Tagine of Baby Calamari with Red Pepper and Tomato

I usually opt for a quick cook method with squid, but the tagine has worked such wonders with inexpensive, tough cuts of meat, I wanted to present it with the ultimate challenge.

When I saw the fresh squid in the market, the thought of dealing with entrails, beaks and ink sacs sent me running to the frozen food section for a package of perfectly good, clean, baby calamari rings.

The calamari pieces are first marinated in a spicy charmoula, (adjust the cayenne pepper now if you don’t like it too hot), while onions are sautéed and chopped red peppers are added and steamed. The squid is added, then the tomatoes, the pot/tagine is covered and the mixture simmered.

The squid was perfectly tender after an hour (I had checked at the 45 min mark and it was slightly chewy). I used canned tomatoes and they disintegrated and formed a thick, tasty sauce, beautifully flavoured by the peppers, onion and charmoula spices.

I served it with couscous made using the quick cook method, which had my family asking what happened to the good stuff, but I think it would be great as a pasta sauce as well.