We haven’t had much time to try out new recipes lately but being in Paris, where we go to the the outdoor market twice a week and see so many fresh and appetizing things, has inspired us to try some new recipes.  Today we purchased some lovely calamaris at the market and Dusty found a recipe that inspired us to make something similar

1 kilo calamari (approximately 2.2 pounds)
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Dash chili flakes
1/2 bunch parsley, minced and divided
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons red onion, minced
1 bunch roquette or arugula lettuce, cleaned
Salt and pepper, to taste

First, clean calamari.  We learned how to clean calamari last summer using this video and this video.  We pull the back fins off as well as clean the skin off.  Slice the cleaned squid bodies into rings about 1/2 inch thick. Clean the spiders and place prepared squid in a bowl with a lid.  Calamaris come in different sizes but we ended up with about 26 small calamaris.

Add olive oil, 1/2 parsely, garlic, chile, lemon juice and zest to the squid and mix. Cover and refrigerate for at lease one hour.

Preheat a sauté pan over high heat. Pour cold squid mixture into pan and spread out. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, let it sit searing for two minutes. Stir a couple of times and let it sit for another two minutes. Stir again. By this time the calamari should be getting crusty. If not, stir again and keep cooking. You want to pan-roast the calamari until it is browned but not burned.  Note: Our calamaris weren’t getting crusty so we disposed of some of the liquid in the pan so it would brown a little more.

When calamari is about done, add the diced avocado, tomato and red onion to the pan. Remove from heat. Place a handful of roquette or arugula on each plate and top with calamari.  We used roquette because it’s one of my favorites and inexpensive.  This dish serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 for dinner.