Calamari salad is very popular in Italy and prepared all year long: a protagonist of the cooler for a lunch on the beach, but also a traditional appetizer of the Christmas eve dinner! Furthermore, this healthy recipe is ideal for a detox diet after the festivities: something close to the perfect dish! Here one of my preferred way to prepare Calamari salad, with grilled zucchini and mixed herbs Salmoriglio seasoning!
INGREDIENTS
- 3 lb fresh squids (1.350 g)
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 organic lemon
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup fresh mixed herbs (parsley, mint, oregano, thyme)
- 1 dash black pepper
- to taste table salt
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CALAMARI SALAD IN ITALY
Calamari salad is a classic of the Italian cuisine and very popular all over the country: every Italian region overlooking the sea has its traditional Calamari salad recipe!
Commonly, the calamari salad is not a standard salad: rarely the calamari are paired along with raw vegetables. Often, the calamari amount is predominant by comparison of the other ingredients.
Fresh parsley is the most used herb to season calamari salad, but other herb like mint, oregano or thyme are delicious paired with calamari.
SALMORIGLIO
Salmoriglio is a typical and delicious Sicilian marinade made with extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano, and perfect to season fish, grilled vegetables, and meats!
Some time ago, I wrote a post about the history and the recipe of Salmoriglio, click here to read it!
For my Calamari salad, I decided to modify a little the Salmoriglio recipe, increasing the variety and the amount of fresh herbs compared to the quantity of olive oil and lemon juice to obtain a denser sauce.
The lemon zests give an aromatic twistto my mixed herbs Salmoriglio!
TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS
CHOOSING THE CALAMARI - this step is critical: fresh or frozen. Certainly, with the best brands of frozen calamari, it's possible to prepare a decent salad; however, the taste of fresh calamari is incomparable!
If you need a suggestion, I love to buy my fresh calamari and other seafood here!
ZUCCHINI SQUASH - For this recipe, I love to use grilled zucchini, reduced into thick rounds. Another tasty variation of this recipe is with raw zucchini: in this case, you want to reduce the zucchini into rounds as thin as possible!
PREPARING THE CALAMARI SALAD IN ADVANCE - To obtain the best taste, the calamari salad needs to e stored in the fridge for at least 3 hours up to 24 hours.
SERVING CALAMARI SALAD
Serve calamari salad slightly cold or at room temperature, taking off the salad from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving.
I love to serve my calamari salad along with grilled bread slices, potato salad, or rice salad.
CALAMARI SALAD with mixed herbs Salmoriglio - Healthy & Tasty!
Calamari salad is very popular in Italy and prepared all year long: a protagonist of the cooler for a lunch on the beach, but also a traditional appetizer of the Christmas eve dinner! Furthermore, this healthy recipe is ideal for a detox diet after the festivities: something close to the perfect dish! Here one of my preferred way to prepare Calamari salad, with grilled zucchini and mixed herbs Salmoriglio seasoning!
Ingredients
- 3 lb fresh squids (1.350 g)
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 organic lemon
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup fresh mixed herbs (parsley, mint, oregano, thyme)
- 1 dash black pepper
- to taste table salt
Instructions
- First, rinse the herbs, then strip the leaves from the stems.
- Now, pour the herbs leaves into a blender glass along with the grated skin of the whole lemon, 2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 dash of black pepper, and ½ cup of extra-virgin olive oil.
- At this point, blend the herbs mixture until consistent, and salt to taste.
- Now, rinse the squid, then reduce the tubes into rings ½ inch large.
- After that, bring a 5-quart pot filled with water to boil, then add 2 tbsp of salt and the squid rings and tentacles.
- Cover the pot until the water starts to boil again, then take the lid off and cook the squid 4 minutes.
- Finally, drain the squid, pour them into a bowl, and season with the fresh herbs salmoriglio.
- At this point, reduce the zucchini unto rounds ½ inch thick.
- After that, grill the zucchini rounds in a grill pan, and add them to the calamari salad.
- Finally, stir well, wrap the bowl and store the salad into the fridge for at least 3 hours.
- Take the salad off the fridge 30 mins before serving, and serve slightly cold or at room temperature.
- Optionally, pair with toasted bread slices, or potato salad, or rice salad
FRESH HERBS SALMORIGLIO
COOKING CALAMARI
GRILLED ZUCCHINI
STORING AND SERVING
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 580Total Fat 32gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 25gCholesterol 793mgCarbohydrates 17gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 55g
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Wonderful recipe!! Very tasty.
Thank you Jen, I'm very happy you liked them 🙂
Happy cooking!
F.