Shrimp-stuffed squid エビ詰めいか

I saw cleaned squid in our regular grocery store and bought it (this is my weakness, I like squid). It was a bit marginal with a fishy smell and needed to be prepared quickly. I pondered what to make and decided to stuff the squid tubes with shrimp. This idea came from shrimp gyouza 餃子 and shumai 焼売 dumplings. I have posted stuffed squid dishes before (ones stuffed with chicken meat, rice and crab meat). I could have sauteed the stuffed squid but decided to simmer it in broth. I served this on a bed of water cress.

I served this once cold and it kept its shape fairly well even when sliced. When I served it warm it was a bit more difficult to slice and the stuffing was a bit softer but it tasted better warm. The water cress had a nice fresh bitter taste which was refreshing.

Ingredients:

Tubes of squid, small, cleaned, 6

Shrimp, about ten large, frozen (or fresh if you have it) (#1)

Sweet onion, small, finely chopped (#1)

Ginger root, grated, 1/2 tsp

Potato starch, 1-2 tbs

For simmering broth: (#4)

Chicken broth, enough to cover the squid (I used my usual Swanson no fat reduced salt).

Bay leaves, 3

Ginger, 3 thin slices

Black pepper corns, whole, 4-5

Light colored soy sauce, about 1 tbs (to taste)

Direction:

1. I thawed the frozen shrimp in running water. I salted it rather severely and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. I washed and dried the shrimp (#1).

2. I cut half of the shrimp into small chunks and chopped the other half finely until it became a sticky paste (#2). This "paste" serves to bind the chunks of shrimp. I could have added ground chicken as a binder instead.

3  I mixed the shrimp, onion, ginger, potato starch.

4. Using a small spoon, I stuffed the tubes of squid and closed the end with a toothpick (#5). Take care to not over stuff them; the stuffing will expand while cooking and they may explode if you do. (#5).

5. I mixed the broth, ginger slices, pepper corns, and bay leaves. I laced the stuffed squid in the broth and gently simmered with the lid on for 30 - 40 minutes (#4).

This can be served immediately, reheated in the broth or served even cold.

This has an intense shrimp flavor which is more than the squid flavor. Because of the gentle long simmering, the squid was very tender. I could  have used Japanese dashi broth but I got a bit lazy after spending some time stuffing the squid and found an already opened box of Swanson chicken broth in the refrigerator and used it for this dish. The Japanese/Western hybrid simmering liquid worked well. This dish is quite neutral in flavor and will go with any drinks including wine.

Firefly Squid Scallion Pancake ホタルイカ入りネギ焼き

Firefly squid season is upon us and we got some from Regalis. I am repeating myself  here but when we visited Kanazawa 金沢 in early summer many years ago, we were introduced  to firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ. Our favorite way to enjoy firefly squid is “okizuke” 沖漬け but that is difficult to get here in the U.S. The ones from Regalis are boiled. We got two trays, froze one tray and enjoyed the rest. We had this with sumiso 酢味噌 dressing which is the most common and simplest way to enjoy this. The texture of the small squid and very rich flavor from the liver really makes this squid special. This evening I made two dishes; one was our favorite stir-fry of the firefly squid and asparagus shown on the right and another, (new one), was scallion pancake with nagaimo and firefly squid ホタルイカ入りネギ焼き shown on the left. This recipe came from E-recipe

Ingredients (make 4 pancakes)
12 firefly squids (3 per pancake) or more if you like
50 grams grated nagaimo (mine was near 80 grams)
9 tbs chopped scallion (I used 5 stalks)
1 egg (I used 2 eggs)
2 tbs AP flour
1 tsp granulated bonito dashi (I used “Hondashi”ほんだし)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:
Since I was using more grated nagaimo than the amount called for in the original recipe, I changed the amount of eggs as a binder. I did not add the firefly squid into the batter initially. I divided the batter into 4 portions and added 3 squid to each batch.

I heated up a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and added the oil. I poured in 4 potions as seen below.

After a few minutes or when the bottoms are set and brown, I flipped the pancakes and lowered the heat and continued cooking for another 2-3 minutes or until the center was done.

I served this pancake with firefly squid and asparagus stir-fly (the first picture). The pancake was very good but we did not see the point of adding the firefly squid. We did not think it did justice to the firefly delicacy since its flavor was somewhat lost in the pancake. We thought adding shrimp would have been more appropriate and that is what we may do next time. In any case, it is nice to enjoy the firefly squid which symbolze spring to early summer.

Squid stir fry with celery, tomato, and cucumber イカ、胡瓜、セロリの炒め物

When I made fried squid tentacles one evening, and I had the bodies of squid left (or may be the other-way-around) from a pound of squid I bought. From this, I made this dish. This is a sort of variation of sautéed squid and celery. But the taste and texture are different.

