Ingredients
- 3 medium calamari
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- 1 chilli, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch curly endives or frisee, washed and chopped
- 8 slices jamon
- 20 yellow celery leaves
- 100 grams goat’s curd
- 30ml sherry vinegar, or other wine vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
Method
Clean the squid. Cut the legs off two by two, so you’re left with pairs of legs. Leave the flaps attached to the hood tube and carefully cut through the upper side of the tube to create thin semicircles, leaving the underside of the hood intact. I like to call this the concertina effect. Lightly toast the cumin and fennel seeds in a dry pan to enhance the spice flavours. Allow to cool then place in a mortar and pestle with the celery seeds and grind to a rough powder. Add the chilli and salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the olive oil.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the endives for 3 minutes, until tender, then drain. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much of the water as you can. You’ll be left with a little ball of greens; chop it roughly. Spoon half the cumin dressing over the chopped endives and mix through.
Heat a grill pan or barbecue and grill the calamari tube and legs. Cut the cooked tube into 3 or 4 pieces. To plate the dish, lay the jamon slices across a platter and scatter the dressed endives over the top. Next, arrange the calamari and celery leaves, then dot on the goat’s curd. Stir the sherry vinegar and lemon juice through the cumin oil, then spoon this dressing over the platter just before serving.
