I like squids, but I am so often, not to say always, disappointed when served them in restaurants. It is really simple, I want them fresh and I want them very gently cooked. Frankly, there are very few places that offer squids to my satisfaction. I only buy them myself when they are in the pristine condition shown on the picture above. If not, it is better to cook and eat something else. This time of the year is a good time for squid in the Mediterranean. I got the ones on the image yesterday.
They were 20 centimeters long and still crawling when I got home with them. One sign of freshness is that they either move or respond to being touched upon. If they are not responding they may still be fine if they still have that translucent appearance as on the picture. Also important is that the skin is undamaged. Most squids sold have been frozen. Frozen squids look like on the picture below. The picture was actually taken on a famous fish market in the Mediterranean region and I suppose most people who buy them believe they are fresh. I suppose they once were. Before they froze them that is.
I never ever buy frozen squid and I complain when eating it in restaurants. I frankly don’t understand why chefs of some starred restaurants bother serving ingredients that so obviously are of inferior quality, at least in relation to the real deal.
Cooking squids is easy. Most important perhaps is to not overdo them. Yesterday I decided to do a preparation inspired by a Rocco Iannone of Pappacarbone dish and stuffed them with quickly braised lettuce, the arms and some smoked cheese and served them with rocket-oil.
It is simple to prepare. Clean the squids. Be careful not to ruin the skin on the outside.
Chop some lettuce, such as little gems. Braise the lettuce in clarified butter with the squid arms diced in a few pieces until the lettuce starts to soften but before it changes color too much. Add some lemon juice. Add the cheese cut in fine cubes (0,5 cm*0,5cm) and let them melt a little. Fill the squids with the filling. Quickly sear the filled squids starting with the flaps down. Serve with rocket oil, made by mixing rocket salad leaves and a Ligurian olive oil. Season the oil with salt and black pepper. Simple.
12 Comments
Bravo for your purity in cooking and in real products.
Your web site is a real treasure in this world of bad taste.
I love your recepy with the quid but beeing italianely
grown up I would not put cheese with fish or ‘crustacés’.
The milk of any animal has to me nothing to do with it.
But I like to mix meat or ‘ris d’agneau’ with ‘couteaux’…
Again bravo for your point of views…
I ment meat with fish and…
Thanks Pierre,
Normally I agree with you. In this recipe the cheese is there partly for its smokiness but also for the “milky” lettuce that to me is a good flavor bridge. I find it a death sin to for example grate parmigano on langoustine linguine. Having said that, you do find cheese being served in classical Italian restaurants with both fish and crustaceans. In Liguria for instance, you will come across parmigiano being used with crustaceans and artichokes and citrus fruits. In Campania, I have had numerous dishes in restaurants of chefs respecting their traditions that featured crustaceans or fish with mozzarella or Cacio Cavallo.
Personally, I agree with Pierre Gagnaire that there are very few taboos in cooking as long as the result is good. Parmesan with langoustine linguine is one of them (taboos).
And yes Pierre, couteaux and ris de veau. Yummy. Or couteaux (live) with veal tartar and Alba truffles. I will see if I can get some small couteaux from Puglia next week.
I totally disagree with you…I am for real purity and parmiggiano reggiano has NOTHING to do in liguria with fish…and liguria is not very known for its cuisine dear Sir.
Personnaly I am way more attached to Mr Alain Passard who respects the product and the “cuisson” then to Mr Pierre Gagnaire “qui part dans tout les sens” and I get sick in my stomach with to many tastes and badly accompagned!
Be carefull not to get a melon on your head…stay simple.
Oh by the way isn’t the poularde in the cocotte picture on your blog from l’Arpège?…
@ Pierre,
I am also attached very much to the cuisine of Alain Passard. I have had some fabulous meals at l’Arpege but I have also had some pretty much rubbish meals there when for example meat and fish have been overcooked to hard dryness. It is correct that the poulet in hay is indeed the dish of Passard but it was made in my kitchen by one of his (now former) aides.
