Tomato & Squid Ink Rice (R&D sesh)

A seafood-y and tomatoey rice for one!

I just returned from a trip (to Italy!), and I bought back with me another jar of…something.

It seems like every time I go anywhere, I bring back a condiment that I barely know what to do with.

Time to break the cycle of unused jars of “stuff” piling up in my fridge. I’m beginning with this Squid Ink Sugo. It called out to me at the Duty Free Gift shop. So intriguing, I just had to get it!!

If you thought I was going to use it to make pasta, you are extremely mistaken. My intuition was telling me to season a fresh pot of rice with it. And that’s exactly what I did.

Squid Ink Sugo - ingredients listed on the jar:
tomato passata, squid ink, olive oil, salt, red pepper

Pretty straightforward! If you can’t find it I recommend subbing with a regular Sugo.

For the rice:

• 1/2 cup soaked, short grain rice

• 1 cup seafood stock

• 2” piece kombu

• 2 tbsp squid ink passata

1. Place the washed, soaked rice, the seafood stock, and kombu in a small donabe. Place over a gas stovetop.

2. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer. Use a chopstick to slightly stir the pot and prevent the grains from sticking.

   

3. Cover the pot with a lid that is wrapped with a cheesecloth. The cheesecloth helps disperse the steam evenly inside the pot.
   Simmer on low for 15 minutes.

4. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let the rice steam with the lid on for another 10 minutes.

5. Before serving, remove the piece of kombu. Add 2 tbsp of the squid ink passata and stir into the rice.

Pulling from the flavour profile of the Sugo I decided to pair this with:

• cherry tomatoes

• scallop

• tobiko

For the scallops:

1. Salt them, and blot with a paper towel.

2. Sear for 1 minute a side in a pan with olive oil. Remove from heat.

   

For the tomatoes:

1. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to the same pan you cooked the scallops in. Place over medium low heat.

2. Add a handful of cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of salt. Shake the pan to evenly blister the tomatoes. When the skin starts to blacken and burst and they become slightly soft.

3. Remove from the pan and set aside.

To assemble:

1. Add the scallops, blistered tomatoes and spoonfuls of tobiko (fish roe) to your fluffed squid ink rice.

2. Optional but, garnish with sorrel for some greenery.

I loved how bright and fun this turned out. The colours were giving halloween but in a… delicious way.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much flavour this little jar held! I’m actually almost done it now… a little sad, because I think getting my hands on another one might be a little difficult. LOL!