#6 flamed squid in spinach veloute

wife & i had a really good holiday in cornwall in may this year 2015. ^^

we had many good eats & 1 of them was at porthminster cafe at st ives.

st ives porthminster chef michael smith’s flamed squid

i saw the photos of flamed squid (above) at michael smith’s porthminster cafe at st ives. did not try the dish & cannot find the recipe on google. i guess the chef is not that famous. so i tried to recreate the dish w/o the recipe. 🙂

torch – present from a friend diner

my wife’s friend who came for dinner twice bought me a kitchen torch. that was more than a year ago. and i have never used it yet.

i tested it, pretty easy to use. 🙂

my first attempt was on 20.5.2015, experimenting some dishes for my anniversary dinner. ^^

i followed that up with the actual anniversary dinner & then the best one yet at a really fun 12pax homegourmet 12-course dinner this month on 5.8.2015.

flamed squid – learned to use the torch very first time

i cross cut (very closely) a large squid into 4 pieces (about 9cmx6cm), i flamed it on a frying pan. quite smooth going. i knew it was not sufficiently cooked. so i fried in butter over high heat. the key was not to overcook the squid or it would become tough & chewy.

#3 spinach veloute

for the sauce, again i created my own spinach sauce recipe. i used lots of vegetable to make it so very tasty.

flamed squid & spinach veloute

i fried in butter 1/2 onion, 1/2 stalk leek, 1 green pepper & a bunch of spinach leafs. then i placed them in a blender & added  2 tablespoon chicken stock & 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil & salt & pepper to taste.

flamed squid in spinach veloute

such a wonderful & tasty veloute complementing the flamed squid.

#6 flamed squid in spinach veloute

when serving i heat up the veloute, plated the sauce, added the flamed squid & topped with a coriander branch. 🙂

flamed squid in spinach veloute

flamed squid had excellent bbq flavours & looks, and was done just nice, not rubbery.

the veloute was really good. first class!

flamed squid in spinach veloute

i subsequently did a vegetarian version for my niece’s birthday dinner by replacing the flamed squid with a shallow fried silken tofu, which was crispy outside & soft inside.

tofu is not squid of course, but nice also, & the veloute is marvellous & the whole dish presentation just very charming. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy