Calamari salad

The heat and humidity are back and they are back with a vengence.

This means two things at my house -

1) the oven is closed – no pizza, no cookies, no lasagna, no cakes, nothing that needs to be baked - period.

2) cold meals whenever possible – Salads of every type imaginable, raw vegetables, carpacio, cheese, fruit and yes  sometimes even ice cream can be a main course!

 We like protein in our salads – meat, cheese, seafood or any combination of the three.

This can be served as an appetizer or a main dish and it can be served alone or over vegetables or rice – hot or cold it is tasty and light and surprisingly quick and easy to prepare.

You will need:

75 gr very finely diced carots, celery and onion

1 clove minced garlic

15 ml extra virgin olive oil

500 gr calamari cut into rings

250 ml white wine

worchestershire sauce to taste

tabasco to taste

salt to taste

lettuce and tomatoes or rice (optional)

In a large pan heat the oil then add the garlic and diced carots, celery and onion. 

When the vegetable start to become a tender add the calamari and cook for a few minutes, then add the white wine, worchestershire, tabasco and salt.  Cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes. At this point you need to check the calamari to see that the consistency is correct. Calamari, when sliced in rings cooks quickly so you want to make sure you don’t over cook it and end up with rubbery rings.

When the calamari has cooled to the point that it is just warm, you can serve it over cut lettuce and tomatoes, using the liquid to dress the salad.

Another option is to serve the calamari over a bed of rice.