Squid Braised in Olive Oil and White Wine with Spinach, Fresh Tomato, and Chili Pepper

As anyone who has had it raw in Japanese restaurants already knows, squid is naturally tender. It becomes rubbery when cooked either not quickly or not long enough. It maintains its natural tenderness when floated briefly in a large amount of very hot oil, or when dipped in boiling water to blanch it for a seafood salad. And it can become exquisitely tender when braised slowly for close to an hour. The latter is my favorite way of doing squid, and it is the one used to produce this superb p