Squid: I started out with one pound of squid including the bodies and tentacles. After cleaning and using the tentacles for kara-age dish, I cut the remaining squid bodies into rings (about 1/2 inch wide).

Vegetables: I cut celery obliquely into half inch wide and 2-3 inch long pieces (2 stalks) and American mini-cucumber in similar manner after removing the seeds and soft part around the seeds (1 mini-cucu). I made a wide julienne of tomato after I skinned and removed the seeds (1 medium).

I added olive oil (1/2 tbs) and butter (1 tsp) to a frying pan on medium low heat and sautéed slices of garlic (1 fat clove) and red pepper flakes (1/5 tsp or to your taste). When the garlic was fragrant, I added the celery first and sautéed for 1-2 minutes and then added the cucumber followed by the tomato. After 1 minute or so, I increased the heat to medium and added the squid rings (patted dry with a paper towel to remove any moisture) and quickly sautéed for 30 seconds or until the squid became just opaque and done. I seasoned it with salt and black pepper.

This is a very nice dish albeit it was a bit too spicy for my wife. I may have overdone the red pepper flakes and black pepper but it created a nice gentle buzzing in my mouth. The freshness and quality of the squid were quite good. Butter and garlic flavors combined with the still crunchy refreshing celery and cucumber all go well together. Squid has not been overcooked has a nice texture and taste and the tomato almost melted adding richness to the sauce and some acidity. We kept enjoying cold sake with which we started this evening. 

Squid, asparagus, and carrot flavored with tarragon and French vermouth いか、アスパラガス、人参のタラゴン、ベルモット風味

This not a photogenic dish. In our regular market, I found some decent looking squid and got a pound of it. Early in the day, I baked ciabatta bread. So, I decided to make a squid dish which would go well with this crusty bread.

There is no recipe or dish on which this is based. From a pound of squid, I made two relatively large (for us) servings.

Squid: The squid was already cleaned. I just washed it and cut the bodies into thin (1/2 inch) rings. I cut he legs in half and made sure no cartilage or "beaks" were left. I patted the pieces dry with paper towels.

Vegetables: I used carrot (one medium, peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal), asparagus (4, bottoms cut thinly on the diagonal and the tips cut in half lengthwise), royal trumpet mushrooms (2 large, torn length wise), shallot (one small, thinly sliced), garlic (4 cloves thinly sliced).

I started cooking with the vegetables. I added olive oil (2-3 tbs) in a large frying pan on medium heat. I sautéed the shallot, carrot, sliced stems of asparagus first. After a few minutes, I added the tips of the asparagus, royal trumpet mushrooms, and garlic and cooked for 2-3 more minutes. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, thyme (dried, 1/8 tsp) and tarragon (dried 1/4 tsp). I then added white dry vermouth (3-4 tbs) and put on a tightly fitting lid. I steam/simmered it for 1 minute and removed the lid and upped the heat to reduce the juice by about half (2-3 more minutes). I removed  the vegetables and the juice onto a plate.

I wiped the frying pan clean and added olive oil (2 tbs) on medium high heat. When the oil was shimmering on the surface, I added the squid and very quickly sautéed, seasoning with salt pepper for less than 1 minute or until the squid was just cooked. I put back the vegetables back in the pan with the juices and combined with the squid then cut the flame.

I lifted the squid and vegetable from the pan and divided in two plates leaving the juice behind in the pan. I put back the pan and further reduced the liquid (squid imparted some more juice as well). I then added a few thin pats of butter to make an instant sauce. I did not have to adjust the seasoning of the sauce. I poured it over the dish.

My wife toasted and buttered the Ciabatta bread and placed it on the side.

I am not sure how this dish should be categorized. White (French) vermouth and tarragon flavors may be considered "French" in style. Since I did not over cook the squid, it was very tender. Despite the amount of garlic I put in, it was not too garlicy and the tarragon really made this dish.

We are having the last bottle of Hall Cab 2008 with this dish. Ciabatta bread was perfect to mop up the sauce.

P.S. I am sure you can find recipes for ciabatta bread elsewhere. Few points which are important include; a sponge (starter) which I started the day before I baked the bread. Since the dough is rather sticky, I formed the ciabatta (slippers) on a parchment paper (minimal handling and forming to preserve the bubbles) and let it rise on the paper. After the second rise, I lifted the dough by grabbing both edges of the paper and placed it, still on the paper, directily on a pizza stone (baking stone, preheated).

