Cuttlefish and Pasta


 
RCBaughn

RCBaughn

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Well I finally thawed these little suckers and decided it was time to grill them. Think I have been putting them off because I was afraid I would mess them up, and since they cost $9 for those few cuttlefish I didn't want to do that! I marinated them in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and a bit of fish sauce to punch up the flavor and threw some red pepper flakes in there too for good measure. I think they marinated about 2 hours before they hit the grill. I cooked them skewered since they were so small and the chance of losing on through the grate was way too high for my liking! It only took them about 2 minutes to grill because I had the grill RIPPING hot. I knew I'd never get any grill marks if I didn't get it super hot and would end up turning them to rubber trying to get there. I am the world's worst about not taking pictures of stuff on the grill, but since it was so rushed on the cook and taking a picture might have ended up with rubberband meat it is excusable. :p I really can't get over though how good of a hard sear you can get on my Spirit's cast iron grates if you give them a long time to heat. It's dang near as close to the Performer and that's saying something!

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Before they hit the grill I made the pasta and all that way they'd be hot straight off the grille. Since Greece seems to have ties to eating cuttlefish I thought I'd add feta, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, onion, oregano and lemon juice and let all that marry in some olive oil in a hot skillet. Dumped in the hot pasta and added the black garlic. Yes, I said black garlic. It is a fermented bulb of garlic and it is awesome. They finally had some at Whole Foods and I HAD TO pick it up to know what it tasted like. It's like garlic and molasses fused into one thing. Amazing stuff. Kind of similar to a head of roasted garlic I guess, but the texture is almost jellylike. Since it was so good uncooked I decided to just mince it and add it after the rest of the pasta ingredients were sauteed. That was a good move for sure. Two heads of the black garlic is $4 BTW, and it is worth every dime. A couple cloves is all you need so they will last a while for sure, although there isn't much it wouldn't be good with so I guess you could end up using it pretty fast! I probably will! Ha. Here is the finished dish and the black garlic also. Had some garlic bread to go with the pasta as well -

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Anywho, cuttlefish is similar to squid in taste and texture. Really just takes on the marinade flavor if you ask me, but it is still good no doubt. Probably not something I'll ever buy again, but at least I can say I've had it. The greek pasta I threw together though was pretty darn good and I will probably be making that a lot more. Be good with tilapia or any fish I think.
 
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I love my cast iron grates on the Genesis. I really love the griddle pan that I got. It replaces one of the cooking grates and is great for an overall sear on seafood. I believe there is one available for the spirit as well.
 
I had forgot about your CF. So, good but not repeatable. Nothing ventured nothing gained, the only way we learn. Thanks for sharing your cook................................d
 
Very interesting cook, and that black garlic would probably get thrown out unless I knew what it was lol
 
Thanks everyone for the compliments. Black garlic is pretty awesome. Fermented but not tangy like sauerkraut, guess they really do have a special process. I read they have been making it in Asia forever.

David said:
I had forgot about your CF. So, good but not repeatable. Nothing ventured nothing gained, the only way we learn. Thanks for sharing your cook................................d
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Yes sir! I've cooked squid and octopus before and was kinda thinking that cuttlefish would be just about as mild and bordering bland. I recently posted up on Chowhound asking about what everyone there thought about cephalopods in general and I asserted that I think they only really taste like the marinade or sauce they are dipped in post-cook. Since these weren't really sauced up post-cook or heavily, heavily marinated they just kind of had that squid flavor, so just not much. I don't feel like the cephalopods I've had are worth the money even if they were on the cheap side. Especially not when you can spend the same money on another meat variety, because even shrimp has more flavor and I find that unless a shrimp has a head to suck out of, then there just ain't much there either! LOL, I still enjoy shrimp a lot though.

That said, I guess it is good to mix it up and yep, you hit the nail on the head. Nothing new gained, but nothing lost either since it was tasty but not delectable.
 
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