Just for you Tinxs.
This is actually a greek recipe which my friend reminded me off from a visit to south Crete.
First to prepare the squid, you may want your monger to do this, but best to do it yourself for freshness, (by the way make sure they are really fresh, most suid tastes tough or rubbery because it was not caught and eaten quickly (tough) or not cook properly (rubbery).
Anyway, hold the squids body in one hand and the head with the other and gently pull the head away from the body. tra dah thats it, now to discard the bits u dont want.
Remove the tentacles from the head by cutting them of just in front of the eyes and discard. The ink sac is somewhere in there and looks whitey/blue, don't worry about it its not poisonous and can be used to flavour the meal, but we won't.
Now you have two bits, the tenticles and the "pouch";-
Squeeze out the beak-like mouth from the centre of the tentacles and discard it
In the pouch there is a plastic quill like thing pull it out and discard, now cut the fins off and tear away the thin transparant skin.
Thats it, now turn pouch inside out and wash furrerly.
How to cook (note when stuffing do not cram it in).
1 kg medium sized squid
1 ½ cup of chopped onion
165 gr rice
1/3 cup of chopped parsley
1 cup of water
1 cup of olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt, pepper
Slit the tentacles in two lengthwise strips then cut in fine pieces. Heat two thirds of the oil and brown the onions and tentacles. Add water, parsley, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over a low heat for half an hour, then add the rice. Stir with a fork. Once the rice begins to cook, cover and leave to simmer for ten to fifteen minutes until it thickens. Loosely stuff, don't pack, the squid pouches with the rice filling. Stand the stuffed squid in a wide pot. Pour over them the remaining oil, lemon juice, 1 cup of water, or slightly more; cover and leave to simmer until only oil remains.
Serve with salad.
Trust me its a nice early evening/late afternoon or with a bbq.
Dippz
