Salt and Pepper Squid, Watermelon Chilli and Mint Salad

Paul Macnish

Salt and Pepper Squid recipe with wonderful herby, garlic accompaniments from Paul Macnish. Follow his recipe here, on The Nurtured Way.

Squid flour for coating (can be used to coat loads of things!)

Mix potato starch, cornflour, gluten free self-raising flour, chilli powder, garlic powder, onion powder and white pepper and salt together and store in a bag or jar until needed.

Chilli Jam

Couldn’t be simpler! Just place chopped red chillis, Roma tomatoes, olive oil, red wine vinegar, cumin, turmeric, garlic, ginger, seeded mustard and palm sugar in pot and simmer until it cooks down and starts to thicken, approx. 30-40 minutes.
Blend until as smooth as you wish and finish with the fish sauce.
This stuff lasts for ages so I often make twice this recipe and give my friends jars, and if you don’t have friends this may change that!

Aioli

Add egg yolks, whole egg, dijon mustard and white wine vinegar, garlic confit in a mix or with bar mix and start blending whilst adding oil. Do this until thickens, I reckon you should add 30ml of hot water twice during making to thin out and make oil easier to incorporate.
Then to finish add red wine vinegar and seasoning to taste.
Lastly, add 10ml of hot water which I feel seals the sauce.

*To make the Garlic Confit, simply simmer garlic cloves in oil on low for an hour*

Watermelon, Chilli and Mint Salad

Simply mix the diced watermelon with enough chilli jam to coat the fruit and a generous amount of Nurtured in Norfolk’s incredible mint. Thai mint would a great addition also.

Salt and Pepper Squid

Not much to it! Score your tubes so they curl up nice and pretty and cut into 1-2 inch rectangles for ease of eating.
Coat liberally in the flour mix and shake off excess.
Fry in 180c oil until crispy, this doesn’t take long at all so don’t go anywhere!

Putting it all together

Firstly, make the watermelon salad and nicely plate in the center of the plate or on a platter if you want to serve many from the one dish.
Now fry off your squid and leave draining on some paper towel.
I place the aioli and chilli jam in a squeezey bottle then I add little pipings of them dotted around the plate.
Next, I place the squid on the watermelon carefully piled as to not fall all over the plate.
To finish, I add a wedge of lime and sprinkle Nurtured In Norfolk’s micro mint and micro coriander over the dish.
Now finish by carefully placing in your mouth and revelling in your own glory.

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