Squid fritters イカのすり身揚げ

This recipe is from "The real Japanese Izakaya Cookbook". This dish is featured on the cover. I ended up, by necessity, having to modify the recipe. Despite the modification, this dish turned out to be very good. I served it, as per my wife's suggestion, with a wedge of lemon rather than "Japanese sauce" as the original recipe suggested. I served it with my usual sugar snaps and Campari tomato.

Since the squid legs were only coarsely chopped, you can see them in the cut surface which gave texture to this dish.

Actually, I made a soup using the squid mixture as per the original recipe. As I dropped the mixture into the broth, I realized the squid balls were not sticking together as well as I expected. For the soup, this was not much of a problem but I did not want the squid balls to fall apart in the hot oil. So, I had to modify the recipe by adding more "binders"(egg, more flour and panko bread crumbs).

This clear soup was made of dashi from my usual dashi pack, sake, mirin and light colored soy sauce. I made "quenelles" using two teaspoons and dropped them into the simmering soup. They did not maintain a quenelle shape but mostly stayed together. I added silken tofu and chopped scallion to the soup. Just before serving, I added frozen "yuzu" skin to the soup bowls. Despite the fact the squid mixture became a rather amorphous blob this was a pretty good soup.

The squid balls in the soup were based on the original recipe. When I saw how they cooked in the soup I realized I had to alter the recipe to make sure they did not dissolve when I put them in the hot oil. The instructions below are for the squid fritters and include my modifications.

Ingredients (This is my modification):
1lb cleaned squid, tentacles and body, half and half (the body hand chopped into small pieces , #1 and the tentacles cut into small chunks, #2).
2-3 tbs Panko Japanese bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

For frying
Flour, egg+water, panko
Peanut oil for deep frying

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well and make small oval patties. Usual frying process; dredge in flour, dip in egg water, and coat with panko crumbs (#3)
Deep fry for 4-5 minutes turning occasionally (maybe because of the egg, the fritters puffed up into a ball (#4)

I think the reason I had to add more binders (flour, bread crumb and egg) is because the body of the squid was not chopped finely enough (to paste). Next time I will use a small food processor and make it more the consistency of mousse.  It is not easy to hand chop squid.

In any case, the end result was pretty good. We think just lemon is better than Japanese Worcestershire sauce for these rather delicate tasting squid fritters. During the week we heated up the remaining fritters in the toaster oven for a week night appetizer and that worked out very well.

My wife found the daffodils in the front yard with large buds on them. She brought two inside and put them in a Japanese style flower vase. A few days later it bloomed beautifully. Spring is coming!

Squid salad Japanese style 和風イカサラダ

Again, I got cleaned squid. I asked for 1 pound but I ended up with a bit more since the fish monger at our grocery store threw in the reaming squid since not much was left after my purchase. Again, I was not sure what I would make. I decided to quickly boil them so that they would last until I could decide. So I cooked the squid in boiling water with sake and salt for 30 seconds and drained. I kept the cooked squid in a sealable container in the refrigerator and served them as an appetizers over the next 5-6 days until we finished them.  Apparently the quick blanch helped to keep them from going bad over that time. Although with karashi-sumiso sauce 芥子酢味噌  have been our most common way to have this, we had it like sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi ワサビ醤油, sautéed in butter with garlic, celery seasoned with soy sauce イカとセロリの炒め物,  with black olive, olive oil and balsamic vinegar カラマリサラダ and this dish, seasoned with soy sauce and grated ginger.

The pickled myouga 茗荷の甘酢ずけ in sweet vinegar really made this dish, I also added sliced scallion.

Although the squid was tender due to the initial short boiling, I cut up the squid ring and also tentacles especially for my wife.

This is not a really a recipe.
I washed the squid, cut the body into rings and cooked for 30 seconds in boiling salted water with a splash of sake, drained and cooled. I placed then in a sealable container and refrigerated.

The dressing was a mixture of grated ginger and soy sauce. I sliced pickled myouga thinly and sliced scallion on bias thinly. This was really a simple and good dish. I thought the boiled squid I prepared was really good way to make it last for almost one week. Even the sautéed  dish came out really good. Since the boiled squid does not exude liquid, it does not produce much sauce but the cooking time is short and the squid remained very tender. I found it sometimes better to prepare squid this way rather than making one dish since we enjoyed it several different ways during the week.

Squid stuffed with caramelized onion イカのアメ色たまねぎ詰

As usual, when I go to a grocery store and see cleaned small squid I end up getting it. I thought I should make something different with it this time. While I was searching for squid recipes I stumbled across a short video of a PBS cook show on YouTube by Jose Andreas. The video was a bit sketchy but I filled in some of the missing parts and made this dish.

