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www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES Spaghetti with squid ink are delicious with the addition of some seafood (© Dreamstime) Continued form page 30 Shortly before the sauce is ready, boil the spaghetti in well salted water until al dente. Once ready, drain the pasta, add it to the pan and mix well so that the jet black sauce coats it well. Serve immediately. Notes on spaghetti al nero di seppia Traditional Italian recipes as- sume that you're buying uncleaned squid with the ink sac—which all squid naturally have—still at- tached. You just save the sac while you're cleaning the squid and add the ink in it to the saucepan when the time comes. Here in the US squid is invari- ably sold already cleaned, with the ink sac removed. But fortunately, you can buy little sachets of squid ink separately. Our local Spanish deli carries them, and you can also buy them online. If you find you really love the stuff, you can buy whole jars as well. Spaghetti al nero di seppia has few complications, but some point- ers might still be in order, begin- ning with a gentle word of caution. There's a reason they call it squid ink. It really does stain! So do be careful as you squeeze the ink out of its sachet and into the pan. In- evitably you'll get your fingers stained, but it will wash out easily with water. It isn't the same if you get it on your clothes. By the way, squid ink is perish- able, so keep it in the fridge and, if you won't be using it within a day or so, store it in the freezer. The small sachets defrost almost in- stantly. Preparing and cooking squid You need to cut up your squid into very small pieces. Cut the head or "mantle" (and fins, if they haven't been trimmed off) into small dice or thin strips, and the tentacles into short lengths. This will not only help the squid cook more quickly, but will also avoid big chunks of squid gets in the way of you savoring your spaghetti. Even if your squid are cleaned, do check for the "beak"— the hard ring at the base on the ten- tacles—and remove it if it hasn't been removed yet. Cooking times for squid vary by size and age, as well as tech- nique. There are basically two ways to cook it. You can do it ei- ther very quickly, using intense, dry heat, as you would for grilled or fried calamari; or braising it for a relatively long time, until tender, as in the case of this dish. Small or baby squid—which, to my mind, are best for our spaghetti—can take as little as 15 minutes to reach ten- derness, but older, larger squid can take up of 45 minutes. Variations The measurements for this dish are pretty open. Usually, you would use a bit more squid by weight than the pasta, with some recipes calling for a 2:1 ratio (NB: squid does reduce quite a bit when cooking). Similarly, you can vary the amount of squid ink. Person- ally, I like using one 3g sachet per serving, but you can certainly add more if you really like the taste. If you like, you can make a "red" version of the sauce. Add a bit of tomato passata or tomato paste when braising the squid. It won't change the color much (or at all) but it will add a hint of added flavor. If you want the tomato to really stand out, use cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half, and add them about 5-10 minutes before you reckon the sauce will be done. By the way, if you do enjoy spaghetti with squid ink, do try squid ink risotto. It's just as deli- cious. Dried spaghetti made with squid ink (© Dreamstime)