Squid At Wegmans: Try A Light Summer Dinner That Is As Easy As Grilling Up Hamburgers

Squid Burlissimo

Quick-cooking.  Low-fat.  Fresh-tasting.  How could squid not be part of your everyday kitchen?

Well, the squid part kept me from cooking them for a long time.  Big bodies you need to clean or frozen blocks you need to defrost and use.  But that changed at the seafood counter at Wegmans.

They're easy there.  Sold cleaned -- either as tubular bodies or bundled tentacles. You literally just slice them and cook, no harder than a fish filet.  We go with bodies.  Buy maybe a 1/4 pound per person.  Then find recipes that keep me from deep-frying them into crunchy calamari.

My current recipe was adapted from a Melissa Clark recipe in the New York Times.  Sautéed squid with lime, hot pepper and mint.  Served -- by accident -- on toasted bread when I misread Clark's recipe and then decided that I liked the change.  It's a fresh little dinner, great flavors and dedicated to the famous Duke and Duchess of Burlbaugh.

Squid Burlissimo
serves two, easy to double if you cook in two batches

4 tbl olive oil
1/2 pound squid bodies, cleaned
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small Thai pepper, seeded
1 lime
1/4 c. chopped mint
thin slices of crusty bread -- 2 large or 4 small

1) Rinse the squid, then drain and dry with a paper towel.  The bodies are long tubes, pointed on one end and open on the other.  Slice them into 3/4-inch-wide rings.  Pat dry, then put in a bowl.

Watermelon & feta salad

2) Heat a skillet large enough to hold the squid over high heat.  Let the pan get very hot.  Add the oil to the pan.  Then add the squid.  Sprinkle with salt and cook them for one minute without touching them.

3) Flip the squid.  Add the garlic and hot pepper.  Cook one or two more minutes.  Cook the squid until it gets firm and opaque.

4) At the same time, toast or grill the bread.

5) Pour the squid, oil, garlic and hot pepper into a clean bowl.  Squeeze the lime to pour juice over the squid.  Add the mint and stir.  You want a bit of oil at the bottom of the bowl.  Add a 1/2 tsp if you don't have enough.

5) Put the bread on plates or a serving platter.  Spoon squid onto the bread.  Spoon a bit of the oil on each slice.  Serve immediately.

Consider serving with a salad made of cubed watermelon, feta and basil.  Dress with a little olive oil and salt.