Yes, I know it’s Nordic shrimp and snow crab season here in Quebec. Yes, we’re getting lobster from the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. And yes, I can even get fresh (farmed) BC sockeye or other Pacific salmon. So why am I buying tubes of sustainable Humboldt squid from the freezer section in La Mer to make pasta sauce?
The truth is that the La Mer email newsletter had a recipe for it and I wondered if it was any good.
Be honest, doesn’t this picture with squid ink pasta just look awful?
But I also figured that a slow-cooker might be a genius way of avoiding turning squid into rubber.
And the price was right: $8.31 ($17.61/kg) for a frozen hunk of squid that could double as a rolling pin.
And you know what? It was delicious. And so simple, if you ignore the poorly written recipe (e.g. how do you cut the frozen mass of squid once thawed?). And if you use 4 cups of chicken broth or fish broth instead of 4 cups of “fish soup.” Because what the heck is “fish soup” anyway? From the picture and the soupiness of my finished product, I think it means a can or tetra pak of commercial bisque. But who knows? I certainly didn’t, even when my resulting ragout was pretty thin because of using broth instead. I just strained the squid slices over some GoGo Quinoa cauliflower fusilli along with a bit of liquid and lapped it up.
And now I’m preaching the wonders of slow-cooked squid. You could probably also toss in some tomato sauce in place of the “fish soup” and it’d be fine, though it’d overwhelm the subtle flavour of the squid. Maybe that’s for the best, because if kids didn’t know they were eating squid, they’d love this too. It’s not gelatinous or rubbery or tough. It’d tooth-tender and soft and just chewy enough to have a bit of wanted texture.
Now I’m waiting for shrimp and crab and Pacific salmon season to end so I can justify buying more frozen squid. Or maybe I won’t wait. It’s still sustainable.
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