Squid

Quick-cooking squid is perfect for a weeknight dinner. Look for it at a reputable fish monger or in your grocer's freezer section.

A good fritto misto crust is light and crunchy (thanks, cornstarch!). If the batter thickens as you work, thin it with a bit of soda water as needed.

You can use any firm fish and fresh shellfish you like for this brothy stew. (A little crabmeat is a luxurious addition, as well.) Make the base a day in advance for a low-stress Christmas dinner.

Make sure to buy whole squid; precut rings will slip through your grill grate.

Rhode Island-style calamari, which is served with hot cherry peppers, is a local favorite. Look for medium-size fresh or frozen squid (about eight to a pound) for frying.

Squid is tender when it's either cooked quickly over high heat, or gently for a long time. This is the quick version.

This is a winning-contestant recipe from Season Four of Fox's MasterChef.

Washington, DC's renowned chef-owner of Citronelle has a special relationship with seafood: He was born in Brittany on the northwest coast of France. Chef Michel Richard has been decorated with nearly every cooking award, including the James Beard award, and he is known for combining fresh California ingredients with traditional French cooking. This recipe, a simplified take on a traditional French bouillabaisse, is sure to satisfy.

What Mexicans call a cóctel de mariscos is similar to what most Americans think of as a mixed seafood cocktail. Every port city of Mexico, even inland Mexico City, offers them (look for a sign advertising mariscos or shellfish). Mexico has some of the freshest seafood in the world, and definitely some of the spiciest. Look for stands where you can smell the ocean and see the seafood without a blanket of sauce so you can judge freshness by color and aroma. The classic accompaniment is crispy tortilla rounds—either chipotle or corn-flavored (usually found next to the tortilla chips in a Mexican market; saltine crackers are another option). You need the crunchy texture of the fried tortilla against the softer, juicier texture of the seafood—so this works great in a crispy taco shell as I’ve done here.

Along Mexico’s Pacific coast, calamari is commonly prepared in homes and restaurants. That area of Mexico was particularly influenced by the so-called Philippine trade routes, where the Spanish ships crossed the Pacific to Acapulco to trade the goods of Asia with the colony. The cuisine has a definite fusion edge—you’ll see Asian ingredients like ginger used there, as well as dishes with rice. This recipe comes from the Jalisco region in southern Mexico. It is simpler and more traditional than versions originating from other port cities like Veracruz, the original Spanish port and the area with the most exposure to Spanish influences, including cuisine. The mint is a refreshing and unusual complement to the robust flavor of the blackened tomatoes. The pairing of basil and mint is not traditional, but is one that I like as I think the two herbs work well together.

This is the Basic Pasta Dough with the addition of squid ink. The ink makes the pasta black and also infuses it with a subtle seafood flavor. You may want to wear plastic gloves while making this pasta; otherwise, the black ink will stain your hands for days. You can buy squid ink or cuttlefish ink at Italian and specialty food stores; if you can’t find it, you can’t make this dough. Use a quality store-bought squid ink pasta, preferably fresh, instead.

For this dish, we braise squid in red wine and orange rind. The rind gives the sauce a slight bitterness that can seem overwhelming until you eat it on crostini with a dab of mayonnaise, and then it all comes together. We serve it as a condiment for pasta in the Osteria, which would be a perfect use for leftovers because when dressing pasta, a little goes a long way. We use calamarata, a short ring-shaped pasta that mimics the shape of squid rings, or paccheri, a long, tubular pasta that flattens when it cooks.

In Spain, the native land of paella, this classic dish is often prepared over a live fire. Georgeanne Brennan and I adapted this recipe from The Mediterranean Herb Cookbook on a wood-fired grill at her home, using onions, garlic, peas, and fresh herbs from her garden. You can use fresh or frozen calamari. The quality of the ham and chorizo is very important, so shop for the recommended types. If you can’t find them in your local store, shop online at The Spanish Table or La Tienda (see Resources). One of the secrets to this dish is that the herbs are added in layers. The second secret is to cook it over a wood fire!

Although they might sound like an odd combination, hot crispy squid and spicy chorizo tossed together with spinach, cilantro, and olives make an irresistible warm salad. This salad is a salute to the Portuguese and the Spanish, who have been cooking seafood and meat together for centuries, long before the term “surf and turf” was coined.

Fred worked at Toqué! in the early 1990s, and one of his many tasks was cleaning squid. Every so often, the Anglophone sous chef would order from the Quebecois fishmonger at La Mer, and one day “15 pounds” of squid was heard as “50 pounds.” That week Fred cleaned 150 pounds of squid. He couldn’t smell squid for about ten years without feeling sick, but he’s back on the squid train now. The only way he can bear it, though, is filled with lobster and cooked in lobster juice.

Squid, or calamari as it is sometimes called, is not only inexpensive and delicious, but also abundant in our oceans, which makes it an excellent choice for the table. Choose squid that is pristine and fresh. The skin should be shimmering and translucent, the eyes crystal clear, and the scent fresh and sweet. Squid needs to be cleaned before cooking. First trim off the tentacles, cutting as close to the eyes as possible for maximum yield. The tentacles encircle the tough, inedible mouth or beak. To remove it, gently squeeze the tentacles where they were separated from the body and the beak will pop out. Lay the squid flat and, while holding on to the tail end, run the dull side of a paring knife firmly over the body, from tail to head, pressing out the insides and the transparent quill, a feather-shaped bonelike structure that runs the length of the squid. If the quill breaks in the body, cut off the tip of the tail and push it out that way. I don’t remove the skin; I like the way it looks. Don’t rinse squid; it absorbs a great deal of water in the process. The body may be left whole for stuffing, grilling, or roasting, or cut into rings for sautéing, frying, or making into a stew. Squid has a very high protein content, and its flesh becomes elastic and tough as it cooks. To keep squid tender, cook it quickly over high heat, for no longer than 3 or 4 minutes. The squid will be cooked, but the meat will not have had time to toughen. An alternative is to stew it in liquid over low heat for at least 30 minutes. The long cooking eventually softens the protein, and the squid will be tender again. I like to serve grilled squid as an hors d’oeuvre or along with other grilled fish or as part of an array of fish and vegetables and Aïoli (page 47). The aroma of the squid cooking on the grill is irresistible.

This is among my favorite dishes using this plentiful but still under-appreciated cephalopod. (The term, which is also used for octopus and cuttlefish, describes sea creatures whose “feet” grow from their heads.) Like many people, I’m a fan of fried “calamari,” but that dish is best suited to restaurants because of squid’s tendency to spatter when deep-fried. Although sautéing and stir-frying are good, fast techniques for squid, they, too, tend to be messy. A gentle braise in flavorful liquid and seasonings is the perfect alternative, and this one, with its Provençal spirit, is delicious and warming.

Zarzuela—the word means “medley” in Spanish—unites a variety of fish and is, like bouillabaisse, a dish whose ingredients can be varied according to what you can find. The traditional sauce accompaniment for Zarzuela is Romesco (page 606), but the variation makes that superfluous. I love this with crusty bread.