Squid stuffed with fennel and black pudding

Fish and pork are a classic pairing, especially in this Spanish blend of crumbly morcilla (blood sausage) and squid. I think it’s the spicy flavour and fat content of the sausage that works so well with the squid, and the addition of fennel gives a hint of aniseed to the dish. An alternative to stuffing the squid with the cooked fennel would be to serve the fennel as a shaved salad, with the addition of some mint.

SERVES 4

50 ml olive oil

1 large fennel bulb, finely diced

200 g Spanish blood sausage

salt

freshly ground black pepper

8 medium whole squid, tubes cleaned and tentacles trimmed

Prepare your barbecue for direct grilling over a medium–high heat.

Gently fry the fennel in a little olive oil until soft, sweet and slightly golden. Allow to cool.

Remove the blood sausage from its outer skin and crumble onto the cooked fennel. Combine and season with salt and pepper.

Make lots of small cuts along the length of the tubes to about 1 cm deep. This will allow the heat to penetrate the sausage, and it also looks impressive.

Stuff the squid tubes with the sausage and fennel mixture, being careful not to overfill them as the sausage will not heat through thoroughly when cooking. Reserve any leftover sausage mixture.

Once the tubes are stuffed, lightly oil and season the squid tubes. Place them cut-side down on the barbecue and cook for 3 minutes, until nicely charred. Turn over and cook for another 1–2 minutes. If you have any leftover sausage mixture, place it on the barbecue hotplate to cook at this point, along with the trimmed tentacles.

Serve the squid garnished with a sprinkling of any leftover cooked sausage and the cooked tentacles with a light green salad.