And I can’t make up my mind about what sauce I want to pair with it.
Tell me what you would make, and why.
Uhh … how about squid?
Heat some olive oil and garlic in a pan, and dump in a tin of kalemara. Saute and add some capers and chopped shallots. Pour in some white wine and let it reduce. Add a gob of butter to make a sauce and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Boil the pasta in salty water and transfer it to the saucepan. Stir to combine everything and serve hot. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley. Red pepper flakes can add a little heat.
If the squid comes packed in its own ink, dump that in the pan too. It’s very tasty!
If it were my first time trying, I’d try without any sauce at all, you don’t want to drown the flavors with any sort of heavy sauce.
Otherwise it would depend upon what I’m pairing the pasta with - is it by itself, with another protein, veggies, etc?
My default would be similar to @terentii, a simple olive oil (good), ground pepper and garlic.
But some ginger-infused soy sauce with ponzu (so ginger / soy / citrus) goes well with nearly anything.
I’ve made squid ink pasta before so I know what it tastes like.
I want something new but can’t make up my mind what I want to do with it, so almost anything goes here. Anything with hard-to-find ingredients will probably not be happening.
The only thing I am sure of is that I do not want a tomato-based sauce. That is all.
More than fair. Again, I’d ask what the rest of the meal is going to be, and is the pasta served on it’s own as a dish, or with added ingredients?
After recent talks in the CS about spicy regional variants of Italian cuisine, I’ve been planning some Arrabbiata dishes as soon as I can secure fresh tomatoes from my MiL’s garden, but that’s out if tomato sauces are out.
I think I’d stick to the basics, good EVOO, flake salt, pepper, crushed garlic, and some citrus (juice and zest) plus some Aleppo pepper for a touch of kick and fruity undertones.
Well, that’s the thing. I dunno what I want to do with it, and that includes any additions other than the sauce too. If you were in possession of an 8 oz. package of squid ink tagliatelle, what would you do with it? @terentii’s idea sounds good (and thanks for the suggestion!) but I am not sure I can find a quality tin of squid here, I’d have to look around a bit.
I hadn’t really considered anything Asian-ish, but I could see how that could work.
Where are you that you can’t find canned squid? I used to buy it all the time when I lived in Moscow.
If you have a decent supermarket nearby, you can probably find frozen squid. My local Food Basics in Toronto sells packets of it for about $10.
Or try finding fresh squid at the supermarket. There’s an Asian-oriented one near where I live, and they have a huge fresh seafood section.
I’d consider myself blessed and make sure to eat it away from the wife who considers anything touched by things that came from the sea unclean. (Slight exaggeration for effect of course!)
Meh, I’d probably go with the EVOO based garlic/citrus sauce I mentioned, or defrost some tuna steaks, marinate in the soy/ginger/ponzu sauce I mentioned above, sear the steaks, and serve with the pasta dressed in more of the sauce, maybe with a bit of roasted sesame oil for funzies.
I’ve been thinking about mussels lately so that’s what I’d use.
Mussels are good. They can be substituted into my recipe fer sure.
I said I might not be able to find quality tinned squid, at least not near me. Most of the tinned fish my local stores sell is … not great.
We do have an Asian market and of course they have all kinds of squid, but it’s a drive so I don’t go over there until I have a list of stuff I want. It’s not practical to go all the way over there for one thing. But there’s also no rush on making this dish, either.
Mussels would indeed be easier to get closer by. Thanks for that suggestion!
You can make “meatballs” by grinding raw squid or cuttlefish (add some shrimp) or just chopping fine with a sharp knife. They’d make a very unusual dish with that pasta, maybe with white sauce?
Olive oil, garlic (finely chopped, 2/3s slowly cooked through, 1/3 undercooked at the end), peperoncino and/or pepper, parsley, and salt should be simple and tasty. Onions or shallots are optional, I like them. Perhaps a dash of white wine after the first 2/3s garlic are well made. Mussels or shrimp would fit perfectly, a spritz of lemon at the end is fine too.
Assuming the pasta takes the usual 10-12 minutes to cook I would start making the sauce in a pan after 3-4 minutes have elapsed, pouring one or two tablespoons of the pasta water into the pan at the end and then the drained pasta one minute before it is done, so an emulsion develops in the pan when you stir.
Assuming you didn’t mean this coffee from Cyprus, what’s kalemara?
The Asian market I mentioned in my last post has a giant freezer case full of different kinds of fish balls and I’ve never really taken a good look at it. I do know they make at least some of them on premises. I’ll have to check that out the next time I go over there.
I guess calamari is the preferred spelling for English speakers, but in Greek it’s καλαμάρι (squid). I see I should have checked the spelling.
Hmm, I’m going to Greece in a couple of months, would be a good idea to pick up some tinned fish while I am there.
I’d overlooked you refered to squid later in the post and I should have picked up on your meaning. Your sauce sounds better than the mussels.
They’re pretty easy to make at home. Like hamburger patties, they’re something I’d rather make myself, just to eliminate the element of mystery. Fish like cod and hake work, too. Grinding/mincing is the hardest part, and you can use a stick blender for that, so not so hard overall.
I’m with @alovem. I’m very uneasy about most of the farmed tilapia that are for sale these days, and it’s the main source of cheap white fish in almost any processed food.
Now, granted, if it was as hard to make ground/minced fish as it was with heartier cuts (I haven’t used my meatgrinder in years for beef or pork) I’d be of many minds, but most IQF white fish of various qualities can be done with the most wimpy of food processors or even just quick knifework.
And I can make sure I add plenty of decent quality, but still inexpensive spice and herbal additions!