Sautéed squid, onions and potatoes with chilli and sherry vinegar
This recipe is amazing! I love calamari à la romana (deep fried squid) – one of the most popular tapas all over Spain and synonymous with Spanish cooking – but I think calamari deserve better. This is one great example. The most important thing here is to caramelise the onions well, so take your time.
Serves 4
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
250g small waxy potatoes, such as Charlotte, unpeeled
500g medium squid, cleaned
½ teaspoon crushed dried chillies
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
leaves from 2 large thyme sprigs
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaved parsley
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying an. Add the onion. Cover and cook over a medium-low heat, stirring now and then, for about 15 minutes or more until it is soft and nicely caramelised. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in well-salted boiling water for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and cut in half lengthways.
Slice the squid pouches across into 7-8mm thick rings. Leave the tentacles as they are.
Heat another tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan. Add the squid and half the crushed dried chillies. Season with salt and fry over a high heat for 1½ minutes, adding half the garlic halfway through, until the squid is cooked and nicely caramelised. Tip into the small frying pan with the potatoes to keep warm.
Fry the rest of the squid as before with the remaining oil, chilli and garlic. Return the first batch of squid, along with the potatoes, to the pan. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves and toss together briefly over a medium-high heat to mix them together. Drizzle in the sherry vinegar, add the chopped parsley, toss together once more and serve.
(Taken from José Pizarro’s Spanish Flavours: Stunning Dishes Inspired by the Regional Ingredients of Spain, published by Kyle Books and available from Kyle Books and Amazon). With kind permission of Kyle Books.)
