How to cook squids for salad? Salad with squid
Many do not mind eating salad with squidin a cafe or restaurant, but do not dare to cook this delicacy yourself. Still, this is not the most common product in Russian refrigerators. Mistresses are afraid to do something wrong during cooking. Let's find out how to cook squid for salad.
Where to sell squid
For Russia this is in some way exoticproduct, so it's unlikely you'll find them in a small shop near the house. But they are always available in large supermarkets or hypermarkets. These shellfish are caught in Southeast Asia, so Russians are generally only available frozen squids, canned and smoked.
How to choose the right squid
Buy the product in large stores thatcan afford high-quality refrigerators. Moreover, in hypermarkets, buyers have the opportunity to closely consider shellfish, the appearance of which can tell a lot.
For example, if the pieces of squid are frozen into onelayer and covered with a thick crust of ice, this means that they were repeatedly thawed and again frozen. Such manipulations with seafood are fraught with severe poisoning. But even if the unpleasant consequences for the stomach can be avoided, the taste of the dish will be worse than expected, and when cooking, squid will be torn.
Meat must be white. The shade of the skin is not important - the whole range from light-lilac to silver-gray is considered the norm.
If you have any doubts, demand a certificate of quality, be interested in the date of production of seafood and their catch.
Squid frozen - this is not the product,which is worth buying for future use. It is better to cook them on the day of purchase, as the household refrigerator will not provide the optimal temperature of freezing. In addition, when transporting from the store to the house, the shellfish will have time to melt slightly, which is not very good.
How to cook squid: a versatile way
It is widely believed that it is absolutely necessarycook squid. The time recommended for this "execution" (in another way you will not name), varies within 3-5 minutes. If you ever want to put wrinkled pieces of rubber on the table, be sure to do so.
After three minutes in boiling water squid literally skukozhatsya, will become very dense, and there will be unpleasant.
Boil the water in a saucepan. If desired, add a bay leaf, several black peppercorns, any herbs and spices that you like. For beauty, you can put a red paprika in powder, beet juice, turmeric, curry - these ingredients will color the meat. If you plan on using squid in complex dishes, then salt is not necessary.
Dip the defrosted squid into boiling water,Wait 15-20 seconds and remove. If you cook carcasses, do not dip them all at once, and boil one at a time. Before processing another carcass, wait until the water boils. Given that each piece is prepared 15 seconds, it will not take long. Store in the refrigerator boiled squid can be two days.
If you did not know all this and by the timeread our article has already begun to cook squid, you can, on the contrary, increase to 20 minutes. Then the mollusks will again become soft, although reducing their size twice can not be avoided, and the taste will not be at an altitude.
How to unfreeze and brush squid
Before preparing calamari for a salad, they need to be thawed and cleaned. You can weld them and frozen, but this will increase the cooking time and, accordingly, make seafood "rubber".
The squid is defrosted at room temperature. Just leave the carcass outdoors for 1-3 hours. So the maximum of useful substances is saved.
It is allowed to defrost in a cool (about 20 degrees) water. But do not use for this purpose a hot liquid and the more boiling water, otherwise the squid fillet darkens, and the taste will deteriorate.
You can clean both before (preferably) and after cooking. From the carcass should be removed hard plates, transparent cartilage, remove the tentacles and remove the shell from the molluscum.
After cooking, the latter will be easier, but an unpleasant smell may appear. And the skin is very bitter and can easily spoil the taste of the dish.
If you clean before cooking, then the film is more convenient to removeknife under running water. To simplify the process, first place the carcasses in a heated to 60-70 degree liquid for five minutes. Then the peel is easily removed by friction, and the remnants can be removed by rinsing the seafood with cold water.
Cooking squids for salad - simple ways
It is not necessary to conduct heat treatmentboiling water before cooking squid for salad. They can be eaten immediately after cleaning, but in general even for sushi the squid is processed with boiling water. We recommend doing the same.
A universal and quick way: boil the kettle, pour the squid with steep boiling water, drain the water and sprinkle the shellfish with vinegar.
Or place the chopped squid in a bowl,add salt, pepper (red or black), any spices or herbs to your taste, a tablespoon of lemon juice or wine vinegar. Pour the contents of the bowl with steep boiling water and discard the water after 5 minutes.
Squid and microwave
Delicious squid from a microwave - a rarity. But this method can help out if there is no plate. For example, if you are preparing an appetizer at work or at your dacha. We warn that from the first time it will hardly be possible to achieve softness and juiciness of seafood. I'll have to try several times, varying the temperature and time in search of their optimal combination.
Cut the squid in such a way that theywill be halved. Place on a plate in one layer. If desired, season with salt and pepper. Pour the squid with water so that it covers them half. Send the plate to the microwave for 1-4 minutes depending on the power.
You can try to cook squid in your ownjuice. Also arrange them on a plate, sprinkle with oil and lemon juice, sprinkle with spices, but do not add water. Place in the microwave for 1 minute, setting the maximum power.
Salad with rice and egg
Now that we've figured out how to "cook" squids soft, it's time to go over to the salad recipes.
For this nourishing dish, take 2 mediumbulbs, cut into half rings and place for a few minutes in hot water. Prepare a squid of squid in any of the ways described above. Slice 2 boiled eggs with straw.
Mix 3 tablespoons of boiled rice, eggs, squid and onions. To taste, salt and pepper, season with mayonnaise.
Salad with grapes and cheese
This is a more refined salad with squid, andthe appearance of the dish should be appropriate. Therefore, take half the bunch of lettuce leaves, cut or chop large, place in a salad bowl and mix with the juice of lemon quarters.
Lay on lettuce leaves cut thinstrips of squid carcass, gram 150 grapes of schnapps and the same number of diced feta cheese (or Adyghe). Salt and gently mix, seasoning with olive oil.
Festive salad
Take 750 grams of squid (already peeled andtreated with boiling water). If cooking seafood without salt, then grate it with carcasses from the inside and cut them with rings. Scald 3 ripe tomatoes with boiling water, free from peel and finely crumble.
Pour half a cup of olive oil into the saucepan andlay out squid with tomatoes. Add 3 crushed garlic cloves, chopped fresh parsley and 125 ml of white dry wine. Tomite under the lid on low heat until soft.
Decorate the resulting salad with squid can be olives without seeds, chopped slices, and leaves of parsley.
Dietary salad
Cut 2 carcasses of squid, add to them 1 grated apple and 200 grams of crushed stalks of celery. Season with sesame oil and soy sauce.
We told how to prepare squid for salad,namely in the proper observance of this procedure and is the main secret of the dishes with these mollusks. Now he is known to you. It remains to choose a suitable salad recipe, of which there is a great variety.