Warm Squid Salad with Fried Pita Croutons

This recipe is straight off from one of my favourite cookbook writers, Yotam Ottolenghi. Here is the original recipe. Although most of his recipes are spot on, this one did have an error as you will see in my comments below.

I do make my own pita bread, (here’s the recipe) which is very easy to do, and can be stored in the freezer.

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Warm Squid Salad with Fried Pita Croutons
The recipe refers to char grilled squid, but is actually just stir-fried. I prefer to grill it, so my instructions are different this respect. The pita croutons are a bit wicked, but a delicious addition, and I wouldn’t skip that part. I used romaine lettuce as that’s what I had handy, but you can use rocket or indeed, celery leaves as Ottolenghi suggests. Fried capers were a delicious revelation for me. I had never tried that before, but totally worth it. Having said that, frying the celery stalks didn’t add anything in my opinion, and I would just leave them raw next time. I also didn’t have pink peppercorn, so I just left those out.
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Prep Time 15 min
Cook Time 10 min
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Prep Time 15 min
Cook Time 10 min
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. To prepare the squid, separate the tentacles and then slit open the squid pouch. Lightly score the reverse side (inside of pouch) in a diamond pattern, and then cut each pouch into 2 lengthways.
  2. Put the squid in a bowl with half a teaspoon of oil, a teaspoon of sumac, half a teaspoon of salt and a grind of pepper. Mix, cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
  3. Peel the lemon, discarding the skin, pith and pips. Finely chop the flesh and put in your serving bowl with any juice.
  4. Heat a cm of oil in a medium saucepan. Fry the pita on medium heat for 90 seconds (do this in two batches), until golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, sprinkle with sea salt and drain on kitchen paper.
  5. Meanwhile drain the capers, pat them dry, and fry them in the same oil, for two minutes until crisp; and reserve.
  6. To serve: When you're ready to serve, place a griddle pan on high heat. Meanwhile place the salad leaves in the serving bowl containing the lemon. Sprinkle on the allspice, chilli flakes and onion slices.
  7. Once the griddle pan is very hot, place the prepared squid and press against the griddle for about a minute and turn over. The squid should curl up. Add the warm squid and toss for a minute, until just cooked.
  8. Add the squid to the salad bowl with the pita croutons, capers, sliced celery and toss everything together.
  9. Finish off with a drizzle of olive oil and the freshly ground pepper and a little sea salt. Finally sprinkle the remaining sumac and torn parsley and serve warm.
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