10 squid recipes for sunny days

Squid are delicious, can be kept in the freezer for a few days (and no more than 4 months) before use to soften them and, above all, to delight the taste buds. With their salty taste and their firm yet elastic texture, squid can be incorporated into any preparation. In paella, in a salad, with other seafood to be enjoyed as is, fried or not, in risotto, or even on a buckwheat pancake to revisit Breton traditions, don’t leave squid aside, cook them! Note that depending on the region, squid is called differently. For example, on the Basque coast, it is called “chipiron”, and in the Mediterranean, “supion”. So rest assured if you find molluscs that look the same as squid but have a different name, it is indeed the same animal.

How to cook squid successfully

If overcooked, calamari can become rubbery! First, don’t cook calamari for more than 5 minutes.

To avoid getting the rubbery mouthfeel, use this little trick: the power of corks. You read that right, in a pot of boiling water, immerse the whole squid with corks. Let it cook for 5 minutes and you should get squid that is softened enough so that it is not rubbery. How can we explain this phenomenon? Thanks to the absorbent properties of the cork and its porous texture, it retains moisture and helps to better diffuse heat on the squid. Thus, the squid cooks carefully and becomes more tender.

Otherwise, a second tip is available to you. To cook squid to simply add to a salad, for example, cook them in two stages. This way, you will avoid keeping them at a constant heat for too long. First, after cutting them into slices and their tentacles into pieces, dry them. Then, brown them for 1 minute 30 seconds in olive oil in a hot pan, then, after draining, put them back in a hot pan, also in olive oil (a tablespoon is enough each time). For even more flavor, chopped garlic and parsley will be your best allies!