First of all: fill a large and high pan with water, season with a good dash of salt and bring this to a rolling boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the spaghetti. Cook the spaghetti until tender and then drain.

Clean the baby squid. Gently pull the head and tentacles out of the body. Then chop off the head right under the eyes of the squid so the tentacles are still in one piece. Discard the part with the eyes and slimy bits still attached.

Now stick your fingers inside the body and pull out as much of the slimy guts as you can. Also remove the quill, the kind of plastic spine that is inside. Then rinse the body under cold running tap water and let it drain a little. Slice the squid body into little rings.

Set the cleaned squid aside until needed later. Peel the garlic cloves and mash them finely under the blade of your knife. Pour the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the garlic mash.

Place the pan over medium heat and gently fry the garlic for 2 minutes without browning or burning. Then add the cleaned squid to the pan.

Stir well and cook for 2 minutes until the squid turns pink. Season with a tiny pinch of salt (the squid ink will also be salty so don’t exaggerate) and the spicy paprika powder.

Now add the squid ink to the pan (you can keep some of the cooked pink squid aside for garnish if you like).

Stir well until the ink is creamy and coats the cooked squid.

Add the cooked and drained spaghetti to the ink sauce.

Stir well. The spaghetti should be entirely black. Check the seasoning and add extra salt or paprika powder to taste if necessary. Divide the spaghetti over deep plates. Garnish with the freshly chopped basil and the cooked squid if you kept any aside earlier on. Serve hot.