Curtin FM 100.1

The Cooking Professor talks to Liz Pye on Curtin FM Radio 100.1 every second Thursday about food and cooking. It is a lot of fun! I usually have a recipe for Liz. Here is the one that went to air this week:

Sautéed Squid, Chickpea and Chorizo Salad
Serves 4 as an entrée

You need
200 g chickpeas.
300 g cleaned medium-sized squid (bodies and tentacles)
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 lemon, juiced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-hot red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced across
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 chorizo sausage, cut across into thin slices
a good handful or two of rocket leaves
Salt and ground black pepper

Method
First, prepare the squid. Remove the tentacles and head from each squid, cut off the head, and remove the ink sack and any long dangly tentacles and discard. Retain the main set of tentacles and remove the hard gristle from where you have cut away the head. Now prepare the body of each squid. Remove the hard clear cartilage. Cut off the wings. Make a slit in the purple skin and remove from the body tube of the squid and discard. Cut the body of each squid open along one side and score the inner side with a sharp knife into a fine diamond pattern. Then cut each pouch lengthways in half, then across into 8cm pieces. Reserve.

Now slice the chorizo into thin slices, about 30 mm, and quickly sauté in a drizzle of olive oil. Set the chorizo aside on a few pieces of absorbent paper.

Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan over a medium heat. Add the chilli and garlic and cook for a minute. Drain a can of chickpeas and add them to the pan and heat through, about 2 minutes. Stir the tomatoes into the chickpeas with the lemon juice, about 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, parsley and season to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add half the squid pieces, scored side facing upwards first (this will make them curl), and half the tentacles and sear for 30 seconds, then turn them over and sear for another 30 seconds until golden brown and caramelized. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the pan. Repeat with the remaining olive oil and the rest of the squid. Return all the squid to the pan with the chorizo and toss together over a high heat for a further minute.

Briefly toss the rocket leaves through the chickpea salad and spoon onto 4 individual plates. Top with the sautéed squid and chorizo and serve.

(Curtin FM, 19 February 2009.)