You Get Less For Manslaughter

It was our 11th (first date) anniversary last night. We reminisced about the Oxford Polytechnic Bop and the drink Vicster ordered at the bar.

“Cinzano and lemonade please!”

It was her sophistication that appealed to me *.

I was under orders (pain of death or divorce) to cook something yummy for dinner. I resorted to a tried and tested recipe that I knew would be a winner: Rick Stein’s Spanish style Squid and Chorizo **.

For 2 people:
150g Squid – prepared, hoods cut into rings, tentacles cut into bite-sized bits.
100g Chorizo sausage – thinly sliced.
1 red pepper – roasted until blackened, skin removed, seeded and diced.
2 good handfuls of new potatoes (about 8 oz) – boiled until tender, then thinly sliced.
1 plum tomato – seeded and diced.
1 garlic clove – crushed.
1 red ‘finger’ chilli pepper – seeded and chopped small.
½ teaspoon of hot red chilli powder.
A cup of fresh flat leaf parsley – roughly chopped.
Freshly ground salt and black pepper.
1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil (about 2 big glugs).

Cook the new potatoes and roast the pepper.
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan or wok.
Stir-fry the squid over a high heat for 1-2 min – don’t over do it otherwise they’ll go like rubber bands.
Add the chorizo, chilli and garlic, fry for 1-2 min – this gets the chilli working and some colour out of the chorizo.
Add the potatoes, red pepper and chilli powder. Give it another minute or so to let the potatoes heat through.
Add the tomato and parsley, season with plenty of black pepper and salt to taste.
Serve with some French bread (to mop up the juices) and a green salad.
Scrum-diddly-umpious!

Top tip: Put the tentacles in your mouth, let the ends pop out between your lips, and then scare the kids by waggling the tentacles with your tongue so they look alive. Rah!



* She doesn’t even like Cinzano. It’s just like Stashboy ordering himself half a pint of Pernod whilst we were on holiday in Spain, and then remembering he didn’t like Pernod after the first sip.

** with black fuel oil.