Recipe of the week: Squid cacio e pepe with 36-month-aged Parmesan
By Tom Brown from Cornerstone, London
Serves 4
- 500g squid hoods, cleaned and trimmed
- 650g dried white beans, soaked overnight
- ½ a carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- ½ a leek, trimmed and roughly chopped
- ½ an onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 265g Parmesan, plus 50g to serve
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Black pepper
Split the squid hoods lengthways and flatten them out. Lay the hoods on top of each other in a stack, vacuum pack and freeze overnight.
Drain the soaked beans and put in a large pan. Add the chopped vegetables and cover with 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes, until the beans are tender. Add the thyme, garlic and half a teaspoon of salt to the beans, then pour the mixture into a tray to stop the cooking process, reserving all the liquid. Leave to cool.
Once cool, strain the stock into a clean measuring jug, discarding the vegetables. Put the beans into a clean bowl and pour over enough of the stock to cover them.
Pour 900ml of the remaining stock into a pan and bring to the boil. Add the Parmesan and remaining salt. Remove from the heat and blend with a hand blender. Allow to cool, then put in the fridge overnight. The following day, strain the liquid into a clean pan and reheat.
Slice the squid very finely on a meat slicer to create the ‘pasta' and then fry in a hot pan with a little olive oil for just a few seconds.
To serve, divide the squid ‘pasta' between four bowls and grate over the remaining Parmesan, then pour in the reheated cheese sauce. Drizzle the dish with the olive oil and season generously with freshly ground black pepper.
Taken from Behind The Pass by Luke and Stacey Sherwood-French (Meze Publishing, £35)
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