Squid

Squid can be a bit scary but it's a doddle to prepare if you have a nice sharp knife.

Start by pulling out the bone which looks like a piece of plastic then grip behind the tentacles and tug out the guts with the head. Cut just in front of the eyes, turn the tentacles inside out and pop out the beak and mouth muscles. I like to separate each tentacle.

Now you can sort out the body. Slit it along one side and open it up. You'll find some nasty looking gook that needs to be scraped away. Turn the body skin side up and pull off the purple and black skin. Cut off the flukes.

To help the squid to take the sauce _carefully_ make diagonal cuts about 3mm apart. You'll need a sharp knife, I like to use my Japanese sashimi knife and angle it about 30 degrees. Make another set of fine cuts at right angles.

Cut the body into strips.

Boil a pan of water and throw in the edible bits of meat. Let the water come back to the boil and drain the squids in a colander. Rinse with cold water to prevent over cooking.

Fry off some coarsely sliced onions in plenty of oil add green chilli, a couple of cloves of garlic and grated ginger. I happened to have some shiitake mushrooms that I put in and fried for a couple of minutes. Time to add the squid and black bean sauce.

Let the whole lot sizzle for no more than a minute and serve with rice.

Goes well with Sancere, Muscadet or Entre Deux Mer.