Squid Stuffed With Mint, a la Plancha
Serves 2
2008-08-09

We had a dish in Salerno that was simply large squid or cuttlefish
cooked a la plancha, with a mint flavor.  Squid can take on an unusual
earthy flavor when browned this way, and the mint was a surprising
contrast.  This riff on that idea is easy and tastey.

I used frozen squid, already cleaned, that came with their tentacles
stuffed into the bodies. This made prep work trivial.

You could probably replace the mildly flavored elephant garlic with a
couple cloves of regular garlic, but you might want to tame the flavor
by heating in hot water for a bit.

1	pound	Squid, cleaned, with tentacles
1	head	Elephant Garlic
1	bunch	Mint leaves, fresh, washed
		Salt
		Olive Oil
1	whole	Lemon, juiced

Mince the Garlic and Mint together with the salt.
Combine in a bowl with some Olive oil and Lemon Juice.
Stuff this mixture into the squid tubes, 
drizzle more Oil inside, and plug tube with tentacles.

Heat a plancha or heavy cast iron griddle quite hot.
Drizzle squid bodies with oil and place on griddle.
Put a flat pan lid on top and weight down with something
to give the bodies more surface contact.
Sear until browned, maybe 5 minutes or a bit more.
Flip squids, drizzle with oil, lemon juice
and maybe sprinkle on a bit more salt.
Weight them down again and sear the second side for another 5 minutes or so.
Check doneness; they might need another 5 minutes, flip if so.

Serve with a final splash of oil and lemon.