Squid in American Sauce

A couple of months ago I'd bought a tin of Ocean Sea "Squid stuffed with tentacles in American Sauce" whilst in our local Lidl. I quite like squid. I especially like the look on other peoples faces when I order it in a restaurant.

My children also like squid, and if I'm trying to eat battered squid rings it tends to be a fight as to who gets them.

Squid stuffed with tentacles is another matter entirely. Now I've had barbecued squid with tentacles once before, and quite enjoyed it, in fact the tentacles are the tastiest part of the squid (you'll probably have to trust me on this), but the kids for some reason didn't fancy trying any.

The big problem with the tinned squid is this: what the hell do I do with it now that I've bought it? The tin itself doesn't give any clues on how to cook it. Do I eat it out of the tin? Should I reheat it? Should I drop it in the bin and run screaming from the kitchen? What do I do?

Google wasn't a lot of help this time round, in fact other than finding other people with the same question about what to do with it, there wasn't an awful lot of answers.

I did, however spot some hints, so if you are brave enough to have these in the cupboard and want to know what to do with it then read on:

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Cooking Squid in American Sauce

Ingredients

1 tin of Squid in American Sauce
1 medium potato
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

Peel and cube the potato (1/2 cm cubes is probably about right), then fry in the oil over a medium heat until starting to brown (around ten minutes). Stir constantly as otherwise the potatoes will stick to the bottom of the pan.

Turn down to a lower heat, add the sauce from the tinned squid and cook for another five minutes, stirring regularly.

Finally, add the squid and cook for another five to ten minutes until the squid is tender.

Serve, and enjoy!

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I really should have photographed this (I'll have to do that next time), so you'll just have to trust me when I say that it really doesn't look that appetising, even to someone who actually enjoys eating squid. As my eight-year-old daughter said as she examined the pan, "That looks like yuck!"

The important thing is the taste, and boy, does this ever taste good! The potatoes melt in the mouth, the American Sauce turns out to be a spicy chilli, onion and tomato sauce, and works to flavour the squid really nicely. The squid was nicely soft with a pretty meaty consistency.

More surprising was the opinion of the kids, my daughter and five-year-old son both dug in and after trying the potatoes, both of them moved on to the squid and the tentacles. Seeing as they came back a couple of times for more squid (my son nearly ate as much as I did) I'll certainly have to look at getting this again.

You get around half a dozen small squid to the tin, and this works surprisingly well as a snack meal. Just don't look too closely at it before you eat it.

footnote

I've just had another search and have found an alternative recipe. Don't say I don't spoil you. . .