Chilli squid with chickpeas and squid ink sauce
This restaurant-style dish of spicy chilli squid comes with a black squid ink sauce that has a briny, umami depth of flavour.
Ingredients
For the chilli squid
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small–medium squid, cleaned and very finely sliced
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- ½ x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 celery sticks, leaves and sticks finely shredded
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the squid ink sauce
- 200ml/7fl oz fish stock
- 50ml/2fl oz dry vermouth
- 2–3 small squid ink sachets
- 1 shallot, diced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the gremolata
Method
To make the chilli squid, heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Add the squid, season with salt and pepper and cook for 1–2 minutes, or until just cooked through. Squeeze in some of the lemon juice and transfer the squid mixture to a large bowl. Mix in the chilli, garlic, chickpeas, celery and sherry vinegar. Season again with salt and pepper.
To make the squid ink sauce, add the fish stock to a saucepan and cook until the volume of liquid has reduced by half. Add the vermouth and cook until slightly reduced. Add the squid ink sachets, bring to the boil and cook for a few minutes. Place the shallot in a bowl and strain in the squid ink sauce using a sieve. Mix in the vinegar and oil.
To make the gremolata, mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Spoon the ink sauce into a serving bowl, top with the squid mixture and garnish with the gremolata. Add a final squeeze of lemon juice and zest. Serve immediately.