I served this immediately off the frying pan and made a quick sauce by deglazing the pan with white wine. I garnished it with our favorite Spanish olive oil and parsley and served with wedges of lemon. My wife added small slices of baguette to soak up the sauce/juice.

This was quite good but when we cut into it while it was still hot the stuffing tended to separate and fall out. The next day, I served this cold. This time I sliced the squid before serving and the stuffing stayed put. We like this dish cold. The sweetness of the caramelized onion gets milder or smoother. I served it with a bit of the olive oil and our home grown arugula.

Ingredients:
1 lb cleaned squid with tentacles (I got 11 bodies and tentacles)
2 medium onion, cut in half and sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, de-veined and seeded, cut into thick julienne (original recipe uses green pepper)
2 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced (original recipe calls for crushed garlic without removing the skin)
1/2 cup of white wine (I used sauvignon blanc from France), devided into two potions
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Sauté  the onion, garlic and pepper in olive oil on low-medium flame (#1)
Keep sautéing until caramelized (#2)
Deglaze the pan using 1/4 cup white wine (#3)
Add the tentacles (I cut them up into bite sized pieces) and sauté until done (1-2 minutes (#4) and season with salt and pepper.
Using a small spoon stuff the body of the squid with caramelized onion/tentacles mixture and close the end with toothpicks (original recipe does not closed the open end before cooking) (#5)
Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and cook one side for a few minutes and turn over and cook for another few minutes (#6)
I added 1/4 white wine and put on the lid to steam cook for 1 more minute. Remove the squid.
Reduce the wine while scraping any brown bits on the pan to make pan juice/sauce.

I used "Francois de La Roche Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 'La Coulée' 2016" in the sauce and also enjoyed "sampling" it while cooking. I served it with the squid dish.

Either warm or cold, this is a good and unique squid dish. The caramelized onion is very sweet and squid legs add additional texture. Using the same wine we are drinking somehow connects the dish and wine. Although we rarely drink white wine especially sauvignon blanc (sort of boring nothing wine usually). This one is not too bad. It had citrus and melons flavors and minerality with crisp acidity. By the time, we got to drinking this wine with the squid dish, the wine warmed up enough to have the flavors come alive. We really enjoyed the wine and the dish.

"Kawaki-mono" dry Japanese drinking snack 乾き物酒の肴

I found "Assorted Japanese Junk Food for Sake" at the Amazon website through a 3rd party vendor.  The advertisement said, "Japanese junk food to go with Alcohol"--a somewhat literal translation of the more polite expression  "drinking snacks". Somehow, for Japanese, "Junk food" or drinking snacks may not have the same negative connotation it has for the U.S. audience. In general Japanese don't drink without eating something, so at the very least, such a snack is a "must have" to go with sake. In any case, this product on Amazon is "known as "Kawaki-mono" 乾き物 or "dry drinking snacks". This type of snack or "otsumami" おつまみ is widely sold in Japanese convenience stores and stand-up drinking joints called "Tachinomi-ya" 立ち飲み屋 or "Kaku-uchi" 角打ち.

Digression alert: On our last trip to Japan, in the evening, when we had a several hour train ride from our site seeing destination back to our hotel, we really liked stopping at the convenience store usually located next to the station before boarding the train to purchase some sake and snacks to eat on the ride. It was a mobile cocktail hour (imbibing sake on the train is completely legal, acceptable and civilized. If you don't have time to stop at the convenience store before boarding you can even buy some from a cart on the train). It was a great way to relax after a hard day sight seeing--munching on flavored dry squid or cheese snack thingies sipping sake watching the sun go down. Come to think of it, our experience in Japan may have led us to try the snack sold on Amazon.

This package consisted of 10 different kinds of snacks. The individual packages are rather small and we could finish one or two packages easily in one sitting. It is rather expensive since one package is about $3 but they are rather authentic Japanese snacks.

1. Grilled dried squid strips (it is labeled as "hand-grilled" with "direct (charcoal) flame".
2. Grilled dried fins of ray ("soft finish").
3. Spicy dried and grilled squid legs.
4."Kimuchi" flavored dried "himo*" or gills of scallops.
5. "Spicy cod roe" flavored grilled squid legs.
6. "Otsumami" dried small flying fish (lots of calcium!).
7. "Butter and soy sauce" flavored dried squid strips.
8. Dried and grilled sea eel.
9. Sea urchin flavored grilled and dried squid strips.
10. Dried squid strips in squid ink.

* membranous tissue on the periphery of the scallop muscle .

Many of these items tout that they used all domestic (Japanese) ingredients. As you may or may not have noticed "dried squid strips" with different flavors are the most popular snacks in this round up.

