Squid, lemon and caper salad recipe

By Tom Norrington-Davies

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main
Takes 25 minutes to make, plus overnight marinating
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Rating

This makes a great starter for a dinner party or a light meal for two. It’s best made a day ahead, which adds to its entertaining value.

Ingredients

600g squid, cleaned, gutted and cut into rings
Juice of 3 unwaxed lemons, with their leaves if possible
2 tbsp capers
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
Few whole black peppercorns
Handful pitted Kalamata, halved, or whole small black olives
100ml extra-virgin olive oil

Method

1. Put a generous handful of salt into a large pan of water and bring to a rolling boil. Blanch the squid in the pan for no more than 30 seconds, then drain. Alternatively, sear it on a ridged griddle or cast-iron frying pan for about 30 seconds on either side.
2. Using a potato peeler or fruit knife, peel 4 or 5 strips of lemon zest and put them in a mixing bowl. If the lemons have leaves, de-stalk and shred two of them to add to the zest. (You could use bay leaves instead.)
3. Add the capers to the bowl – after soaking and rinsing them if they are packed in salt. Add the lemon juice, garlic, peppercorns, olives and oil. Mix thoroughly, then stir in the squid while still warm. Cover and marinate in the fridge, ideally overnight.
4. Serve with lemon wedges. This is great with thin slices of fennel or chicory, or pop it on toast or toss with warm new potatoes. It shouldn’t need salt but check to make sure.

Nutritional info

Per serving (based on 4): 305kcals, 22.4g fat (3.4g saturated), 23.7g protein, 4g carbs, 0.7g sugar, 0.8g salt

Chef's tip

This is called squid, lemon and caper salad because it's served cold. Don't be squeamish about the preparation, give it a try (or better yet buy it prepared), but remember to leave time to marinade (the squid silly, not you!). See our Know How section for details of how to prepare squid and cuttlefish.