Lunch: Calamari Frito

This lunch went for only € 8,50. And the price difference with a €15 lunch shows. Simple. Just okay quality.

Cuban Rice (with a couple of eggs and some tomato sauce [that’s not ketchup])

Good enough but not anything special.

Then the calamari; in the form of rings, battered, fried – and not a lot of them. A bunch of common fries and a simple salad.

Not all of these lunches are winners. This one’s okay; I’d try them again. If only because the place is on the beach about 75 meters from here.

Shrimp & Squid Skewers: Gambas y Calamar Brochette

On the theme of "know your food". If you're going to eat it buy it with its eyes still intact (probably this rule does not apply to beef). In this case.. shrimp/s (prawns).
I'm not actually certain what the difference between shrimp & prawns is.


Rip off their heads, peel away their shells and strip out their intestinal tract (devein). Here shown with the accompanying chopped up squid rings.


Marinate and grill (in this case, under the grill in the oven 'cause I didn't feel like cranking up the bar-b-que).

Shrimp & Squid Skewers: Gamba y Calamar Brochettes

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 16 wooden skewers
• 1 kilo prawns (32 or so)
• 150 gr squid rings [8 oz] (better would be whole baby squids)

Marinade

• 1 T ginger powder (better would be an inch or two of fresh, grated)
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 T soy sauce (better would be light soy)
• 2 T sherry (or sweet sherry but not cream sherry)
• 1 t sesame oil
• 1 T olive oil, virgin
  
• 2 t chili oil
• 1 chili (deseeded)
• 2 T corn flour

• 4 T sesame seeds
• 1 lemon

Procedure

1. Peel and devein prawns
2. Cut squid rings into prawn length pieces
3. Whisk marinade ingredients together
   
4. Marinate prawns and squid for 1, 2, 3, 4 hours (turn/stir once)
5. Soak wooden skewers in water for ½ hour
6. Add sesame seeds to the marinade & stir
7. Stab shrimp, squid, shrimp, squid, shrimp & squid onto each skewer
8. Lay all these out on an oiled grilling tray and drizzle marinade remains over
• Drizzle additional olive oil if you're short of marinade
9. Put them under the grill at about 8 cm [3"] for 8 minutes
• Too close and they'll burn
  
• Turn them, another 5 minutes grilling
• Times vary widely according to the power of the grill; you want to do these slowish
10. Wedge the lemon into 8 and serve on the side (for squeezing over the prawns)

Notes

• Serve on top of baby salad greens (the marinade and lemon becomes its dressing)
• Don't grill these too fast, they'll dry out
• Barbecuing is good too

Calamares con Cebolla Oporto: Squid with Port Onions

Oh, you're gonna love this. Try it at home.



These are rings of squid, fried, over sauteéd onions (with squid ink & port) with a few prawns thrown in for colour. Yes, those onions under the rings in the picture are black. You probably don't eat a lot of (deliberately) black food do you?

I did a search on the web for Squid with Port Onions and came up with exactly zero hits so I guess this counts as an original recipe.

Calamares con Cebolla Oporto

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• oil (olive, virgin)
• 1 onion
• ¼ t salt
• 1 package squid ink
  
• ¼ C dry white wine
• ¼ C Port (sweet)
  
  
• oil
  
• 400 g Squid (cut into rings) [¼#]
• ¼ C dry white wine
• 100 g Prawns [3oz]
• ¼ C dry white wine

Procedure

1. oil into a pan
   
2. sauté onions
• until translucent and soft
  
3. add salt
4. add wine and squid ink, stir to dissolve
   
5. add port
• bring up to a decent boil then lower heat to medium and...
  
• reduce to sauciness
  
• set aside, in the oven, covered with foil, at about 100 C [200F]
  
  
6. oil into a frying pan
7. add squid
   
8. fry lightly for 10 min
• they will shrink, release juices and brown just very slightly
  
9. deglaze the pan with white wine (leave the squid in there)
   
• stir around to completely deglaze
10. reduce the resulting juice to thick sauciness
    
11. add prawns
• stir around until they've changed colour
  
12. add more wine
    
13. reduce the sauce again and at the same time you're cooking the prawns through
    

Notes

1. Squid rings are usually about 1cm wide [½"]
   
2. present the squid & prawns on top of the onions
3. typically served with rice
• but I served with garbanzo beans spiced up with a little bit of cumin
  
4. this is a one pan dish if you wipe and rinse the pan between doing the onions and the squid