Squids are among the most tasty and versatile shellfish to prepare. To keep them soft and tender, the secret is to avoid long and invasive cooking.
The squid among the shellfish, they are the simplest to prepare and certainly the tastier. The recipes to bring them to the table are many: in salads, grilled, stewed, as a sauce for pasta … The dilemma remains the same, however: how to avoid make them gummy. In fact, very little is needed to transform these tender and soft shellfish into something immasticabile. To avoid mistakes, follow our advice and you will not run risks!
The raw material: of excellent quality
When you choose the squid, verify that they are very fresh, with the skin firmly attached to the body, the tentacles of the turgid tufts, the color tending to violet and with a scent of the sea and not of … ammonia. The freshness of the ingredient is the first requirement because then they are tender and not stringy.
Quick cooking
The squid can be cooked in many ways: stuffed baked, steamed, boiled, fried, browned or on the grill. Each cooking is specific for a recipe and allows to make the best raw material. In any case, what is important is that the squid must cookand in no time. Its soft meats are prepared in just a few minutes, in whatever way one wants to cook them, otherwise they risk getting hard. In this case, the only way to make them edible again is to continue to cook them, until they break up, completely losing their consistency. A squid cooked for 4-5 minutes, instead, it maintains its softness but also its own texture, making the most of every recipe. Even if prepared in the oven, you can leave them no more than 15 minutes, until they are covered with a golden crust on the surface, while maintaining the tenderness inside.
… and suitable for each recipe
A fresh squid salad it is prepared in a very short time: 5 minutes in boiling salted water, and then drained, on the plate, with celery, black olives, cherry tomatoes and basil. A squid sauce? Prepare a sauce with garlic and onion, cut the squid into small pieces, brown them with garlic and onion and then add the halved tomato and a lot of basil at the end: ten minutes and you have a perfect sauce for your spaghetti. You want to impress your guests with gods stuffed squid? Prepare a stuffing with the tufts of squid browned in a little oil and garlic and then chopped, some grated bread, some capers and fresh mint leaves: fill the squid cleaned with this filling, close with a toothpick, place them in an oiled baking dish, sprinkle them with breadcrumbs, oil, capers and onion wedges. Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve with a fresh salad. If, on the other hand, you are a super sweet tooth, then take the squid, wash it, dry it, pass it in the flour or in the tarallucci passed in the mixer, and throw them in hot peanut oil. Cook for 5 minutes and then enjoy them very hot.
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