I personally prefer simple cooking using just a few ingredients of superb quality and letting them shine. As you can see in my posts I make the effort to find the best there is to find. And I want to intervene as little as possible. Many additions are for me just condiments. Having said that, I have over the years come to the conclusion that you easily deprive yourself of many pleasures by being too stubbornly limited by predjudice with respect to what must or must not be served with certain produce. The idea that cheese and fish or shellfish is forbidden is not respected as I noted by Italian chefs but also not by traditional French chefs. For years, Ducasse and Cerutti served parmesan crisp with a sallad with pan seared scallops or gamberi at Le Louis XV. I don’t know how many times I have had risotto with shellfish at Le Louis XV that had parmesan or mascarpone added to it, although admittedly risotto with shellfish as a rule was made without. If cheese would be prohibited with shellfish or fish, then the step from cheese to cream is not very far. Fermented cream also a no-no? Pacaud’s langoustines with curry sauce comes to mind. Or his smoked salmon will dill cream just to mention two things off the top of my head.
If you mean that Liguria is not well known for its restaurants then I would agree with you. If you mean that there is nothing of interest in Ligurian cuisine, then I think you are wrong. Many Ligurian traditions could at least before be had at Le Louis XV, especially on the lunch menu. Le Louis XV is sadly not what it was anymore after Franck Cerutti only oversees things on a supervisory level.
I made the reference to Pierre Gagnaire only because I think he is right that there should be few taboos in cooking. I too have had many poor meals at Gagnaire. I have also had some incredible meals there but I have little desire to eat there again. In hindsight, perhaps the most memorable was with cheese monger Bernard Antony when Pierre cooked for us. Everything was shining. When meals have been bad it was not only that tastes didn’t “work” but that execution, presentation and ingredients were simply not good. Even when he “is on”, I think Gagnaire is one of the most misunderstood chefs in France. I see his style as baroque-ish. He puts together disparate produce and of course it does not always “work” for every palate or my own for that matter just like we view baroque styles today.
I understand and respect your point of view but still disagree.
I would NEVER put cheese in a “fishy” risotto and cream to me
is baned by real italian cuisine (and I am from Modena…)
Ducasse to me is nothing else than a business man who doesn’t
care about anything else than money.
I am very respectfull towards Pierre Gagnaire and I really want
to try Pacaud’s cuisine.
Italian cooking has to remain simple,with rules and respect.
And Italian cuisine has NOTHING to do with the french michelin
starification to me.
I can give you some fantastic addresses in Emilia if you once travel
there.
Take care and again bravo for your blog.
Oh indeed, Ducasse is only a business man. We agree on that. The cooking the last 10-11 years at Le Louis XV has been mainly that of Cerutti, who I admire a lot. Today there is a new chef and it is now the streamlined Ducasse Convenience Haute Cuisine without any soul or definition. It is remarkable how different it has become despite being made with the same produce.
I very much admire the simplicity in Italian cooking. Please do give me your address to the place in Emilia. I give you one in Campania, Pappacarbone in Cava di Tirrenni. Yes, you will not like that he does add cheese at times to one or two dishes like that I did with the squid, but Rocco Iannone’s food is simplicity personified and I know of no chef who is more anti-modern molecular bullshit. He uses no siphons, no sous-vide machines, no gelatin, no chemicals. It is real simple cooking with remarkable produce. He only has a small freezer for ice cream.
Thanks for your feedback.
Sounds good!
‘Cio l’aquallina in bocca…’
Tell me when you go to Emilia,
but allready for the most incredible
3 star in Emilia:Nadia Santin without
doubt:simplicity,products and lambrusco
for 16 euros on the table!
In Modena: for lunch “l’aldina” and “hermes”
both amasing trattoria’s.
For the best “panino” ever in the heart of the
“mercato coperto” who is a jewel from early
19th century go to see my friend at “schiavoni”.
Take care.
Oh by the way,while in Modena forget
and pass your way near “la francescana”.
Massimo Bottura is a Adria-Ducasse freack…
I used to work there and its exactly what I
dislike in Italian “cuisine”…
Thanks Pierre for your addresses. Dal Pescatore I know off course.
I sampled Massimo Bottura’s food at a small event last year in Monte-Carlo organised by the great Italian gourmet Enzo Caldarelli. While I know and respect that it is difficult to cook “off-site”, let me just say that after what I ate there I won’t be easily persuaded to eat at his restaurant. Some of the items have to be tasted to be believed
.