Squid braised in red wine with a garlicy aoli and toast
Here is an amazing recipe for your calamari, courtesy of Sea Forager Seafood member Aaron Rocchino, owner of The Local Butcher Shop in Berkeley. Super flavorful, satisfying, and simple. The man knows his food! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
-2.5lbs squid
- 2 shallots, or onion
-3 cloves of garlic
- sea salt
- fresh thyme
- olive oil for sautéing
- splash of water
- dry red wine
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup olive oil
- good crusty bread
Method:
-clean squid, cut into rings about ½ to 1 inch thick.
-Small dice onion or shallots and reserve.
-mortar garlic cloves (into a snotty paste with a little sea salt and fresh thyme, some will be to toss with the squid after sautéing, the remainder will be used to add to an Aioli).
-quickly sauté squid in a hot, heavy bottom pan with a touch of oil. Work in small batches to not crowd the pan. Lightly season with sea salt and pepper in the pan for each batch. *important just make this quick to get color and to build a fond in the pan, do not cook fully in pan. Work in batches and do not clean pan between batches. Each batch with build flavor in the pan.
-Pitch squid out of pan and put into a bowl big enough to hold all the squid after sautéing.
-While squid is still warm, add some of the Garlic schmear and toss. Put your nose into the bowl…it smells sooooo good. Let sit while you cook onions or shallots.
-Add onion or shallots and a splash of water and sweat until tender . This will bring up the fond too.
-Add squid and all the resting juices and dry red wine to fill about ¾ of the way up the squid. Bring it all to a low simmer, cover the pan, and turn the flame down as low as it can go to braise. You barley want to see any bubbles. It will probably cook for about 30 minutes or until tender. *a great trick if you cant get your burner low enough, pull a grate off of another burner and put it on top of the grate you’re working on to raise the pan off the heat a little more.
-If you happen to have too much liquid or the liquid seems too thin after the squid is tender, then tip out the excess liquid into a different pan and reduce the liquid down until it thickens up or tastes to your liking.
-While the squid is slowly cooking, make your aioli with 1 egg yolk and 1 cup of good olive oil, add the remaining garlic and thyme snotty goop. Keep the aioli on the thicker side so that it’s not too runny.
Also while the squid is cooking, cut thick slices of good bread, drizzle with olive oil, and toast until it gets good color, or pan fry.
Plate up and eat. Drink more red wine.