Tentacles on the side? Squid Salad with Chopped Herbs, Roasted Red Peppers and Red Onion

Someone call the local news: My child ate squid.

It was a family teaching moment about our 8-legged friends under the sea. It’s like a cousin to shrimp.

Actually, my husband chimed in, it’s a cousin to the octopus.

Dinner hilarity ensued when we imitated the sounds of squid shrieking, Don’t eat me! No! No!!!  as we chopped their little tentacles. We’re all about dinner table manners at our house.

Our evening meal was abruptly put on hold while our daughter ran outside to show all her friends the teensy squid clutched in her fingers and then chomped it in front of seven little girls to their collective horror and delight.

Overall verdict? The best fast food ever.  I made the dressing and defrosted the bag of “tubes and tentacles” early in the afternoon. The actual cooking time was less than 10 minutes from start to finish. It would have taken longer to wait in a drive-thru line for takeout. Yup, tubes and tentacles – it’s what’s for dinner.

It was inspired by the Squid Salad with Red Peppers and Cilantro recipe from Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express  which has an Asian flair and implemented with what I had on hand for a slightly more Mediterranean bent. This can be whipped up from pantry and freezer ingredients in no time at all.

You’ll need:

• Olive oil
• Salt/Pepper/Red pepper
• Jarred roasted red peppers
• Herbs: parsley, lemon balm, cilantro or basil (or a combination – I used a handful of parsley and lemon balm)
• Fresh lime and lemon
• about 1 lb squid – tubes and tentacles
• red onion

In a bowl, I mixed the juice of one fresh lime and a half a lemon. Drizzled in a few tablespoons of olive oil and red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Add minced herbs and toss.

I sautéed a diced red onion in olive oil and added in three sliced roasted red peppers (with marinating juices) and then the squid (defrosted, rinsed and patted dry). Sauté for 2-3 minutes and voila! Dinner is ready to terrify preschoolers across the subdivision.

Served with a side of buttered wild rice (parboiled earlier in the afternoon), broiled local tomatoes topped with gorgonzola, spinach salad with buttermilk, Greek yogurt, blue cheese and nutmeg (not shown – this is the reincarnation as the following day’s lunch) and a crisp glass of Willamette Valley Riesling.