The Two Captains

Volume XIII - Aguaverde, Baja

In our first month north out of La Paz, the water in the Sea of Cortez was much colder than we anticipated. Just snorkeling required 5mm wetsuits which in turn required a lot of weight on the old weight belt if you had any hopes of getting below the surface. This was very discouraging for Don in his quest to become the great white hunter.

In Aqua Verde, however, our fellow cruisers were having luck trolling from their dinghies, so this motivated us to break out the two dinghy rods that had seen very little use up to then. Our adventures fishing are pretty well chronicled in the Update #73, so I won’t repeat it all here, except to observe that squid made its debut on our table.

Prior to Agua Verde, my experience of squid, were the cute little fried calamari ringlets served in Italian restaurants. In the Caribbean, most squid are delicate little creatures maybe six inches long. Not so in the Sea of Cortez! In the Sea of Cortez, squid are 18-36” long and plentiful enough to support both a large whale population as well as a huge fleet of squid fisherman!

Although I am pretty happy to see an oversize steak or even particularly plump pechugas (chicken breasts), it was a little daunting to find myself the possessor of a couple of square feet of squid steak. To the rescue came Diane of sv Gemini who cooked it all up “abalone style” for a group of six. I will confess. I was a little skeptical But I’ve got to tell you, that calamari was as fine a dish that has melted on my palate.

Calamari a la Cortez
Diane C. Grant, sv Gemini

1 large squid
1 egg
salt & pepper
2 cups breadcrumbs
dash of cayenne, cumin, & sage +/or Old Bay seasoning
1 Tbsp. parsley, minced or dried
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil

Clean large squid body, cutting away tentacles and removing membrane/skin. You should have a big square of meat. Cut into four-inch square steaks, and pound to tenderize.

Mix breadcrumbs with one teaspoon each salt and pepper, plus a dash of cayenne, cumin and sage (or use Old Bay Seasoning), plus parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Dip squid steaks in egg followed by breadcrumb mix.

Heat oil in frying pan until a pinch of bread crumbs sizzle. Fry steaks JUST until tender, approximately 3-5 minutes each side.