Calamari Salad

"From Gourmet magazine comes this wonderful calamari salad – and although it is delicious eaten right after preparation, it’s even better if you allow it to chill for 8 hours in the refrigerator then bring it to room temperature for serving."
 
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photo by ksd11865 photo by ksd11865
photo by ksd11865
photo by Kitchen Musician photo by Kitchen Musician
photo by threeovens photo by threeovens
Ready In:
31mins
Ingredients:
14
Yields:
8 servings as a side dish
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • (If you got whole squid, clean them first: gently pull the head and tentacles away from the body, then pull out the backbone from inside the body and discard it and the intestines and ink sac; cut the tentacles from the head just below the eyes and discard head; remove membrane from body.).
  • Rinse all the squid under running water and pat dry.
  • Cut the tentacle bunches in half, and cut the bodies into 1/4 to 1/3-inch wide rings; cut the wings from the bodies.
  • Fill a 5 or 6 quart pot full of water, add a couple teaspoons of salt, and bring it to a boil.
  • Prepare a bowl of ice water.
  • Cook all the prepared squid pieces in the boiling water until just opaque, a brief 40 to 60 seconds, then remove from pot and immediately plunge into the ice water to halt the cooking.
  • When squid has cooled, transfer to a colander, let drain, and pat dry; set aside.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper; add in onion, stir, and let the dressing stand for 5 minutes.
  • In a large bowl, combine the cooked squid, olives, tomatoes, celery, parsley, basil, and feta (if using), then toss with the dressing.
  • Let salad stand, tossing occasionally, for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.
  • Note: although good eaten right after preparation, it’s even better if you chill it for 8 hours – tossing occasionally - then bring it to room temperature before serving (about 1 hour); also, some people prefer the onion to be sautéed lightly before adding it to the salad.
  • Makes 4 main course servings, 8 side dish servings.

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Reviews

  1. First time making calamari salad, I made this for Xmas eve last year and it was outstanding! Getting ready to make it again. I left out the feta and cut tomatoes to half (since I just don’t like either). I’m making the dressing 2 days ahead, then the whole salad one day ahead so it is at its peak on Xmas eve. I used a red pepper as garnish to make a Christmas wreath. ??
     
  2. This was a HUGE hit at my family's Christmas Eve gathering. I prepared it the night before and as suggested, brought it to room temperature before serving. It will always have a place at our annual Feast of the Seven Fishes.
     
  3. This is so tasty! Loved the flavors--the feta is a must in my book
     
  4. I thought this was excellent. It tastes great even without the feta. I did sub cilantro for the parsley though. Yummy!
     
  5. Thank you for this terrific recipe! It was so easy to do even for someone like me who never made calamari before. DH is having a very happy Father's Day eating this.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>It's simply this: I love to cook! :) <br /><br />I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. <br /><br />I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! <br /><br />My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. <br /><br />My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? <br /><br />Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) <br /><br />I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. <br /><br />In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. <br /><br />Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. <br /><br />Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.</p>
 
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