stuffing mixture and cook it quickly in a non-stick pan; taste and season with salt if necessary. Otherwise, just add a twist of black pepper.

Stuff the squid pockets with the mixture – not too full, or they will burst during cooking – then close up and secure the openings with cocktail sticks.

Put the olive oil, diced tomatoes and basil into a pan with a large base set over a low heat and warm through without boiling. Season to taste.

Brush the squid with a little oil, then heat a griddle pan or heavy-based frying pan until smoking. (If the pan isn’t hot enough, the squid will boil – leaching out its liquid, which will make it tough and flavourless.) Don’t overcrowd the pan or griddle – cook no more than 4 squid at a time. You need enough space around each one to enable you to turn it over into a spare hot space, so that once again you can make sure it sears rather than boils. Chargrill or grill quickly (about a minute on each side) until the squid begin to mark if on a griddle or take on a bit of colour if in a frying pan.

Remove the cocktail sticks and add the squid pockets to the pan of sauce. Move them around gently, taking care not to break them. Really, you just need to leave the squid in the sauce long enough to release some of the juices from the stuffing that will have gathered inside the pockets, so they can blend with the tomato, basil and oil – but don’t leave the squid in for too long, or it will become rubbery.

Chargrill or sauté the slices of ciabatta on both sides until crisp, then rub with the garlic clove and drizzle with oil.

Serve the squid in its sauce in bowls, garnished with basil leaves and with the bread on the side.