The danger of rubberiness when cooking cuttlefish or squid is well known. The secret of avoiding this tragedy is either to cook them fast and short, for just a few minutes, or long and slow, for at least 1 1/2 hours. This dish can be done either way. The fast option is to cook the sauce without the cuttlefish, then flash-fry the cuttlefish and add it at the end. For the long, slow option, all the ingredients go in together and are gently simmered until the sauce is thick and rich and the cuttlefish as tender as soft cheese. The slower-cooked dish has a more fully developed flavour. The quick version works best when the cuttlefish is exquisitely fresh - the meat is more bite resistant but has a wonderful seafresh flavour. In either case, any ink saved from cleaning the squid or cuttlefish can be included in the sauce. It acts as a mild flavouring and a dramatic colorant, turning the entire dish a stunning inky black. In the Mediterranean a dish like this would be served with bread and/or plain boiled rice. It's also rather lovely served with creamy mashed potato.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil 1 large or 2 medium onions, finely sliced 2 large garlic cloves, crushed 1kg ripe fresh tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and roughly chopped, or two 400g tins of best Italian plum tomatoes about 1kg cuttlefish or squid (i. e. 2 large cuttlefish or 4-5 medium squid), cleaned and cut into 1cm-thick strips, with tentacles
a few fennel sprigs or stalks
2 bay leaves
2-3 strips of thinly pared lemon zest (strictly no pith)
a glass of red wine
a squeeze of lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat half the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and sweat the onion gently until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add the fresh or tinned tomatoes, turn up the heat a little and simmer gently until you have a nice, pulpy sauce.
Slow-cooked version: in a separate pan such as a heavy frying pan, heat the rest of the oil. Add the cuttlefish/squid and stir-fry over a high heat for just a few minutes until lightly browned. Then add to the tomato sauce with all its juices and the oil. Add the fennel, bay leaves, lemon zest and wine (and the ink from the cuttlefish or squid if you have it) and season with black pepper, plus just a little salt at this stage. Bring to a very gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, until the fish is completely soft and tender, almost melting in the mouth; 11/2-2 hours usually does it for me. Stir occasionally to make sure the sauce is not catching on the bottom of the pan, and add just a dribble of water if it seems to be getting too thick.
Adjust the seasoning to taste, adding a few drops of lemon juice if you like.
Quick version: proceed as above, omitting the cuttlefish or squid. You can let the sauce cook rather quicker than it would if it had the fish in it. After half an hour of merry simmering it should be done. Then stir-fry the fish as above, add to the sauce, and heat through for just a couple more minutes before serving.
Variations The juices of the nearly finished dish are such a fine blend of flavours that they will complement all kinds of other fish. Occasionally, to make this an even more spectacular and generous dish, I add other seafood towards the end of cooking: strips of well-soaked salt cod, or cutlets of meaty white fish such as monkfish, gurnard or brill, for the last 10 minutes; cooked crab claws or whole large prawns for the last 5; just-steamed mussels or sliced raw scallops at the very last moment. Any or all of these additions make for a really dramatic, intensely flavoured fish stew that comes close to being my personal culinary paradise.