We tasted several of these snacks. In our opinion, they go best with bourbon and water and certainly sake but definately not with wine. In general the items we tasted so far, were pretty good, the only one we did not like was #4. It was extremely chewy even for me. My wife characterized it as chewing a rubber band and just could not handle it. In addition, its "kimchi" or "kimchi" flavor is not one we liked.

The picture below shows the amount you get in one bag. So this is a bit on expensive side ($3 per pack). But on the "up-side" they are exactly like the ones available in Japan which are generally not available here. #1 is "Butter and soy sauce" flavored dried squid strips. #2 is dried and grilled sea eel. #3 Spicy dried and grilled squid legs. #4 "Kimuchi" flavored dried "himo*" or gills of scallops.

They are good and available on Amazon. With the small packages, my wife and I can have two different kind in one sitting. We are not sure if I will reorder, however.

"Kara-age" fried Squid tentacles ゲソの唐揚げ

While doing the regular weekly grocery shopping, I found some pretty good looking squid at our regular supermarket. This was a bit unusual since fish is not their forte. In addition, it appeared to be fresh and not previously frozen. I decided to get a pound of it. I have posted a few squid dishes in the past. I pondered what to make this time and decided on a quintessential Izakaya food called "Geso-no-kara-age" ゲソの唐揚げ. The origin of the word "geso" is "gesoku" 下足 which means footwear for outside (remember that Japanese don different shoes designated as inside or outside the house). In sushi bars' and Izakaya's parlance, "geso" means tentacles of squid--outside footwear for squid.

Squid: For this dish, I used all the tentacles and the "wings" or "enpera" えんぺら parts of the one pound of squid, which yielded small servings for two as you can see in the picture below. I cut off the "beaks" and any innards attached to the tentacles. Since this was a small squid, I did not divide the tentacles further. I marinated them in a mixture of soy sauce and sake (about 1:1) with small amount of grated garlic and ginger (1/4 tsp each) for 15 -20 minutes.

Flour: I removed the squid from the marinade and dried with a paper towel. I made a mixture of AP flour, potato starch or "Katakuri-ko", and rice flour (about 1:1:1 ratio) or you could use just potato flour. This was my effort to try and maximize the crunchiness of the crust.

I shallow fried them in 170-180C oil (about half inch deep) turning often for 1-2 minutes. Because the oil tends to splatter, I erected a foldable metal wall around the pan. If I am not mistaken, this one was imported from Japan (even painted with a nice floral pattern, which is rather useless since the heat from the flame scorched the bottom black). We bought it at the hardware store specialized in Japanese items called "Soko hardware" 桑港金物店 in San Francisco Japan town many years ago. Sometimes, this works better than a Western-style splatter guard or screen. In any case, it may splatter a bit, so be careful. After I drained the excess oil on a paper towel, I served it with wedges of lemon while it was hot.

The crust came out nice and crunchy. The marinade imparted good flavor and saltiness from the soy sauce. We did not need anything else but lemon to enjoy this. It is a really good Izakaya fair but it may not look that appetizing to some since it looks somewhat like "worms".

We had this with cold sake and it was a perfect starter dish. I made something else from the body of the squid.

Simmered squid with daikon イカ大根

I found a package of cleaned frozen squid in our near-by gourmet market's freezer case.  I decided to give it a try. I found that it was OK in a pinch but they were small squid and it was not as good as "Japanese" frozen squid. Since I had only a few inches of daikon left, I made this simmered squid with daikon dish, which is a rather common homey dish and also perfect for Izakaya.

The recipe is found in "Otsumami Yokocho" Volume 1, page 40. I used my own way to make this dish but it is essentially the same dish.

For 2 servings, I used one package of frozen cleaned squid with tentacles thawed (2/3 of 8 oz or about 200 grams; 1/3 was used for the "sunomono" 酢の物 dish below) cut into half inch wide rings.

Daikon: I used daikon about 3 inches long. I peeled and cut it into 1 inch thick rounds and then quartered. I precooked the daikon in water with one pinch of raw rice for about 20 minutes and then washed it in cold running water. Although I have not done any scientific comparison, adding raw rice or using rice washing liquid or 米のとぎ汁 to precook daikon is traditional and is said to reduce the strong smell of daikon, make it softer, season better, and also prevent the cut surface from concaving during cooking. With so many claimed benefits, why argue? I just followed tradition.

Cooking liquid: I added water (1.5 cup), sake (2 tbs), mirin (2 tbs) and soy sauce (2-3 tbs) and a few thin slices of fresh ginger root into a pot on a medium flame. 

I added the precooked daikon and squid rings and tentacles to the cooking liquid. When it came to a boil, I turned down the heat to simmer and skimmed off any scum that developed on the surface several times. I put the lid askew and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Just for color, I garnished with chopped chives. This is a classic home-cooked dish. Despite not-really-good quality squid, this was a good dish and perfect for sake.

