Baby Squid with Garlic and Sun-dried tomatoes . 香蒜番茄乾小鮮魷

      Baby Squid with Garlic and Sun-dried tomatoes . 香蒜番茄小鮮魷

I have carved for a good calamari tapas for so long.  When I was in Barcelona, I ate tapas everyday, sometimes twice a day. Besides Pan Con Tomate (tomato and garlic on bread),   Jamón Ibérico ( famous Spanish ham), Pimientos de Padrón (Blistered Padrón Peppers) and  Gambas al ajillo (shrimps with garlic and parsley), I usually ordered Calamaris (Squids), but I did not really like deep-fried food especially those with bread crumbs, I hoped that I could have found some calamaris cooked with only Olive oil, garlic and parsley like Gambas al ajillo.  

Today I saw some fresh baby squids in the market, I decided to make my own Calmaris al ajillo.  I used olive oil to cook the squids and add in garlic slices, herbs and sun-dried tomatoes. In order to make it look good, I kept the baby squids in whole, took away the tentacles and kept for other dishes.  I am happy with this dish, baby calamaris are full of the aroma from garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil while paprika, red pepper flakes and black pepper made the taste of calamaris more outstanding.

I love tapas, I will try to share more recipes of tapas here in the near future.

好懷念在西班牙吃下酒小吃(tapas)的日子，也記掛著每一口惹味的魷魚圈。還記得在巴塞隆拿時，每天都想著吃 tapas，有時候還把 tapas 當早點。我經常點的 tapas 有當地著名的番茄蒜泥包、吃得齒甲留香的特級西班牙火腿、爆西班牙小辣椒、蒜泥香草蝦和各式鮮魷小碟。雖然我不太愛吃炸物尤其是裹上粉或麵包糠的，但那裡魷魚的鮮甜味又確實使人回味！

今天在街市買了小鮮魷，決定自創一味不炸的小吃，用橄欖油、蒜片和番茄乾去煮小鮮魷。因為想賣相好，我沒把鮮魷筒切開，也把觸手留起做另一個菜。浸煮的小鮮魷帶有、蒜泥和番茄乾的香氣，加上紅椒粉，辣辣碎和碎黑椒的微辣，帶出了鮮魷的清鮮，真是使人吃得停不了口。

我很愛tapas，日後會再分享各式 tapas 的食譜和做法。                                                            

Baby Squid with Garlic and Sun-dried tomatoes

Ingredients:

Baby Squid 220g

Salt 1/4 tsp

Pepper little

Garlic, thinly sliced  3 cloves

Oil-cured Sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped, 2 pc

Olive Oil 50ml

Paprika   a pinch

Red Pepper Flakes 1/4 tsp

Lime leaf, shredded  1 piece

Black pepper, freshly ground,  little

Lemon juice   1 tsp

Sea Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and clean the baby squid, keep the shape in whole, remove the tentacles and keep for other dishes

2. sprinkle in a little black pepper and salt, and quick blanch the squid in hot water for 20 seconds, then soak them in cold icy water, take out and dry

3. Heat a frying pan over medium high heat, add olive oil, then garlic slices and sun-dried tomatoes, when fragrant, add in paprika, red pepper flakes and shredded lime leaf, add in squid, and saute the squid quickly for about 15 seconds. Add salt and dish up.

4. Before serve, squeeze in lemon juice and sprinkle black pepper on top.  Serve hot.

Cooking Tips:
1. Baby squid get cooked very quickly and would become chewy when overcooked.  For crispy texture, we just cook the squid briefly and dish up when squid turn crispy.  Once squids are overcooked, the only remedy we could do is to braise them with sauce for longer time, squid would become soft after braising. It is as yummy as the crispy one as well.
2. A quick blanch in cold water could extract the fishy smell of the squid and keep them crispy.

Remarks: According to Justin Demetri, a historian and author, squid is calamari, restaurants use the Italian term for squid when it is fried.  Calamari sounds much more tasty than "fried Squid" especially for those that don't eat a lot of seafood.

香蒜番茄乾小鮮魷

材料：
小魷魚 220g
鹽 1/4 tsp
黑胡椒 少許
蒜頭，切薄片，3 夥
油醃番茄乾，粗切，2個
橄欖油 50 ml
辣椒粉 隨意
紅辣椒碎 1/4 tsp
檸檬葉，切絲 1 片
黑胡椒，即磨，隨意
檸檬汁 1 tsp
海鹽 適量

方法：
1.清洗小魷魚，只留魷魚管，免切。取走觸手，留作其他日菜式
2.魷魚灑上黑胡椒和鹽。先預備一盆冰水，快手把魷魚放在沸水中灼20秒，再轉到冰水中浸泡至涼，取出索乾
3.中高火熱鍋，加入橄欖油，蒜片和番茄乾塊，炒至有香味，再加入辣椒粉和紅辣椒碎，快手加入小魷魚，速炒約15秒鐘。加鹽炒勻，上碟。
4.吃前，擠入檸檬汁，撒上即磨黑胡椒碎。

溫馨提示：
1. 小魷魚很快熟，煮時要快手，否則變韌。如果魷魚真的變韌，唯一的補救方法是加時加醬汁續煮至軟，炆軟的魷魚也同樣好吃。
2. 魷魚快灼及汆水，除了可漂走腥味，也可使魷魚爽脆。