Archive for August, 2006

Don’t Fear the Tentacles

Thursday, Aug 31st, 2006
Categories: 2006, cooking, cucumbers, eggplant, food, grill, squid, yogurt

My love of trash is no secret, and that love affair started with the lowly squid. Most people’s only interaction with squid comes with rubbery deep fried calamari rings dunked in marinara sauce, but this oft-neglected creature can do so much more. There was a point a couple years back that we would eat squid pretty much at least once a week. Luckily for us, it’s also the cheapest thing at the seafood counter, clocking in at about $5/lb. We’d grill it, saute it, put it in a pasta sauce, seafood soups and stews, salads; pretty much anything we could think of. For a while, we were buying the frozen three pound boxes and keeping them in the freezer because it was even cheaper. And yes, almost all squid comes frozen. The stuff you buy at Whole Foods? Frozen. They defrost the same three pound box of frozen squid that you can buy and charge you three times the price.

Any time we’d see squid on a menu, we had to order it. Actually, we still do. When properly cooked, it’s tender and tastes like the sea, not all rubbery and bland like most people think. The most incredible dish we ever ordered was on our honeymoon in Positano where we ordered the grilled squid. The dish came out and it was one gigantic squid, perfectly grilled and juicy. The single squid must have weighed about half a pound, and to this day remains the benchmark for all of my grilled squid endeavors.

Grilling squid is pretty much the easiest thing to do. Rub the squid with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then chuck them on a hot grill. The trick, of course, it to cook them to the right doneness, something I still continue to struggle with. The experts say to cook squid for either a minute or an hour. Anything in the middle will just be rubbery. But on the grill, I find that when cooked for too short a period of time, they just feel raw and chewy. I tend to leave them on one side until they get some nice grill marks,about 4 minutes. Another 4 or 5 minutes on the other side, and they should be done. Any longer, and you’ve cooked all of the moisture out of them, making them too tough. Squeeze some lemon on top when then come off the grill

As a base for the squid, we made a smokey eggplant puree. An eggplant that’s been halved, rubbed with olive oil, and slowly grilled for about 25 minutes until the outside is charred and the insides are soft. Scoop out the flesh after it’s cooled, dump it into a food processor with a handful of mint, some fresh chili, the juice of half of a lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Whiz it up until it’s a nice thick puree. Finally, to cool things off, some good thick Greek yogurt mixed up with chopped cucumbers, lemon, salt, and pepper. Many of you may look at the photo above and just say “ewwwwwww”, but please, just give the squid a chance. It may br trash, but it has feelings too..

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It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Wednesday, Aug 30th, 2006
Categories: 2006, cooking, corn, food, heirloom, tomatoes

To be perfectly honest, for the majority of the year, the local produce in New England isn’t exactly the most exciting stuff in the world. Sure, I get a little twinge of excitement at the sight of the first Springtime ramps, the local berries are pretty amazing, and everybody loves to go apple picking. But how excited can you get about potatoes, carrots, and squashes after a few years? It seems like everyone looks forward to the last couple of weeks in august, when it’s finally corn and tomato season. We’ve waited all year, and finally, the time is now.

Farmer’s Markets and home gardens are overflowing with local heirloom tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, and if you don’t take advantage of it now, well, you’re a dummy. This is as good as it gets around here, so enjoy it while it lasts. Yes, the heirlooms are a bit more expensive than your normal garden variety tomato (no pun intended), but they’re sooooooo worth it. They’re only around for a month or so, so forgo your eBay addiction for a month and spend your cash on these babies. Some of them look a little funny, and then all taste different. Sample as many varieties as you can, and more importantly, enjoy them in their pure and natural state. All these need is a little salt and a splash of olive oil, and you’re good to go. All those crappy caprese salads of tomato, basil, and fresh mootz that you pretend to enjoy all year pale in comparison to ones made right now.

Of course, if you’re a little more ambitious, you can test your architectural and construction skills and attempt to make some of these tasty stacks. Trying to take advantage of as much local produce as possible, I paired these heirlooms from Kimball Fruit Farm with corn, red onions, and cucumbers from Sergi Farm, and Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and basil from our backyard. The corn is quickly sauteed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and the onions were pickled in cider vinegar, salt, and sugar. Then, it’s time to start building. Just have fun and try layering alternating colors and textures; a a slice of yellow tomato, a few pickled onions, a slice of red tomato, a fan of thinly sliced cukes, a basil leaf every now and then. Top it all off with a shower of the corn, more sliced basil, a pour of good olive oil, and a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar (feel free to use the really good 25 year aged stuff that’s sitting in the back of the cabinet waiting for a “special occasion”).

These are really pretty to look at, but as soon as you dive in with a fork and knife, all structural integrity will be compromised. Don’t worry about it. Just enjoy the flavors that you won’t get a chance to enjoy for another 11 months. Oh sorry, did I just depress you? Don’t worry! Pumpkin season is just around the corner!

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