Culinary Explorer
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Insalata di Calamari
Created by Chef Graziella
Squid poached for mere seconds, dressed while still warm with good olive oil and lemon, scattered with celery and olives. The restraint of coastal Italian cooking, where the sea provides and the cook does not interfere.
The difference between good squid and rubber bands is about 30 seconds of cooking time. This is the truth that every Italian fisherman's wife knows and that most American cooks have never learned. Squid requires either very brief or very long cooking. Nothing in between.
This salad appears on tables from Naples to Genoa, from Bari to Venice, with small variations that reveal their origins. The Neapolitans might add capers. The Ligurians insist on taggiasca olives. The Venetians serve it with soft polenta in winter. All agree on the essentials: tender squid, sharp lemon, excellent olive oil, and the clean crunch of celery.
What you keep out matters as much as what you put in. There is no mayonnaise here, no overwhelming herbs, no distractions from the pure taste of the sea. The celery provides texture and freshness. The olives add salt and depth. The lemon brightens everything. The olive oil binds it together. That is all you need.
Ingredients
whole squid
Quantity
2 pounds
cleaned, or 1 1/2 pounds cleaned bodies and tentacles
celery stalks
Quantity
3
from the heart, with leaves
Gaeta or Taggiasca olives
Quantity
1/2 cup
pitted
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole squidcleaned, or 1 1/2 pounds cleaned bodies and tentacles | 2 pounds |
| celery stalksfrom the heart, with leaves | 3 |
| Gaeta or Taggiasca olivespitted | 1/2 cup |
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