Making the most of unemployment and Thursday Borough Market

Given that it was my last few days of unemployment, I wanted to cook something new and a little more adventurous. Then I realised it was a Thursday, and that Borough Market is now open on Thursdays, so off I went.

I do think the place is ridiculously overpriced, and it has become a bit too much of a tourist attraction. I went there on a Friday recently and it was just unpleasant to walk around - lots of people with no intention of actually buying any food, many with sillily big cameras. However, the Thursday market is a lot calmer (although only half of the market is actually open), and there is the advantage that you can get almost whatever you want. Unfortunately I live in an area where there is no decent butchers, and the supplies at the fishmongers in the market is somewhat erratic.

I'm still a little hung up on the Spanish theme after the recent trip to Barcelona, so I ended up making the following, which is a Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall recipe.

Braised stuffed squid with chorizo and rice (serves 2)

4 medium squid, including wings and tentacles
2 fat garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
200ml fish stock (I used veg and it was ok)
Zest of 1 lemon
2 bay leaves
100ml dry sherry (I used dry white wine and it was ok)

For the stuffing:
1 onion, finely diced
4 fat garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 celery stick, finely sliced
50g long grain rice
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
100g chorizo, skin removed and diced small

1. Clean the squid, taking out the plasticky bit out of the tubes, taking off the weird skin, and removing the wings and tentacles (but save these). Make sure the 'eyes' of the tentacles are also taken out.
2. Make the stuffing - fry the onion, garlic, and celery and saute gently for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool a little.

3. Finely chop the wings and tentacles of the squid, and add to the cooked onion mixture with the rest of the ingredients. Season and mix well.

4. Stuff the mixture into the squid tubes, until they are about 3/4 full (the rice will expand a little bit during the cooking). Secure the squid with cocktail sticks (I didn't have any so had to improvise with rather large skewers!). Any remaining stuffing can be added to the sauce.

5. Make the sauce - in a casserole which would hold the squid snugly, fry the sliced garlic in some oil until they are just beginning to colour. Add in the tomatoes, stock, lemon zest, bay leaves, sherry/wine, and season. Add in the squid, making sure they are covered by the sauce, and bring to a simmer.
6. Transfer to a preheated oven (100 to 120C) and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours until the squid is tender.

If you're wondering what happened to one of the squids, I confess I nicked the last photo off the internet as the one I took was terrible looking, but the dish looked really good!! And it was absolutely delicious, I should have made more!

Another tip that I myself did not follow was to get frozen squid from Chinese supermarkets. They are dead dead cheap (less than £2 a box), and I usually have a box in the freezer just in case. You do need to clean them really thoroughly, but I think that's most of the fun from cooking squid!