I sat on a bench today.   

I sat on a bench overseeing the ocean 

On a high sea cliff 

Squinting in the sun. 

I sat on the bench and three pelicans skimmed by below me 

Wings fixed, searching baitfish. 

Today, I sat on a bench by the ocean. 

Wind and sun and salt and sea. 

A set of waves rolled in and broke on the beach, 

As though to their last end, their journey complete. 

I sat on a bench by the sea today  

When suddenly 

Nothing happened.   

Squid’s Stuffed Squid

While not a typical food for pelicans, squid are a forage species for many critters. They are plentiful and extremely healthy, being high in protein and very low in fat. Most people have had calamari as an appetizer, cut into rings, floured and flash fried. They are also a great ingredient in pasta, paella, risotto and many other recipes, being delicately flavored.

However, squid can be tricky to cook. After years of trial and error (with the result being a dish that resembled rubber bands in texture), I finally learned of a helpful rule of thumb – cook squid either less than three minutes or over 30. Either end of that spectrum will give you a very tender and tasty dish.

While I like squid lots of ways, one of my favorites has become Squid’s Stuffed Squid. For this dish you will need whole squid bodies and their tentacles. If you can get them cleaned, great. If whole, you will need to cut off the tentacles and pull out the guts without tearing the body. Be sure to get the thing that looks like a strip of plastic along with its rather gelatinous innards. Once you are set up with the cleaned, whole squid bodies, it goes something like this:

Place a pot of water on the stove and bring to a light boil. Drop the squid bodies into the boiling water for about 10-15 seconds, just long enough for them to set. This step will make stuffing them MUCH easier. Take the bodies out of the water and submerge in an ice bath to stop the cooking and set them aside

Chop the remaining tentacles finely.

Finely crumble a small amount of bulk sausage and saute until just done, breaking it up into the smallest pieces you can. When the sausage is just done, add the finely chopped tentacles and saute another 30 seconds. Remove from the pan in place in a small mixing bowl.

To the sausage/tentacle mixture add a couple tablespoons of panko, a couple of minced garlic cloves and chopped parsley. Season lightly with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

When the mixture is cool enough to handle, stuff it into the whole squid bodies. You can do this with a small spoon, or place the mix in a baggie with one of the corners cut off and squeeze it into the body. Be sure that the mixture gets all the way to the tip end of the squid but don’t overfill as the mixture will expand as it is cooked. Once filled, close the open end with a toothpick. Drizzle the stuffed bodies with olive oil and perhaps a squeeze of lemon.

To cook, you can put these over a grill, broil in the oven on the low setting or saute in a non-stick pan. Grilling is my preference. Cook no more than a couple minutes, just long enough for grill marks to form and for the inside stuffing to be heated through. Remove from heat and serve immediately. If you have very large squid bodies you can cut them crosswise, they will hold together.

As an appetizer, figure 2 bodies per person.

A Spanish albarino would be a nice wine to drink with this.

Here is a music clip to enjoy while cooking squid and waiting for your real life to begin…