Yes, small tender ones are lovely cooked in this way. Buy 500 grams or so for 4 people, to serve as a picnic starter.
It’s a good idea to cook this seafood on skewers. Otherwise it’s likely to fall through your grill into the fire (it still tastes ok when it does this but it’s a bit messy to haul it all out and not very professional!)
Before your barbecue picnic, prepare the squid (unless this is already done – see below) as follows:
Reach inside the tubular body and pull out the head, tentacles and innards.
Pull off and discard the body’s mottled skin (often this has been already done, which leaves it white)
Feel inside the body for the long piece of transparent cartilage or quill. Pull it out carefully and discard.
Wash inside and out under cold running water and then pull away the two flaps.
Cut the tentacles from the head. Discard the head, containing the entrails. (keep the ink sac if you want to use this later for a sauce for pasta or risotto)
You'll often be able to buy it prepared up to this stage. Then all you have to do is:
slit the body on one side and open it out to give two pieces.
Using a sharp knife, score it lightly on the inside (if you score it on the outside, it won't curl properly) and make sure you don’t cut all the way through it.
Score each one diagonally in one direction, then do the same in the other direction, to give small diamond shapes.
Dry the squid and tentacles with kitchen paper and lightly brush all the pieces with oil.
Put on skewers (soak wooden ones in water first) and barbecue it over really hot embers, for 1-2 minutes, turning until lightly charred.
Make sure the embers are really hot. If it takes too long to cook, it’ll be tough, rubbery and not very appetising!
If cooked quickly, it should curl up prettily and the tentacles kind of frizzle up and get crispy so the two parts complement each other well.
Barbecued squid is lovely served with a chilli sauce and a peppery salad of rocket (arugula) or
watercress.
Stuffed grilled squid
Instead of chopping up the prepared squid as above, just cut off the tentacles and chop them into small pieces. Then mix with 30 g of butter, a handful of chopped parsely and 2 cloves of garlic, chopped.
Stuff the bodies with this mixture and close the end with a wooden cocktail stick. Brush the squid with olive oil and barbecue over hot embers for 10 – 15 minutes, depending on the size of the squid.Serve with lemons to squeeze over.
