{"id":2415,"date":"2014-10-09T05:48:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T05:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2014-10-09T05:48:38","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T05:48:38","slug":"roasted-squid-with-oregano-eggplant-with-basil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=2415","title":{"rendered":"roasted squid with oregano; eggplant with basil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"roast_squid_grilled_eggplant_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t know what the experience of others may be with squid (if only because I grew up in Detroit after the war, and later,\u00a0when I lived in Rhode Island in the 60’s, the term, ‘squid’ was as likely to describe\u00a0a Newport sailor as a\u00a0cephalopod (and we loved sailors whether or not they were well\u00a0prepared). \u00a0Although I have enjoyed it, I have never prepared calamari, that is,\u00a0squid batter-coated and deep fried (in fact I’ve never deep-fried anything).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0That dish\u00a0may be the beginning and end of the squid experience for most of us,\u00a0but I have come to believe that these extraordinarily common molluscs are among the most elegant of dishes ever\u00a0to adorn any table, high or low. \u00a0I also think they are peculiarly suited to both the culture and the aesthetic\u00a0of the twenty-first century: They are remarkably stable in their natural population, and therefore, at least at this moment in time, among the most sustainable\u00a0of wild food sources we have, and they are both incredibly easy to prepare and to serve; \u00a0at the same time, when they are served,\u00a0they present\u00a0just about\u00a0the most beautiful , minimal appearance imaginable. \u00a0Not incidentally they also taste incredibly delicious,\u00a0if you\u00a0go about it right.<\/p>\n

Tonight I was surprised\u00a0with the results of\u00a0working with two recipes with which I was already very familiar. \u00a0Both elements of the meal\u00a0were even more delicious than my memory of how they\u00a0had tasted\u00a0in the past. \u00a0That might be the proof\u00a0of a great, and very simple recipe (neither of them was my own), and it helps if the pairing is felicitous. \u00a0In any event, it was a\u00a0small triumph for\u00a0both the fish and the vegetable elements of a pretty simple meal, one which I was able to pull together in\u00a0forty-five minutes or so\u00a0of pretty leisurely prep. As an aside, I want\u00a0to say that I also really like the way the squid bodies kind of inflate\u00a0in the oven just as they\u00a0finish cooking,\u00a0and\u00a0the smaller ones pretty much stay inflated, as can be seen above.<\/p>\n

The squid recipe was from “Italian Easy<\/a>” and that for the grilled eggplant was from Mario Batali’s “Italian Grill<\/a>” (I replaced the suggested fresh oregano with fresh basil, in deference to the the dried oregano\u00a0I was using\u00a0with\u00a0the squid, and I added to the pan the last of some baby tomatoes I had on hand).<\/p>\n