Quite a while back I had a weekend like no other! Here’s the full story that led me to make the most delicious Squid dish:
I had an art project for the term to create something within the theme of familiar space using unconventional materials. As I always want to stand out from the crowd and be different, I decided to venture into the world of sculpture. I chose my dreams as the familiar space and one in particular where I could fly. Thanks to my mom being a ceramicist, I was able to create a sculpture at home out of clay, but that was not enough. I had to somehow transform the material into something unconventional so I decided to use candle wax. With a little Youtube research, I discovered that that you can make a professional looking mould using household silicone - it worked perfectly after a few tests. I was able to make a mock sculpture mould and reproduce it with melted candle wax. So I went on to complete my sculpture and all seemed to be going to plan. When I fired it in the kiln, the face unexpectedly popped off and broke into 4 pieces. I should emphasize that the deadline was this past Friday and I had already been given an extension. On top of that, I was at a sports event the day it came out of the kiln and slept at my granny’s house because my dad’s been away - she lives on the other side of the mountain. On another note, I tried out for the sports event, but didn’t make it into any of the races so I offered to help out with the time keeping. I ended up doing all of the teacher’s work for them - ran up and down the stairs endlessly to hand in times to the people recording the them on top of the stadium. I basically did more running than the runners, so when I got home this past Friday, I was exhausted.
I came home to my lovely sculpture with cracks through his face (thankfully my grandpa, the handyman, came to the rescue and pieced it back together). I went on to make the silicon mould of the sculpture, which went perfectly. I melted the candle wax, added some black ink (which doesn’t mix very well with wax), poured it into the mould, and waited a few minutes before I tried to remove it from the silicone. But it was too soon and fell to pieces. I quickly put it back in the mould and waited a bit longer. When I tried to remove it again, it was still in pieces. I then melted more wax to act as a glue and played the waiting game. Long story short, the attempt failed so I moved on. I started with the silicone mould again and as I was preparing it, my very fragile sculpture fell off the table into pieces. I picked it up and tried to glue it together with silicone, but that failed. I then tried to piece it together in the wet silicone mould, but that didn’t work either. So I removed the sculpture from the wet sticky silicone and cut my thumb on one of the cracks in the process. I think the best way to react to this kind of situation is to just laugh it off, so I did.
I asked my mom for assistance when she came home and she helped. Then, we all lived happily ever after. The moral of the story is that patience is key, get support from others, and always keep your workstation clean and safe. The end.
If all else fails, make pasta - a unique spaghetti recipe!
As I write this, my fingers are in absolute agony; in fact, my skin is peeling from yesterday’s hot candle wax episode. I wanted to lift my spirits by cooking so I made this dramatic fish-inspired dish. I had some black squid ink pasta** lying around and calamari rings so I threw them together along with chili, lemon zest and juice, spring onion, and a little sea salt. The result was fantastic and delicious. It was perfectly fresh and salty with the right amount of heat from the chili. I was instantly lifted after eating it all!
The Special Spaghetti Recipe (Black Spaghetti + Squid):
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 250g squid ink pasta
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
- Zest and juice of one lemon
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- 100g calamari rings
- 2 tsp sea salt
Method:
Boil a pot of water to cook the pasta. Once cooked, drain the water (save 1 tablespoon for later), and drizzle the pasta with a little olive oil.
Pour the olive oil in warm pan over medium heat. Add the chili, lemon juice and zest, and spring onion. Cook through for 1 minute. Add the calamari to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the saved cooking liquid to the pan and mix.
Place the cooked pasta into your calamari pan and mix through. Serve.
Originally Posted on Ben’s Kitchen Blog
Happy cooking!
–Ben
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Snapchat: @benorks
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