In addition, I made "karashi sumiso-ae"  芥子酢みそ和え of squid, cucumber, and wakame, which I posted before. For this dish, I used 1/3 of the body of the squid, which was cut into rings, cooked in salted and sake-added boiling water for 30 seconds and drained. I immediately seasoned them with "sushi vinegar" (from the bottle) while it was cooling.

I made "Karashi sumiso" or hot mustard miso vinegar sauce and dressed all the ingredients. I made the "sumiso" dressing a bit too "mustardy" this time (i.e. hot, since Japanese mustard is really hot). These two dishes only go with sake, which is not too difficult to accommodate for us.

Frozen squid with butter and yuzukusho 冷凍イカのバター柚子胡椒炒め

I described the type of squid we can get from our regular grocery store which is previously frozen and thawed at the store "for your convenience". Although occasionally I can get a larger frozen squid from Japan at our Japanese grocery store, it is not consistent. So, I started looking for frozen squid at our grocery store. I found one from PanaPesca. Actually, I realized I had previously gotten frozen octopus of the same brand. One weekend, I decided to have this squid.

I thawed this in the refrigerator, washed and quickly cooked it in salted boiling water with a splash of sake for 30 seconds. Although it smelled better than the previously thawed variety, they were smaller and for some reason the "beaks" had not been removed from the tentacles. In any case, we enjoyed this squid  two ways on different days. This is sautéed with butter and yuzu-kosho 柚子胡椒. I served this with our usual spicy tofu and store-bought fish cakes (the latter two were heated up in the toaster oven).

If I sautéed the uncooked squid, it could have been better but the combination of butter and yuzu-kosho was good. Squid was quite tender and flavorful.

I wish the squid was a bit larger but I may stock this one in the freeezer.

Firefly squid sautéed in butter and soy sauce ホタルイカのバター醤油炒め

Firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ is very seasonal and, in the past,  the only way we could enjoy it was to visit Japan especially Kanazawa 金沢 in the spring. On exceptional occasions far and few between we had firefly squid at Tako Grill. A few years ago, however, we learned that we could get boiled firefly squid from “Regalis food” in spring. This year, I ordered two trays  which was a bit too much for us to consume all at once so, I froze a few small batches in vacuum packs partially as an experiment to see if it would work. Turns out it worked. We defrosted a batch in August and prepared a few dishes. This one (below) was particularly  good. The firefly squid is sautéed  in butter with deveined and deseeded Jalapeño pepper, shallot, seasoned with soy sauce (Actually I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce). I topped it with bonito flakes. This was inspired by one of the Japanese recipes I saw on line but I improvised based on the ingredients we had or did not have on hand. 

Ingredients: (For 2 small servings)
Boiled firefly squid, about 30
1/2 Jalapeño pepper, deseeded and deveind and cut into thin juliennes
1/2 shallot, sliced into thin strips
1/2 tbs unsalted butter
2 tsp soy sauce (or x4 “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ Japanese noodle sauce)
bonito flakes for topping

Directions:
Melt butter in a frying pan on medium flame
Add the jalapeño and shallot and sauté for a few minutes
Add the firefly squid and sauté a few more minutes
Add soy sauce (or x4 noodle sauce)
Serve immediately with a topping of the dried bonito flakes

The combination of butter and soy sauce flavor cannot go wrong. You can really taste the unctuous  flavor of the firefly squid. This is a good and simple firefly squid dish. Interestingly, the jalapeño added a mild but definitive slow heat towards the end.

Squid and potato, lightly simmered イカとじゃがいもの軽い煮込み

I found two packages of frozen squid in our freezer.  I got them from “Vital Choice” when we got frozen Pacific oysters. I did not have a chance to use them until now. These were quite good, much better than previously-frozen-and-thawed cleaned squid we used to get from our regular grocery  store. After thawing, I washed them in cold running water. They were cleaned including bodies and tentacles. No fishy smell and the body tubes were nicely intact. I have made quite a few dishes using squid.  Since I am running out of new dishes, I have been on the look-out for any new recipes. I found this recipe in the digital edition of one of the Japanese newspaper sites. This was a bit unusual in that no traditional Japanese seasonings (soy sauce, ginger, etc) were used. The original recipe calls for “parsley” sauce (mixture of chopped parsley, olive oil and salt). Since I did not have fresh parsley, I had to improvise. Despite that, this dish was really good.  The evening I made this dish, we had it warm (picture below).

Next day, I served this cold. It tasted equally good cold. We may even prefer to serve this cold especially in summer.

