STUFFED SQUID COOKED ON THE PLANCHA WITH SMOKINLICIOUS®
We love demonstrating the versatility of SmokinLicious® products with all types of equipment. We’re taking our Piccolo® wood chips to the plancha to smoke infuse some stuffed squid for a unique appetizer. Don’t own a plancha? You can do the same thing with a standard stovetop griddle and a small roasting rack. Or, use a charcoal or gas grill with some wood chunks for the same smoky flavor.
Plancha Cooking
A plancha is a flat top grill made of heavy metal that can be placed on any type of heat source: electric, gas, infrared, induction, charcoal grill, gas grill. Basically, a plancha is a griddle made of metal.
What’s great about a plancha is you can do simple hot smoke infusion using a micro wood chip that is quite fast due to the intense heat these quality metal cookware pieces produce.
My plancha is made by the French company, Mastrad. I prepare the plancha by placing it on my heat source — in this case my gas range — set the heat level to medium-high, place a handful of SmokinLicious® Piccolo® Wood Chips in Beech size #10 on the plancha, and place the two smoking racks on the griddle. I’ll give the wood chips about 5 minutes to heat up and start releasing smoke, then it’s time to place on the stuffed squid bodies.
Stuff Squid Ingredients
For our stuffed squid you’ll need to gather the following ingredients in addition to SmokinLicious® Piccolo® Smoker Wood Chips (Beech):
- 2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1–1/2 heads of frisee or other green lettuce, coarsely chopped
- 2 teaspoons capers
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lime, zested and juiced
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- 1–1/2 pounds squid, bodies only, rinsed — should be about 8 bodies
Making Stuffing
Time to make the squid stuffing. Taking a medium bowl, combine the seeded and diced tomato, chopped greens, and capers. In a small bowl, make the dressing by whisking together the 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, lime juice and zest, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over the stuffing mixture and toss to coat.
Stuffing the Squid
Taking one squid body at a time, fill with the stuffing mix using a teaspoon within ½ inch of the open top. Then lace a toothpick through the top. Brush all the bodies with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil. Then they’re ready to place on the hot plancha.
Plancha Cooking
With the wood chips hot and releasing smoke vapor, I place the readied stuffed squid on the cooking racks. These will cook and smoke for about 7 minutes before I will turn them. Another 4–5 minutes on the other side, and you’ll see a golden hue and plump shiny bodies emerge. Turn off the heat to your plancha and carefully remove the squid. Cut into 1-inch slices and serve warm.
There are many variations to stuffing squid bodies but this is one that is essentially vegetarian in design so it can be enjoyed by everyone.
By Donna J. Grant, M.S., Lead Wood Specialist, Member- American and Canadian Culinary Federations, at SMOKINLICIOUS® GOURMET WOOD PRODUCTS. For additional information regarding this article or other wood cooking questions, please contact her at 1–800–941–5054 or at info@smokinlicious.com. Follow us on Quora for our content contributions.
