I'm running hard against the clock, my stomach says dinner at 6 and it's already 6:40 and here I am shooting my food! Okay I'm sipping some wine and browsing munchies. I've even fed my dog a few dog munchies, but he's nuzzling my leg, "Greg! Feed me! Feed me!"
I've loved Thai squid salad for years probably decades. In the last few years I wanted to make my own. I did some major Asian shopping yesterday--so many Asian stores, so few hours to drive them!--and yesterday I finally found the baby squid I needed for my salad! And so economical! ($1.79/lb, I got 6 squiddies for $0.93, half a pound.)
First problem, how do you clean squiddies? Okay, got the Internet, got the "get the guts out," got the "get rid of the ink sack," got the "peel the skin off," (they said little squiddies didn't need deskinning and it looked to me like that was so, but the skin was so easy to take off I just did it. (Morbid details: cut the sack above the eyes, cut the tentacles below the eyes, suck the guts out of the sack, de-beak the tentacles. Okay, you asked!
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So here's my food porn entry for the evening. It's almost 7 now and I need to get with the program and make my squid salad. I was intending a Thai shrimp curry for the main course but it will probably be 8 before I have my Thai squid salad in the tummy and I suspect I'll either nuke something or char a ribeye steak.
Here's the shot. Ingredients are meant to be depictive, are not to proportions, and are not all inclusive. (Some ingredients are not present in the shot.) I hope to post a finished shot later in the topic...
Center stage, 6 cleaned baby squids, tentacles rampant below, then clockwise from 12 o'clock limes, mint, Thai chili peppers, sliced tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, sliced red onions, cilantro.
Thai squid salad
ingredients: