Thankful for a good fish monger

I am blessed to have an abundance of fish mongers in my area and one of my favorites is Harbor Fish Market in Portland.  The best part is watching "C" wander around checking out all of the whole fish and having the same old guy come out to show him a lobster.  Never gets old.  Today, our mission was to pick up some calamari and some Bang Island mussels.  The BI mussels are an amazing blue mussel (see previous post), hand raised in Casco Bay.  They are big, plump and the mussel of choice for some of the best restaurants in town.  However, they played second fiddle to tonight's main:  Squid Salad with Lime, Cilantro and Arugula.

Recipe, adapted from recipe by Nigella Lawson

For the dressing:

1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tbls fish sauce
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tbls sambal olek
1 lime, peeled and seeded
3 tbls vegetable oil

For salad

7 oz baby arugula
1 very small red onion, sliced thin
16 oz calamari, hoods and tentacles, rinsed and sliced
3 tbls vegetable oil
salt

Tear the cilantro off of the stem and put into blender or food processor along with garlic, sugar and sambal.  Pulse to combine, then add peeled lime and oil, then blend to emulsify.   Set aside.

Arrange arugula on plate and add the peeled and slice onion.  You will not use all of the onion.

Slice the squid, leaving the tentacles whole, and add to a hot pan with a little oil.  You'll need to do this in batches, as the squid will give off a shocking amount of water.  Remove the cooked squid to a bowl, sprinkle with salt, then add dressing once all of the squid is cooked.  Arrange on plate with greens and onion.

Enjoy!!