Sunday, January 19, 2014

Squid with Garlic Chili Olive Oil

Despite the title, this wonderful tapas dish also has smoked bacon pan-fried to crispy nuggets of deliciousness, along with the chilies, garlic and squid. And please don’t forget the squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end. It elevates this dish to brilliant like a flood of hot sunshine on a sparkling white Majorcan beach.


Sunday Supper is getting the party started this week with tapas recipes. Delicious bites or snacks that are made especially for eating with drinks. And since, as I mentioned in my #CocktailDay post, this is my birthday week, I'm going to pretend that they are all for my own virtual party. Yay! Such fun!

When we were living in Paris, we took advantage of charter flights to head south and get away from the cold, damp winters that extended way too long into months we felt should have been quite rightfully spring. I’ve already written about Portugal here but one of our other favorite holidays was to the island of Majorca. To date this is our only venture into Spanish territory but I remember it so fondly, with its fresh seafood, white sandy beaches and clear, aquamarine waters that I knew immediately what I wanted to cook when the tapas theme was announced for Sunday Supper.

Majorcan traditional cooking uses mostly seafood and pork, so a dish of bacon and squid, with some garlic and chilies was perfect! I don’t mean to imply that this dish is authentic in any way or that I remember eating it there. I do want to say that it brought me back, in a way that only the clean smell of the sea in seafood and a good imagination can. I can almost feel the sand between my toes.

That little blondie is our elder daughter - Majorca, 1994


Ingredients
4 oz or 115g smoked slab bacon
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 or 2 small red hot chilies
Olive oil
1 lb or 450g whole fresh squid (I prefer baby squid, if I can get them.) Or about 9 oz or 260g already cleaned and sliced squid rings.
Sea salt flakes
Small handful fresh parsley leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked off
1/4 large lemon

Method
Slice your garlic thinly and split the red chilies in half lengthwise. Chop your parsley and fresh thyme. Set aside.



Chop your bacon into the small, slim chunks the French like to call lardons.

Pan-fry them with a good drizzle of olive oil over a low heat while you clean and slice the squid.


For those of you using squid rings, you can skip this next part. Move ahead to where we are making sure the bacon is golden and crispy.

To clean the squid, first grab hold of the part that has the tentacles and pull it out of the tube-y bit. (I tried to find the technical terms for you but I didn’t think they’d be helpful after all. Who would have known what the mantle is? Yeah, me either.)

You can discard the leggy body bits from the squid but I happen to like the look of the little tentacles once they are cooked. If you agree, cut that part off just below the eyes and discard the part with the eyes. The ink sac is in that part. If you happen to pierce it, just wash everything off with water and put to dry on a paper towel. The squid ink is harmless. In fact, a lot of cooks use it to color pasta or add it to sauces.



Run your finger around inside of the tube-y bit until you find the hard thing that feels and looks like plastic. Pull it out. It should be almost as long as your squid tube so if it breaks off short, fish around and get the rest of it out and discard.

See, that thing. Take it out and throw it away.


Go check on the bacon. It should be starting to render the fat and fry gently. Give it a stir.



If you do decide to keep the leggy bit, turn it over and pinch out the hard bit with the black spot in the center and discard it.



Go check on the bacon. Give it another stir and make sure it isn’t burning.

Now peel off all the colored stuff from the outside of the squid tubes. You can use your hands but the easiest way is to rub it off with dry paper towels and then discard them. Rinse your squid in clean water and put it on paper towels to dry.



Your squid is clean! Slice it into wide rings.



Direct your attention to the bacon and turn the heat up a little if it’s not golden and crispy yet.

When it is golden and crispy, add in the garlic and chilies.

Sauté briefly until the garlic starts to brown around the edges and then put all the squid in at once. Give it a good stir. The squid should turn white and start to curl up.




Now is the time to sprinkle with sea salt and then the parsley and thyme. Give the whole thing a good stir.



Add in another generous drizzle of olive oil. Flavored olive oil is the best for dipping bread in so don’t be shy!

Squeeze in the juice of your lemon, give the dish one more good stir, and serve with slices of a fresh crusty loaf of French baguette.


Food Lust People Love: A wonderfully fragrant tapas dish with smoked bacon pan-fried to crispy nuggets of deliciousness, along with the chilies, garlic and squid. You'll love this Squid with Garlic Chili Olive Oil.
Enjoy!


Join our Sunday Supper host, Conni from Cosmopolitan Cornbread and travel with us to Spain or some other sunny clime for a festival of tapas.

When you are eating tapas, you need a glass of wine: Best Wines To Pair With Tapas from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog.

Pin Squid with Bacon and Garlic Chili Olive Oil!


