Squid rings fried to a beautiful, golden crisp sit atop a bright and fresh salad of cherry plum tomatoes and baby gem lettuce for a refined appetiser. Who knew combining pub bites with a simple salad could result in such a dish, with a touch of coastal?
Donal’s Irish Adventures premieres, 17th October, Monday at 7:25pm, on StarHub channel 432, Singtel channel 255 and BBC Player
Ingredients
SALAD
- 2 heads of baby gem lettuce, outer leaves discarded and quartered into wedges
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
- 150 g cherry plum tomatoes, quartered
- 1 small red chilli, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Juice of lime
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
CRISPY SQUID
- 450 g medium-sized squid, cleaned
- 2 tbsps cornflour
- 3 tbsps semolina
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- Small handful coriander, to garnish
- Juice of lime
Steps
On a platter, scatter the lettuce along with the spring onion, cherry tomatoes and red chilli. Dress with a drizzle of olive oil, lime juice and a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Set aside for later.
Cut the body pouch of each squid open along one side and use a sharp knife to score the inner side into a fine diamond pattern. Then cut each pouch lengthways in half, then across into 5 cm pieces. Separate the tentacles into pairs.
Put the cornflour, semolina, paprika and a tsp of salt into a plastic zip lock bag. Add the prepared squid and then toss to coat.
Heat the oil in a large pan to 190 C. You’ll know the oil is hot enough when you add the top of a wooden spoon into the oil and you can see it sizzling & bubbling around it.
Fry the squid in batches for 1–2 mins. To ensure maximum golden crunchiness don’t overcrowd the pan. Drain the squid on kitchen paper and keep warm.
Toss the crispy squid over the salad and top with the coriander and an additional squeeze of lime.