Light seafood dishes are especially popular in the summer, when the air temperature approaches 30 degrees. One of the most popular foods used in the preparation of such foods is squid.
As a rule, they are boiled or fried in a pan, but these are far from the only ways to cook them. Despite the fact that they are very attractive in fried form, this method of processing rather disguises than emphasizes their rich taste. This meat is best combined with the aroma of smoke, which is obtained on the grill.
How to cut squid?
Of course, the best seafood is freshly caught or chilled. However, such squids can only be purchased in regions close to the sea. A much more accessible frozen product, which is found in a variety of forms. The quality of the squid does not suffer from this in any way - this seafood is frozen and thaws very quickly.
If you bought peeled seafood, you will only need to cut it into rings or ribbons, if you do not want to cook the whole carcass, and leave the tentacles as they are. If you find the squid in kind for sale, cleaning it will not be difficult. This is done in a few minutes above the sink and does not even require the use of gloves.
You need to stick your hand into the gap starting from the tentacles - it should pass easily. Walk your fingers inside the carcass and pull out the small transparent insides. If you wish, you can also scratch your skin with your nails from the carcass, but this is not necessary - it is edible.
Carefully lay the rest of the squid on a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut off the portion of the carcass between the eyes and tentacles. Check all edible parts for cartilage, separate them. Then rinse the carcass and tentacles under cold running water. Now the grilled squid can begin to cook.
If you like all parts of the seafood, you can use it whole, along with the tentacles. If you are choosy about the appearance of the products, you can take the fillet. How to make squid tasty and easy? You just need to grill them with a small amount of spices. This seafood is good at such a preparation with the addition of a small amount of lemon juice and olive oil.
What do you need to keep in mind?
Despite the simplicity of the recipe, grilled squid spoils very easily. The problem is that this seafood is a very "wet" creature with an incredibly high water content. Checking if all excess moisture has been removed is very simple. Squid will not be brown on top if a lot of water is present on its surface.
Although these seafoods are sold already peeled, they may still contain impurities of sand and other contaminants, so you should wash them before cooking. After this, they must be thoroughly dried before being placed on the grill, otherwise they will not be fried, but cooked in their own juice.
First, you must carefully blot the carcass or seafood pieces to remove as much surface moisture as possible (as much as possible), and only then rub it with oil to prevent it from sticking to the grill. Secondly, you need to cook squids over very hot coals.
Grill temperature
The temperature of your grill should be around 150 degrees or even higher. Due to this, excess moisture evaporates in a matter of minutes, and the product is cooked very quickly. Therefore, before placing the product for cooking, make sure that the grill is sufficiently warmed up.
If grilling squid will be prepared together with tentacles, cut them into pieces of the same size and thickness.
Stir the seafood with a little oil to prevent it from sticking to the grill. The ideal amount is about 1 tablespoon of table oil per 0.5 kg of chopped squid.
Some more useful tips
Try grilling squid marinade with some additional ingredients besides salt and pepper. Smoked paprika or chili powder is good.
Do not worry that thin tentacles can fall on the coals or burner - most lattices are narrow enough to prevent this, and small pieces of seafood will remain in place. In addition, grilled squid can be strung on thin skewers or wooden skewers previously soaked in water.
Remember that your possibilities are endless. You can cook whole carcasses as well as rings or slices.
Cooking time
Making grilled squids is somewhat difficult due to the calculation of the frying time.
There are only two ways for the dish to work out well: to fry them for only a couple of minutes, so that the meat remains tender, or slowly cook them for at least 30 minutes, which will return the meat to tenderness. Everything that is done in the intermediate stages will have one result - very tough meat. The second option is impossible to implement on the grill, so the cooking time should be minimal.
This means that when talking about how to make squid tasty and easy, you must remember that you should not overcook them. The frying time should not exceed three minutes on all sides, otherwise the meat will become “rubber”.
Grilled squids: recipe
You should know that any salad that offers the addition of fried shrimp will turn out great if you replace them with calamari. The simplest and easiest recipe is as follows. Stir cooked seafood with arugula and olive oil. So you get natural and tasty grilled squids.
A more complicated recipe will include more ingredients. For example, you can pour fried seafood with fish sauce and lime juice, sprinkle with sugar and add finely chopped red onions, tomatoes, mint, cilantro and cress to them. This dish is surprisingly tasty and refreshing, especially in hot weather.