Pan fried squid with garlic, basil and olives

Let’s talk about squid. More precisely, let’s talk about the price of fresh squid. I’m in shock. I went to the market yesterday and was asked for £14 a kilo. Excuse me?!!!? £14 a kilo?!!? They looked nice, but not that nice. So I’m ashamed to say I shied away from the fresh ones and opted for fresh/frozen ones, at half the price. They were fine, what can I say…

The sea if full of squid, so they’re good to eat with a healthy conscience. At least, that’s what I thought until I checked on my newly-discovered ‘sustainable fish checker’. I wish I hadn’t bothered. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not talking bluefin tuna crisis levels here, but there’s still food for thought. Here’s what it had to say about European squid (though much the same goes for Atlantic squid too I’m afraid).

“Squid (calamari) plays an important role in oceanic and coastal food webs and is removed from the sea before it has spawned (it dies after spawning). Avoid eating squid taken in industrial or large scale commercial fisheries which remove large quantities of squid at the base of the food chain. The majority of squid landings in the UK come as part of the bycatch from demersal trawl and seine net fisheries. The importance of the squid fishery is increasing however, with mid-water trawls being used to make large scale catches. There are also examples of small artisanal fisheries around the UK which target squid specifically. An example of such a fishery is the Sennan Cove squid fishery in Cornwall, where fishermen go out in small punts and fish for squid using jigs, a method of fishing similar to that of handlining for mackerel.”

Is there anything from the sea that one can eat without having to ward off the odd pang of guilt? I’ve yet to come across it. I guess the main lesson here is not what you eat, but how it’s caught. If you can find someone who likes fishing and can spare the odd specimen, then I guess you’re OK. Pity my dad hasn’t caught any squid in a while. I’ll have to have a word in his ear.

So anyway, on the way home I popped into my Moroccan grocer and bought some Tangier basil and some black olives. I’m not sure what sort they were, though they looked like kalamata and were soft in texture and salty in taste.

Here’s what I did with it all.

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Pan fried squid with garlic, basil and olives

Two medium-sized squid, cleaned

Garlic and basil fish sauce

Kalamata olives

Having cleaned squid the squid, dry off any excess water and score the flesh diagonally several times on each side. Season lightly (remember those salty olives).

Heat a frying pan lightly coated with olive oil until it starts to smoke. Place the squid in the pan and fry on a high heat for three or four minutes on each side, or until it starts to get a golden coating. Don’t forget the tentacles. Some people like to cook squid for longer but I’m not one of those. You either cook it quickly, or you cook it in sauce for ages. Anything in between and you’ll get tough, chewy flesh.

Place on a plate, smother liberally with the fish sauce, add a handful of olives and you’re good to go.

Enjoy.