Palo's' Winter Special

Fried Cuttlefish in Ink and Wheat Bread with Vegetable Spread

Palo's' Winter Special is fried cuttlefish in ink and wheat bread with vegetable spread. This dish is the special served from late Autumn to Early Spring in Palo's' Grilled Fish Hut, usually with a sweat mead.
It is very well known within the region and people from nearby villages or towns, most often nobles or traders, do travel to Marnmouth to eat this dish during Winter, despite not having any religious significance.
This dish, due to its popularity is the most expensive one during Winter, however it is still at a fair price that most villagers can indulge in once a week or so. The dish became such a bench mark of the village that it turned into tradition to eat it for dinner on the Winter Solstice, and currently the entire village joins together at the restaurant and shares this meal.

Origin

This dish was created by Palo as a way to create a savory spin on cuttlefish, a fish regarded as "poor man's' food". The ink gives it a dense yet tasty flavor that gives one the warm feeling associated with comfort food. The vegetable spread on bread was added as his way to cut the thick, hot, fried taste of the ink with a bitter and fresh taste of pickled vegetables. This dish is also very significative of Marnmouth for it only uses the local produces.

Preparation

This recipe is for 4 doses and takes about 45 minutes to do it all.

1. Carefully wash the cuttlefish in cold water, with special care as to not burst the ink sack. Dry it and temper with salt.
2. As the cuttlefish dries a bit, remove the pits from the olives and mash them in a mortar, next doing the same with the boiled lentils. Do so until a fine paste is formed.
3. Next add the fine cut pickled veggies to the paste and mix together. Spread the paste on the slices of Spelt Bread adding a dash of olive oil on it.
4. Bring the Pan to the fire with the Olive Oil heating up. Add the chopped garlic and leaves of bay and let the garlic golden.
5. When the garlic is golden add the the cuttlefish whole, lower the flame to low and add the lid to let it fry. Move it from time to time so as to not let in burn or stick, and when the under side is a golden color flip it. The ink will naturally leave and form the sauce.
6. When done add some chopped coriander on top, place it and add two or three slices of bread with spread on the side.

Ingredients:
1,2 Kg of Cuttlefish with ink sack
200 mL of Virgin Olive Oil
2 Leaves of Bay
5 Garlic Cloves
1 Sprig of Coriander
1 Lemon
Salt to taste
10 Olives
10 to 15 Boiled Lentils
200 to 300 g of Pickled Vegetables (wild leeks, wild mustard, carrots, radish and okra)
2 or 3 slices of Spelt Bread

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Tools:
Large Copper Pan with Lid
Sharp Knife
Mortar and Pestle
Cutting Board