Tagliarelle with squid

Main course, serves 2, one hour

Fry the onion and garlic until just beginning to colour and then stir in the tomatoes. Cook these until soft and then add the fish, seasoning, white wine and herbs. Stew this mixture together for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and then pass through a fine sieve -- suspended over a bowl -- while pressing down well on the debris to extract all possible flavour from it into the juices below. Reduce this mixture over a low heat until just beginning to turn syrupy.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and briefly sauté the squid until lightly coloured. Lift out from the pan using a slotted spoon and place in a bowl. Add the reduced fishy liquid to the pan and whisk in the contents of the two sachets of ink. Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain well and stir into the -- by now -- black sauce. Re-introduce the squid, together with the lemon juice and parsley, and stir and toss all together until fully amalgamated. Serve at once, directly from the pan, on to very hot plates.