A couple weeks ago, I headed down to the local Frye’s grocery store to pick up some halibut, for my birthday. When I got to the seafood counter it was closed-with a sign stating, “section closed due to lack of staffing”. When I got back home, I remembered that we had purchased a six- pound box of squid steaks a month or so back and defrosted a couple of those for dinner. Since the squid steaks cost about $7.00 per pound against the halibut’s $25.00 per pound price tag, it’s a better deal anyway!

Since we had several root vegetables including swedes, parsnips, Yukon gold potatoes and fresh beets we cut them up, added some garlic, rosemary, and nutmeg, and roasted at 400 until done. Next, we rolled the squid steaks in a mix of cornmeal, panko breadcrumbs, old bay seasoning, salt and pepper, then sautéed in a cast iron pan with 50/50 mix peanut oil and butter for a few minutes per side. In the same pan added chopped shallots, several types of mushrooms on hand, marsala wine (good wine makes good food), and a tablespoon of butter- reduced this for a bit and spooned over the steaks, then a squeeze of fresh lemon to complete a much more affordable meal.