Hello, my darlings. I apologize for being away so long. The past month has been a bit of a whirlwind. I’m starting a new project at work, my father has been in for surgery, and I moved from one apartment to another. Not to mention, my friend Kristin came to visit me for a week of complete debauchery. It’s a wonder we weren’t arrested in the six days she was here. Needless to say, her visit was a delightful distraction from the events of the past month.

Of course, her visit was filled with food adventures as well, as she is an avid cook as well. We made pita bread from scratch, went to many a delicious dinner, and tackled this Daring Cooks challenge for August.

Truthfully, after my first challenge and the rigors of turning various moisture-filled foods into powder, and then serving those powders with bananas and fish, I thought I could take on anything. I mean, honestly… chemical warfare cuisine? I was a pro-freaking-fessional now. But then I read of this month’s challenge, and my mouth may or may not have dropped to the floor.

Because let’s face it, who really cooks with squid all that often? Nobody I know. But I was determined. Since the original recipe called for cuttlefish, I morphed into my normal high-maintenance self (own it!) and called up my local Whole Foods, and proceeded to ask them to special-order some cuttlefish for me. After two weeks of back-and-forth calls with the fish dudes, they came to the conclusion that they couldn’t get me any cuttlefish, because they couldn’t find a vendor that had sustainable fishing practices. Which was fine with me – I think you know where I stand on this issue – if it’s not sustainably fished or farmed, I don’t want it.

Squid was a good replacement, as it is generally sustainably caught. I have no idea what kind I bought, other than I know it was wild-caught. But since all of the kinds are listed as “good alternatives,” I felt okay about what I was using. Also, seafood win! Squid is super freaking cheap. Like $5.99-a-pound-at-Whole-Foods-CHEAP, and everyone has referred to as “Whole Wallet” every once in a while because we know they jack up their prices (but we love them anyways because they try to special-order stuff for us).

Anyhoodle, Kristin and I went to work on this month’s recipe, and I have to say…

… it was a MAJOR WIN. Who knew? I was really quite scared about cooking the squid, as I know that it’s generally cooked quickly (i.e. fried calamari) or low and slow (i.e…. other squid dishes). So the whole time we had the squid in the pan, I was mentally freaking out – “OMG, I wonder if the heat is too high? I don’t want it to be the consistency of rubber!” You know, the usual I’m-freaking-because-I-never-cook-this-stuff freak outs. The squid came out tender and not at all rubbery, and the rice was perfectly al dente – just the tiniest bit of chewiness (is that a word? whatever, you know what I mean) without being all baby-food-soft. The aioli was the perfect addition to the dish – a hit of vinegar that you tasted at the beginning and end of each bite. The artichokes weren’t overwhelming, and neither was the saffron… just complements to the tomato-vegetable stew that we created in the first part of the recipe. Overall, I would highly encourage you to try out this dish if you like squid at all. I think I freaked out entirely too much about the cooking of the squid – as long as you follow the directions of the recipe, I think the fish will be cooked just fine.

Oh, and sorry about the lack of pictures this go-round… I wasn’t thinking of the blog at the time that we made this, and we may or may not have been drinking wine straight from the bottle by the time we were halfway into the recipe. I know. We’re classy. Come to your own conclusions.

Rice with Squid and Artichokes
Adapted from this recipe

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh are not available)
• 1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
• 1 glass of white wine
• 2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh)
• “Sofregit” (see recipe below)
• 2 cups short grain rice (I used Kalijira rice, a tiny rice that cooks more quickly)
• Water (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
• Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)
• Aioli

Directions:

1. Cut the squid in little strips.
2. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the squid in the pan.
3. If you use fresh artichokes, clean them and cut artichoke hearts into small pieces.
4. Add a bay leaf to the squid and add also the artichokes.
5. Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.
6. Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed, getting a more flavorful dish.
7. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix.
8. Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
9. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.
10. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor.
11. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)
12. Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

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Sofregit:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
• 4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
• 1 Bay leaf
• Salt
• Touch of ground cumin
• Touch of dried oregano

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.
2. Taste and salt if necessary.

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Aioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 small egg
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Break the egg into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.
3. Using a blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
4. Little by little, add what’s left of the olive oil as you continue blending.
5. If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
6. Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.
7. The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.
8. Add salt to taste.

Playing in the Kitchenette: Kings of Leon / Red Morning Light because Kristin and I went to go see them at Red Rocks on August 9th and I FREAKING DIED IT WAS SUCH A GOOD CONCERT. SERIOUSLY. I AM DEAD. And did I mention that we were in the TENTH ROW? I could almost see the beads of sweat on Caleb’s brow. There are no words.

Whew.