Sometime last year I came across another Adelaide blog called A Kitchen for Friends, as it’s publisher — one Justin Chai — had written a post in which he said some nice things about this blog.
Later, Justin and his lovely girlfriend, Janice, came along to an Adelaide Food Bloggers Group meet up at the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market. Justin (and Janice) were exactly as they came across in Justin’s blog – friendly, down-to-earth, enthusiastic and passionate about food.
Since that early meeting Justin and Janice have started catering parties and are even doing the canapés for a wedding in December. It started innocently enough — Justin offered to throw a work colleagues’ daughter a 3-course 21st birthday dinner — but then other people started asking them to cater their gatherings and who knows where it will end. It’s all very exciting and I’m thrilled for them.
So when I knew I was going to be having a very busy October/November, I asked Justin if he’d like to do a guest post for The Hungry Australian. It’s a little later than we both expected (sorry Justin!) but I’m delighted to hand him the reins so he can share some memories of his recent trip to Venice and a very interesting pasta dish with us.
Welcome Justin!
PS Scroll to the bottom of the post for a cute photo of Justin and Janice (centre) and friends eating this dish.
PPS You can also head over to Justin’s blog for great step-by-step photographs to illustrate each step of his recipe.
Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia
From traditional eateries nestled within its coastal towns to unassuming trattorias hidden away in the maze of alleyways sprawled out across its bustling cities, almost every food stop we made in Italy left us with déjà vu of other blissful culinary experiences.
The Venetian island of Burano houses more than just its iconic rainbow-coloured buildings and beautiful laces. Populated by a tightly knit community which continues to live of the cornucopia of ocean bounty, it is of no surprise that the locals here treat their seafood with the utmost care and respect.
But one particular Venetian food establishment and the humble creation it birthed from the confines of its age-old kitchen well-deserves a written piece of its own.
The Trattoria da Romano is a perfect example of such a culture. Even Anthony Bourdain himself sings its praises in one of the many travel destinations he covers on his No Reservations television series. Of course we ordered the highly recommended “Go” fish risotto: perfectly cooked rice grains in a milky white broth which seemed to just burst with heavenly flavours of the sea!
But if the risotto was analogous to yin, may I then introduce you to its yang, its black brotha’ from another motha’…
Friends, meet the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia!
So what exactly is it? Well, do you remember the last time you saw a David Attenborough documentary on sea creatures? Remember seeing a squid doing what looked like an underwater fart – releasing black clouds all over a poor shark which just wanted lunch? That’s right people, we ate all of that black goo…
…And boy was it good! As I licked my fork, spoon, plate, fingers – well, just about anything which came into contact with that rather unflattering yet simply delectable pasta – I looked around the table to my travel companions and knew right away that our thoughts were as coherent as ever.
How could we possibly go back to Australian pasta after eating this?!!!
It was presented in such a simple manner yet it was so rich in flavour! It somewhat frustrated me because I just could not comprehend how they could make it taste so good when there seemed to be so little ingredients on display. But that dish at Burano left me inspired and determined to reproduce what I ate there with Australia’s very own produce. It also taught me that food does not always have to be elaborate to taste good.
So here’s my amateur take on producing simplicity on a plate!
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 red onion
- ½ bunch flat leaf parsley leaves
- 2 bird’s eye chillies
- 400g whole prawns (raw)
- 500g whole squid
- Squid ink (from ink sac)
- EVOO
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 400g tomato puree
- 500g cooked spaghetti
- Finely dice the garlic cloves, red onion and parsley leaves.
- De-seed the birds-eye chillies and finely dice them as well
- De-shell and de-vein the fresh prawns.
- Place the prawn shells and heads in small pot, fill it with just enough water to cover the shells and bring it to a gentle boil. Once the stock begins to boil, lower the gas and allow it to simmer for 20-30 minutes.
- Now on to the daunting (and messy!) task of cleaning, prepping – well basically, giving a total make-over to one of the cephalopod family’s many ugly members. We’re going to try keeping the task as clean as possible, but don’t test your luck – you might want to replace that white t-shirt pronto.
- Start off by pulling the head and tentacles portion off from the body.
- Now, carefully remove the ink sac in one piece from innards.
- Bring the sac to the kitchen sink (trust me on this one), gently puncture the sac and empty the ink into a small bowl filled with 20ml of water.
- Beware of sneaky squirts! Squeeze and squeeze with all your might people, because we will need every drop of that blackish goodness to give our pasta some character!
- Cut across the head, separating the tentacles as a whole. Discard those horrid looking eyeballs and any innards you may find.
- Using a sharp knife, slice through the wings and separate them from the body.
- Slide your finger underneath the purplish skin lining its body and wings, peel it off and discard.
- Remove backbone from the tube.
- Using a long spoon, scrape and discard more gooey innards out of the tube.
- Give all the different squid parts a thorough wash.
- Slice the tubular body into 1 cm rings, the wings and tentacles in bite-sized pieces and set aside.
- With all the prep work done, time to bring on the heat!
- Start off by lining a pan with a few splashes of extra virgin olive oil over low to medium heat.
- Sauté the combination of finely diced onions and garlic until the onions appear translucent – releasing that inviting aroma we all love.
- Turn up the gas to medium and deglaze the pan with a cup of dry white wine.
- Allow things to simmer, eventually reducing the liquid down to ⅓ of the original amount.
- Now, add approximately 400ml of the prawn stock you made earlier to the pan followed by the finely diced chilies, tomato paste and puree.
- Next comes the squid pieces and all that sea goodness from its ink!
- Mix everything around to incorporate.
- Bring the liquid up to a gentle simmer and then allow it to reduce to a viscous consistency. Patience is key here. You don’t want the sauce to be too runny. Rather, the task here is to rid of at least ⅔ of the sauce’s water content - retaining the essence of flavour in the medium which will coat our pasta. You’ll thank me later.
- Once the right consistency has been achieved, add in the prawns - being really careful not to overcook them. 1-2 minutes should suffice.
- Throw in half the chopped up parsley leaves, reserving the rest when you plate up.
- Season with sea salt and black pepper (although you shouldn’t have to do much of it because the natural seafood flavours from the prawn and squid will be sure to boldly make themselves known to your palate.)
- Now all that’s left is to mix it all up with your favourite pasta (good ol’ spaghetti will suit it pretty well) and serve it up to your soon to be goth-looking friends!
Now then, whoever said black lips weren’t cool anymore?
(c) All photos and text by Justin Chai, A Kitchen for Friends.