Ingredients:
170g cleaned and frozen squid and tentacles, thawed* (I used half of a12oz package), washed and the body cut into tubes, and tentacles cut into bite sized pieces
2 small potatoes (I used red potato), skinned and cut into 1/4 slices
150 ml water
1 tbs olive oil
salt to taste
1 tb white wine
1/2 garlic clove

For parsley sauce
5 sprigs of fresh parsley finely chopped (Since I did not have fresh parsley, I used combination of finely chopped scallion and Jalapeno pepper)
2-3 tbs olive oil
1 pinch salt

*The original recipe calls for a one large squid.

Directions:
Sprinkle the white wine on the squid. 
Add the water, olive oil, the garlic and the potato in a pot. After it reaches boiling reduce the heat and cook 15-20 minutes with the lid askew. When the potato is cooked, season it with salt.
Add the squid and cook for 30 minutes stirring. Then cut off the heat and let it steep to finish cooking.
Serve with the potato on the bottom top with dollops of the sauce.

Although I could not make the parsley sauce, this was a very refreshing and nice dish. Actually the combination scallion and jalapeño may have been more flavorful than a parsley sauce. The squid was tender since it was cooked for a short time. It was sort of Western-style and perfect for hot summer when served cold.

Sauteed squid and celery redux イカとセロリの炒め物 再登場

 This is a repeat of the squid and celery dish. The original recipe is from Mark's book p64. We really liked this dish. I got cleaned small squid and asked my wife how she would like this cooked. She suggested this dish. Since I did not have time to make the "garlic butter", I had to make some modification. First I added minced garlic in the oil as I sauteed squid and celery. Although I patted the squid dry before sauteing, more liquid came out than I expected. Since I did not want to over cook the squid, I removed the squid and celery and reduced the liquid a bit. Then I decided to make a type of beurre blanc. I just added pats of cold butter (1 tbs) to the reduction of squid liquid (somehow, it does not sound appetizing) to make an emulsion. I poured it over the squid and celery. I added cracked black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

This modification is interesting. It gave a more unctuous mouth feel. The original was a bit more delicate. In any case, either way, this is a very good dish and so easy to make. It goes well with any drinks, including sake.

Calamari salad カラマリサラダ

I like squid and octopus. So, when I see squid at the grocery store, I tend to buy it without thinking about what I will make from it. The kind of squid we can get here is small, pre-cleaned, and previously frozen. In the past, I have posted so many ways I cook squid. This time, I bought 1 lb. I made half my usual way sautéed squid with celery and cucumber イカと胡瓜、セロリの炒めのもの. The next day, I asked my wife how she would like to have the remaining boiled squid. I offered two selections: one was Japanese style with cucumber and wakame seaweed dressed in karashi-miso sauce イカとワカメの酢味噌和え, the other was  some kind of salad in Western-style (details not specified since I had no idea what I would do at the time I made the offer). She, of course, opted for the salad. 

So, I just whipped this up without any recipe using what I had available on hand.

I had just bought oil-cured black olives so I threw them in as well.

Ingredients (for two servings):
1/2 lb squid, cleaned, The tubes cut into 1/2 inch wide rings and the tentacles cut into two.
1 American mini-cucumber, quartered and seeds removed, and cut into small cubes
6 Oil-cured black olives, stone removed
Fresh basil, cut into chiffonade
Baby arugula, skinned Campari tomato
Lemon juice from one lemon
Olive oil, 1-2 tbs
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Boil squid 30 seconds in boiling water with salt and sake added, drain, let cool, then refrigerate until serving (up to one day)
In a bowl, add the squid, cucumber, basil, lemon juice and olive oil and mix. Season with pepper and salt
I served the calamari on a bed of baby arugula leaves (stems removed). I topped the salad with black olives and added a side of sliced Campari tomato. I then sprinkled the salad with our favorite Spanish olive oil.

Since it was a rather hot and humid day, for a change, we enjoyed chilled (a bit unusual) white Rioja called Fernandez Gomez Seleccion Familia White Rioja 2015. It is a blend of Viura 70%, Grenache White 20%, Malvasia 10% and was aged in barrels for 6 months with its lees. We never had white Rioja before. This is rather a pleasant white with some peaches and apricots and a hint of vanilla. We could also sense slight oak and crisp acidity. This went perfectly with this calamari salad.

Simmered squid stuffed with ground chicken イカの鶏肉詰め

I am not sure where I got this recipe. It may be that this is how my mother made it. I used to make this often but somehow stopped making it for some time. Since we had some nice small squid, my wife requested it.

