Best Squid Ink Pasta Recipe: with Alaskan Rock Fish and Octopus

Best Squid Ink Pasta Recipe: A day of firsts today. I received a WhatsApp from a mate of mine showing his teenage daughter making homemade pasta. He said that he thought I would be impressed to see that. And he was absolutely right.

She/he spurned me into action that weekend to dig out my unused pasta maker and do the same. This is an absolute first for me. 52-years-old and I have never made pasta. I get it, having an octopus lying around in your fridge might be a stretch – unless you are the Casting Director for the new Nemo film, or you are me. You can just use more firm white fish if you don’t have any Pulpo.

For the firm white fish, I went to the remaining stock of my jamboree box from our ChillaxBBQ partners, The Alaska Guys. Rock Fish fillets were my choice for this dish. Stunning bit of fish. Firm as, so perfect for this Best Squid Ink Pasta Recipe. I have never cooked with Rock Fish before, but caused of our BFFs, I had to try them and I am delighted with the outcome. A FIRM recommendation (get it, haha).

Octopus Preparation;

1. Make sure you buy the octopus frozen or freeze the octopus 1st as this helps to break down the Pulpo and make it less chewy;
2. Get some salted water on the boil;
3. Pop the Octopus (a 4-legged packet) in the boiling water for 1 minute to get rid of the jelly – but keep the skin on;
4. In another pan add in;
   • 3/4 fill with chicken stock,
   • 1x Tbsp black peppercorns,
   • 2x Tbsp smoked paprika
5. Bring that to a simmer and get that octopus in for one hour – drain and set aside.

Pasta Preparation – enough here for 4 people;

So, folks, this was enough for the two pasta dishes I made that day. What I should have done was add the squid-ink at phase 1, below. Let’s assume I am making a whole batch of squid-ink pasta for 4 here;

• 3 eggs
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 extra egg yolk – I added 2Tbsp Virgin Olive Oil instead
• 1 pinch sea salt – my addition too
• 1Tbsp squid ink

1. Put the flour in a pile on a flat top and make a well in the middle like a volcano
2. Add in the other ingredients
3. Carefully knead that for 15-20 minutes until it all comes together like a pastry ball
4. Pop that in a bowl, cover it, and in the fridge for 30 minutes
5. When you are ready to get that through your pasta machine;
   • Make sure you constantly flour the pasta dough
   • You want to roll it flat into an oblong shape with a rolling pin so it will fit into the width of your pasta machine rollers
   • You also need to roll it thin enough so it will fit between the thickest setting of your pasta machine rollers – a tad of a ballache
   • 3-4 times through the basic rollers to get from thick to thin, adjusting your machine as you go and constantly flouring
   • When it is at the thickness you desire, pop the long strip of pasta through the cutting rollers – I did spaghetti
   • When that is done and you have a large bowl of boiling and salted water at the ready drop in your pasta and cook until al dente
   • Take out the cooked pasta with tongs and set it aside on a plate, saving the pasta water which will have a cloudy starchy look to it.