January 8th
2009
2009 will -supposedly so- be a shitty mean year. Well, that’s the picture the media paints us over and over again anyway. If you ask me, 2009 came lightning fast. Not only didn’t I find time to compile a Best-of-2008-List, but didn’t even manage to grab a new notebook to properly enter the new year. Man, I’m so behind already, 2009 does suck… nah, just kidding ;)
I’m a hopeless optimistic person by heart, so here is the only black outlook I am willing to share: Paint it black – Grissini, my latest baking creation.
My tiny brown notebook dedicated to all things culinary has been fed with some more pages of hard to decipher writing crafted during our NY trip, dishes I simply want to remember, or stunning ideas I want to try in my own kitchen. The very last line reads Grissini – black!!! and dates back to a rainy Thursday, when we discovered them in a small shop in Soho. I immediately regretted not having had this brilliant idea myself and back in Munich I seized the next opportunity to buy some squid ink. I didn’t even have to search for a suitable recipe – I love making Grissini (so fast, so easy, so yummy!) and have shared some favorite recipe variations in my book.
This was my very first kitchen encounter with squid ink, so I wasn’t quite sure about the right dosage and the corresponding Grissinis’ taste, but my concerns proved to be non relevant: it worked like a charm and only a very subtle iodine taste gave away my new ingredient – if you were double blind tasting, of course. They’d make a great combo with, let’s say trout mousse or tuna tartar and their eye catching qualities are more then obvious…
More on squid ink:
Wikipedia
How to harvest squid ink
Spaghetti in squid ink sauce
Squid ink risotto
Stir the yeast into 125ml lukewarm water. Mix the flour with the salt in a bowl, add the olive oil, yeast water and the squid ink to it. Knead with the kneading hooks of your Kitchen Aid or hand mixer (kneading by hand might be a less pleasurable experience due to the ink), start on low speed (KA: 1 or 2) for the first minute, then knead on medium level (KA: 4) for at least 4 more minutes until the dough comes together nicely and is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, cover bowl with a dish towel and let rise for at least 20 minutes in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (390° Fahrenheit) and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the dough in the shape of a rectangle until it is about 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut into small stripes with a pizza cutter or sharp knife – finger-thick for chewy bread sticks or even thinner for crisp Grissini. Use both hands to roll these into evenly ropes (these will rise in the oven, so there is almost no “too thin”). The dough is easily workable, I didn’t use any additional flour for the whole shaping process.
Place the dough ropes on the parchment paper lined trays. Either bake them without any additional spices or brush with water and sprinkle with the condiment of your choice. Bake on medium level for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness and desired crispness (take out one test piece after 10 minutes, if unsure). Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack, then serve with an aperitif or appetizer. If stored in an airtight container, they will stay crisp for a few days.
Paint them black - Grissini
Recipe source: own creation
Prep time: ~45 min., baking: 10-15 min.
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Ingredients (yields ~20 breadsticks or ~40 Grissini):
10g fresh yeast (or 1 tsp dry yeast)
250g bread flour (e.g. type 550)
heaping 1/2 tsp of fine sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 little bags of squid ink (one was 3g)
optional topping: nigella seeds, coarse sea salt, sesame seeds, etc.
Firstly a Huge fan of cForms, Huge fan of Delicious Days.
This is the first time I have heard of using Squid Ink as an ingredient, absolutely fascinating. My question is where other than straight from Squid would I be able to find the extracted Ink, if I cannot source squid from inland? For the purpose of this Post did you extract the Ink from the squid yourself?
Regards
Gareth
You are very brave... My husband dismantles.. the squid, it looks very tasty, although I have never tried them beefore...
They're so original! I prepared grissini last saturday and they were still good in taste yesterday night! The black version is good for a brunch or an happy-hour!
more about trout mousse????
What can I say? Really delicious!
Wow! Definitely a recipe for stunning meals with friends - something special but so easy to make. Thanks a lot Nicky! (How did it come that I didn't have this idea before? ^^ Damn good, black grissinis...)
These look even better than I imagined! I have the perfect Salmon rillette recipe that would go so well with this, both taste- and looks-wise!
I have to say that those are really cool - I've never heard of doing that before and I'm definitely going to have to try it.
ps - here's hoping your year gets better! :)
Beautifull and funny at the same time, I like that!
Gareth, indeed it took me almost 2 hours to milk 15 squid - ahem, just kidding, forgive me ;) The fishmongers at Viktualienmarkt sell squid ink by little bags - very convenient. However, I really do want to try to extract the ink myself someday...
Ilse, How about this recipe?
I LOOVE your idea, they look soo beautiful!! I promise I´ll make them. In here, Spain we use squid ink a lot in black rise, so it´s reall easy to have left overs in the fridge, perfect idea to use them!!
Wow, those are pretty interesting! Hope your year improves beyond the forecasted expectations!
had that kind of grissini a few years ago at ess-neun in munich. looks cool
This is going in my Halloween file!
These are by far the most chic grissini I have ever seen. I'm dying to try. By the way, where in Soho did you see them?
Original recipe and great pictures, I'm certainly going to try it. Just a question, in Italy we only have and use cuttlefish ink in our preparations. I've never heard of squid ink, is it ok if I use cuttlefish ink instead? By the way it is not difficult to extract cuttlefish ink even if I prefer to buy it ready myself :-)
Thank you.
i just tried squid ink with spagettis before, never thought of grisini. thanks for the nice hint :-). hope my kitchen will survive the black colour!
Stunning idea! You make it sound so easy, I want to try it myself.
it's absolutely gorgeous!
What a fantastic idea! I love their stark simplicity.
I had something similar to this in a restaurant recently - but they didn't have to much taste :(
I love squid ink in pasta sauces though - delicious!
Is squid ink edible ? I am hearing this for the first time. I am great fan of this site but commenting only now. We in India when cleaning the squids, very carefully remove the small bag that holds this ink. If it breaks and the ink spreads its tough to clean the fish and hence we simply through it. My grandma used to take great care when cleaning. This grissini looks very attractive though. Does it taste bitter? I have a lovely spicy squid fry in my blog :)
Wow, funny! I've never seen something like that before... Absolutely interesting!
they indeed look fantastic, what an eye catcher! I'm quite positive that my chances are slim to get any trace of squid ink at our local farmers market, but I'll check anyway...thanks for a great idea!
you just gotta love those grissini. halloween, as cherie pointed out, perhaps, but I think they simply have class :-)
Yum... what an eye-catcher. Maybe I'll try a black pizza with frutti di mare, too.
WOW! What an eye-catcher. I'm thinking about having a black pizza with frutti di mare. I just made focaccia, but with chili peppers instead of cherry tomatoes (no tomatoes in January). Maybe a hint of lime juice would have been good.
Unfortunately my cat Mikesch was trying to play and now he's full of olive oil. At least he hasn't stepped in the dough.
I just made them this weekend and they turned out perfect. I made them even a tad thinner (must watch oven temperatur though - otherwise they easily brown, like my first batch!).
Thanks for the inspiration and great recipe!
Gourmet matching!
Fresh squid ink is widely used in Sicilian recipes. I actually had squid grissini once during a gourmet dinner in a top restaurant in Catania (Sicily). I'll try your recipe and let you know!
I just tried them and no flavour of fish. I putted the sesame seeds on it as you suggested and they look and taste great.
thanks again for your cool ideas and "easy to handle recipes". Will be coming back! :)
they look too good to eat!
this looks amazing!! so artsey i hafta say.
What a clever idea. It looks so striking!
Homemade grissini, chapeau!!!
Definitely interesting! I bet some white poppy seeds would really pop on them! :)