I just followed my memory and did not look for any recipe. I made the stuffing from ground chicken breast (I could have used thigh), grated ginger, chopped scallion, chopped up squid legs and squid bodies (I used the ones with nicks or holes which were not suitable for stuffing), salt and pepper (the amount is all arbitrary). Make sure the squid body is clean and the cartilage is out. Stuff it to 2/3 full with the chicken mixture and close the end by inserting toothpicks as if it were a needle worked into cloth. I used a classic Japanese simmering liquid consisting of broth, mirin, sake, and soy sauce and added a few slices of ginger for added ginger flavor. I added small baby Yukon gold potatoes in addition to the stuffed squid and simmered it for 30 minutes with the lid on. In the last 4 minutes, I added florets of broccoli. You could add any kind of greens such as snow peas, green beans or asparagus, instead. You can serve this immediately after removing the tooth pick and slicing it into a ring. You could leave the leftovers in the broth in the refrigerator and  reheat it the next day.  It actually tastes better as all the flavors marry.

This is a very nice dish with a good ginger flavor and nice soft chicken stuffing with small bits of cut-up squid. Squid body has nice texture and also adds flavor to the broth. Potatoes absorbed all the flavors. My wife likes to mash up the potatoes in the broth. Cold sake is what we had with this and it was perfect.

Firefly squid kara-age ホタルイカの唐揚げ

 This is the dish I served using the third and the last tray of  "hotaru-ika" ホタルイカ firefly squid. This is a standard "Kara-age" 唐揚げ. This also came from e-recipe.

It is a simple recipe but requires deep frying. Since the squid contains some moisture, it splatters when it hits the oil. But it cooked rather quickly. (It was already boiled).

Ingredients: (for 2 servings).
Firefly squid, boiled, 100grams
Flour and potato starch 1 tbs. each
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for deep frying.
Lemon wedges

Directions:
Heat the oil to 160C (or 320F)
Place the squid, flour, starch mixture, salt and pepper in a sealable bag and dredge the squid.
Deep fry for 1 minute or until the surface gets crispy. Drain and serve with wedges of lemon.

This is a great way to serve this squid. The surface and tentacles get crispy but the inside is soft.

The only problem of this dish is that the oil splatters.  Among the three dishes I made, we like the kara-age the best. Second was stir frying the squid and asparagus with butter and soy sauce. That one however, was perhaps a bit better than the kara-age in terms of ease of preparation in addition to great taste. 

The first dish of boiled hotaru-kia straight from the packing tray served with sumiso sauce was by far the easiest in terms of preparation but was not as flavorful as the other two preparations. Nonetheless we had absolutely no trouble “choking down” any of the 3 preparations. What a great way to celebrate spring.

Sauteed squid and celery イカとセロリの炒めのも

Sauteed small squid and celery イカとセロリの炒めもの (Mark's Book p64)

Here I followed the recipe in Marks' book. The result was extremely good and it is very simple to make. I mostly used the body of cleaned small squid but I am sure legs will also be good. To reiterate the recipe in the book, just cut up the squid into thin rings, slice celery stalks, and cut up center portion of the celery with leaves. In a large frying pan with small amount of vegetable oil (I used light olive oil) on high heat, sauté the squid and then celery stalk (1 minutes each) and add salt and pepper. Just at the last moment add, celery leaves. Top with the garlic butter (make a paste of garlic using the classic French technique of mashing the garlic with the back of a knife using salt as an abrasive. Mix the mashed garlic into softened butter. Shape and refrigerate the butter before use). I used a torch to melt the butter as instructed in the Mark's book (the lower picture) but it appears the heat of the dish will melt the butter anyway. Enjoy with a squeeze of lemon. The garlic butter is a must.

We love this dish. I also make a similar squid dish with sliced fennel bulb and white vermouth, which is also good but has a different flavor all together because of the anise-like taste of fennel. Another one I make often is based on a tapas recipe, in which squid sauteed with garlic are simmered in beer and tomatoes. If I make these dishes in the future I will definitely post them. This recipe definitely joined our line-up of home Izakaya dishes.

Squid "somen" イカ素麺

I am rather fond of squid and I posted many dishes. So, when I saw a new squid product in the freezer case at our Japanese store, I naturally bought it. It was called "Squid somen" イカ素麺. "Somen" 素麺 is a type of very thin Japanese noodle indicating this is raw squid cut in very thin strips. I served it dressed in the sauce which was included in the package and also added finely chopped chives.

It came in a bag containing three small cups and sauce. I thawed two cups in the refrigerator.

The amount in a cup was meant to be one serving and it is a small serving.

This was not bad but we prefer our regular squid sashimi package. It appeared that some of the squid strips still had the skin attached which stuck to my teeth. Oh, well. At least we tried it once.