Squid Cooking Tips

The first priority is to buy freshly caught Squid, ideally caught that day. To prepare the Squid, separate the body and head by pulling apart. From the stomach remove the transparent backbone and any soft remaining parts, Pull off the thin membrane from the outside of the body and the wing shapes. Separate the tentacles from the head of the fish. Now thoroughly wash all of the fish. You can now choose which recipe option for your meal. If you are unable to buy fresh Squid try the packets of small frozen tubes that are available from most fish suppliers. 

Quick, simple and fresh. 

Take the tube and wings of the Squid and thinly slice into pieces 3 mm thick. For a single starter use 115 g. Have ready thinly sliced garlic, ginger, spring onion, chopped parsley or coriander and fresh lemon. Place a Wok on a high heat and add a light coating of sesame oil, fry the Squid for a couple of minutes. Add the other ingredients, squeeze with lemon juice and serve. You will have created a very quick, refreshing a tender Squid dish. Ideal as a starter. Look for other chef recipes here.

Stuffed Squid 

Squid, unlike most other shellfish, should be cooked very quickly or slowly. For stuffed dishes the larger examples are ideal for slow cooking. Select a tube around 15 cm long with an opening of 5 cm wide. Prepare a stuffing mix with finely chopped tentacles and wings, rice, pine nuts, onion and garlic. Loosely stuff the Squid and seal the open end with a bamboo skewer or cocktail stick. Cover the stuffed fish with stock, white wine and chopped tomatoes. Cover and simmer very gently for around 30 minutes. Remove and place on a plate with the reduced and blended cooking liquid. Simply delicious. For larger Squid tubes extend the cooking time. 

A jar of Squid nibbles 

Collect as many of the small tentacles as you can. Quickly blanch and place in a glass jar of a suitable size. Top up with olive oil flavoured with chilli, ginger, fish sauce, lemon grass, garlic and fresh green peppercorns. Seal and store in a fridge. You will have created a lovely emergency jar of nutritious nibbles to offer your family and friends.

Saved by Seafood

There's nothing fishy about seafood. Really, nothing. This popular choice finds much importance in the Mediterranean and Japanese cuisines, both of which are touted for their health benefits. If you're on the lookout for a healthier diet, and as long as you aren't allergic to it, consider making seafood a big part of your meal. The sheer variety that it offers - fish, oysters, calamari, shrimp, lobsters, crabs, scallops, mussels - makes sure that there's something for everyone. Even if you are an extremely fussy eater, you'll still find sub-categories and sub-types of these above mentioned seafood.

After choosing comes the cooking. What a joy it is to cook seafood! You can boil it, broil it, bake it, grill it, fry it and steam it. And this is just a few straight forward methods you can apply. You can always mix them up. In fact, if you're feeling too lazy to cook, you can even have seafood raw! However, if you feel like cooking, there are so many basics you can start from. Seafood is something that can be incorporated in salads, soups, stir-fries, batter- fries, noodles, casseroles, etc.

STIR FRIED PRAWNS

The ingredients that you'll need for this recipe are:
Large prawns (shelled and deveined) - 250 grams
Garlic (finely chopped) - 3 to 4 fat cloves
Red Onions (finely chopped) - 1 big or 2 medium
Carrots (thin strips) - 100 grams
Red Cabbage (thinly shredded) - 150 grams
Broccoli (small florets) - 100 grams
Light Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Pepper - To taste

Heat a non-stick frying pan and add the sesame oil. Now add the red onion and the garlic and stir for a minute and a half on low heat. Add the carrots, cabbage and the broccoli and stir for another two minutes. Move the vegetable to the sides of the pan and add the light soy sauce and the prawns. Add the salt and pepper. When the prawns turn opaque, mix in the vegetables from the side and stir well to ensure even seasoning. Serve on a simple white plate to draw attention to the colours of this seafood recipe

Not only is this dish healthy, it is very versatile. If you're not fond of broccoli or carrots or cabbage, you can always substitute them with vegetables like red and green peppers, zucchini, sweet potatoes, etc. You can also switch the soy sauce with a sweet and chilli sauce or an oyster sauce, and those of you who like some heat can add paprika to the dish.