Food Lust People Love: A wonderfully fragrant tapas dish with smoked bacon pan-fried to crispy nuggets of deliciousness, along with the chilies, garlic and squid. You'll love this Squid with Garlic Chili Olive Oil.


And for those of you who scrolled all the way to the bottom, I reward you with two more Majorca holiday photos. :) Thanks for stopping by!



46 comments :

  1. What a fantastic dish! I just love everything in here and yeah you cooked it in your new Le Creuset!

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  2. Cheers to you and happy happy birthday! I've never had a caipirinhas even though I knew what it was made of. Will definitely need to give it a go.

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  3. Lovin' the squid tutorial! And those little peanuts at the end? Gah! So adorable...

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  4. Happy birthday! Best wishes for many cheery, food-filled returns!

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  5. I wondering who would notice first, Susan! You win!

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  6. I think they make a lot of people squeamish but we love them! I mean the squid. Although we love the peanuts too. :)

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  7. I have had squid before and I kind of like it! I know I would love your tapas dish, it's just beautiful!

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  8. What a great recipe! I'm loving the photos of your little ones :)

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  9. I would never ever forget the lemon drizzle!! =D IT would be a crime in my house haha
    I find your step by step pictures very useful because I haven't cleaned calamari on my own yet. =P I am a bit lazy about these things and since we have the restaurant staff here, I just give it to them to clean.
    Your baby pictures are sooo adorable!

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  10. i love caipirinhas and keep Cachaca in my cabinet. Sometimes I get a funny look when I ask for them or the bartender says they don't have it and I have to settle for a Mojito, but it's sooooo good.

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  11. I've never heard of caipirinhas before, but these sound lovely! Happy Birthday to you & a big cheers too!

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  12. Love squid, love chilli, love garlic - naturally this dish is for me! Such cute pics... kids grow up too fast!

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  13. Love that you have introduced me to something new once again!! My mouth is watering thinking about this cocktail!!

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  14. My husband loves drinks that feature lime as the main flavor.... I'm going to have to make him this drink for sure when he gets back from Afghanistan!

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  15. This is a perfect cocktail for our warm year-round weather in Palm Springs! Can't wait to try this!

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  16. Yummy!! It looks exactly like the Spanish deli's - and I'm sure far less expensive!

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  17. So simple and delicious. This is what I really love about Spanish food!

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  18. We didn't make it to Mallorca when we went to Spain, but I know it's a great place to visit. I completely agree with you about the freshness of the Spanish seafood! I love this dish! Thanks for sharing Stacy!

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  19. I love your pictures! They are so colorful and make me wish I could reach out and take a bite.

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  20. J'adore squid! Dried squid is delicious, too! Anyway, fantastic photos, recipe and memories of Spain...You really do live the jet setting life, Stacy =) Thank you for taking us all along for the ride!

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  21. The tentacles of squid are my favorite part haha. Ugh I am so jealous of all of you who have actually been to Spain. Now I must go!

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  22. What a great post and amazing recipe :)

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  23. What a fantastic recipe! I love calamari, and want to make this soon. What a long of list of fabulous places you've traveled to and lived in. Thanks for a peek in :-)

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  24. Can I just tell you how much I love this recipe... the only thing I love more is the pictures of your daughter. What a cutie pie!

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  25. It's not exactly Brazilian weather up here in Toronto right now, but I could totally go for one of those right about now anyway.... delicious!

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  26. Awww lovely family pictures! This dish sounds delish! I love squid!

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  27. You had me giggling with your technical terminolgy! Not that I could come up with anything better mind you. Love this recipe and your family photos - what about that bonnet?! Too funny. And happy birthday.

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  28. I believe you; this looks delish!!! A gorgeous, authentic tapas recipe!

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  29. Oh what a delightful refreshing looking drink.

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  30. I love these babies!! They are potent, but delicious!!!

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  31. I've heard of this drink and this liquor many times and am always itching to try it. Must find this!!

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  32. Ah, one of my favorite summer drinks!

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  33. Oh I love the chili and garlic along with the other ingredients and it looks absolutely delicious!!What a fantastic recipe Stacy! Your daughter's pics are super cute too :)

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  34. What a delicious recipe! Now I'm wondering if we can get squid here!

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  35. While I am not a squid fan both my brother and husband are. This totally sounds like something they would love-they both like a little spice with their squid!

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  36. My most recent favorite is a White Gummi Bear Martini.

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  37. You absolutely can't go wrong with that much lime! Awesome!

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  38. This is fabulous. I can't even get over how pretty this is.

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  39. I love caipirinhas! We have a Brazilian restaurant nearby and drink them whenever we can! Yours look delicious! Lovely photo.

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  40. I'm totally a sucker for lime and I'm even more fond of all things sweet. :-) I would absolutely love to try this one! I'm pinning it for later.

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