Having managed to get our hands on some lovely fresh squid, we decided to have a Squid Barbecue Night this evening. The slimy creatures came in various sizes, mostly smaller than 15cm in length. Unsurprisingly, the cleaning process is quite laborious. So, you first gently but firmly pull the tentacles and body from the tail tube. Cut off the tentacles and put aside along with the small ink sac (they will make some great sauce to go with spaghetti tomorrow). Discard the rest of the body, including the cartilage which looks either like a very fine shard of glass or an oval-shaped pumice stone. Slice through one side of the remaining tail tube to obtain a flat morsel of squid (or a large whole squid depending on the size of the creature). Now the fun part. Season the squid with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley. Chop up some bell peppers and fresh fennel. Heat the barbie and get ready to sizzle! You can use the standard charcoal grill surface for the larger squid pieces but a Spanish-style plancha grill is better suited for the small squid morsels. This will avoid the delicious morsels falling through the grid into the charcoal. Ten minutes of grilling, interspersed with a sporadic drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice, will do the trick. By then the squid will be tender and ready to serve along with the grilled vegetables. A bottle of white Sicilian Corvo Glicine will go down nicely with the meal. The Glicine has an attractive yellow colour with greenish hues. It is pleasantly fragrant with a light aromatic note typical of many Sicilian whites. Enjoy! (we did). Don’t chastise me for the images, they’re just iPhone snaps. :)
