Recipe for Baby Squid in Ink Sauce

This baby squid with ink sauce recipe is an excellent dish for a good time. A traditional recipe of the Basque Country, it has a star ingredient: the black ink that gives color to the dish.  It should be noted that crude ink is slightly toxic, which changes when it is cooked. It is believed that this dish was brought by the Basque navigators who traveled to the Philippines. Nowadays it is one of the best known dishes of the Basque gastronomy. This is a great recipe for baby squid with ink sauce that goes well with white rice!

• Fresh baby squid (1 kg)
• Ripe tomatoes (2)
• Onions (3)
• Olive oil
• Bread

1. To prepare the baby squid in ink sauce, first you must thoroughly clean the squid and remove the tentacles and the inkbags.
2. After this, chop the tentacles. We will fill the inside of the baby squid with them. The ink will be kept in a bowl of water until later.
3. Put a pan on the stove with oil at a mild temperature. When it is hot, add the previously chopped onion and tomato.
4. When the vegetables are golden, place the baby squid in the pan and let them cook. When we can see that they are tender, take them out of the pan and put them in a dish to the side.
5. We pour the ink bags into the pan. To thicken the ink, we will use two pieces of bread. If we want the sauce to be smooth, we must pass it through a strainer or colander.
6. Then, we throw the baby squid into the hot pan for the second time. They will be cooked with the sauce. We keep them on the stove for awhile.

Our advice: There is nothing better than serving the baby squid with a little white rice or even a few pieces of fried bread. This baby squid recipe serves as both a snack or a dinner.

Text: María Jesús Colombo