Something of an internationally miss-matched name, I know. My guess is that both Italians and Asians would be alarmed, but It turned out really well! It made the hour and some struggle to clean what turned out to be completely unprocessed squid very worth it! I’ll offer the how to at the end of the recipe so as not to put you off your appetite.

Calamari Stir-fry
1 lb. defrosted & cleaned Squid (rings and tentacles)
2 cups shredded Chinese (Napa) Cabbage
1 Carrot (thinly sliced)
1 cup Snow Peas (julienne)
1 can Baby Corn (drained)
Roughly chopped Cilantro to garnish

Heat a large saute pan or a wok over high heat and add a couple of tablespoons of canola oil. Once your oil is just starting to smoke toss in the squid and toss around till it starts to curl up and turn opaque.
Turn the heat down to medium heat.
Add the veggies and toss to combine with the squid. Add about 2 tablespoons of the Sesame Ginger Dressing and toss with the meat and veggies. Cover the pan for two minutes to allow the veggies to cook a little more.
Serve immediately over jasmine rice with another splash of the dressing over the top.

Ginger Sesame Dressing
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/8 cup Toasted Sesame Oil
1/4 Canola Oil
1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Lime Juice
Dash of Fish Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a tightly sealed jar, then shake well to mix.

Cleaning squid how to:
Imagine my surprise when I defrosted my squid, opened the box to find completely unprocessed squid. Well crap!
As one does in this situation I called up Alton Brown’s Good Eats episode “Squid Pro Quo.”

That helped enormously, however, it didn’t cover how to skin or gut the wee beasties.

Follow AB’s instructions of how the de-head and cut the tentacles off. From there, for the remaining innards squeeze the tube of the body like a toothpaste tube (warning this is pretty gooey and inky)

Next gently detach the “backbone” from the skin inside the tube and pull carefully out. You’ll have to go fishing for it up there if you break it, but mostly they came out in one piece.

To skin them, hold the tubes onto the board and scrape the skin off with the back of your knife moving from the small end to the large. It comes off very easily.
Now cut your tubes into thick rings and give the squid meat a nice long wash in cold water. Pat or run it through a salad spinner to dry and store wrapped in paper towels and sealed tightly in Tupperware, or some such.