Star of Greece salt and pepper squid

"This dish is one of the must-haves when you visit this iconic restaurant in Willunga on South Australia’s beautiful coastline. There are no tricks or secret ingredients in this recipe but you’ll get the best results with spanking fresh squid." Shawn Peddle, Poh & Co.

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 500 g whole fresh squid
• 500 ml (2 cups) soda water
• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 250 g coarse rice flour (see note)
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• lime wedges, to serve

Garlic mayo

• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 400 ml olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced

Instructions

To make the mayo, place the eggs, yolks, mustard and garlic in bowl and using hand-held electric beaters, mix until light and creamy. Beating continuously, slowly add the oil, drop by drop at first and then in a slow steady stream until well combined. Add the lemon juice and season to taste, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

To clean the squid, cut the tentacles off the body and reserve the tentacles. Pull the head, guts and feather out of the squid tube in one motion and discard. Clean the squid tube by scraping the membrane away from the flesh, keeping the wings on the body. Slice the tube into 1 cm-thick rings and cut the tentacles into manageable lengths. Wash the squid with soda water, then drain well in a colander.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep-fryer to 175ºC. Place the rice flour in a large bowl, add the squid and toss to coat well. Shake off any excess, then deep-fry for 30-40 seconds. Drain on paper towel, season with plenty of salt and pepper, then serve immediately with lime wedges and garlic mayo.

Note

• Coarse rice flour is available from Asian supermarkets. If you can’t find it, you can make your own by grinding raw rice in a mortar and pestle or high powered food processor into a coarse flour.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.