Wild Garlic Spicy Calamari Bun

Looking for a spicy calamari recipe? Want that in a brioche bun, sir? Fancy a slathering of neon green home-made wild garlic mayo? Stick this in your face!

Done in 1 hour

Serves 2

Dish by Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

calamari:

200g1 medium squid or two small squid, gutted and cut into 1cm rings, tentacles halved

300mlwhole milk

1 tspfine sea salt

50gcornflour

100gplain flour

¼ tspbaking powder

½ tspfinely ground black pepper

1/2 tspKashmiri chilli

¼ tspsmoked paprika

as neededflaked sea salt

2 litresrapeseed/frying oil

wild garlic mayonnaise:

10medium wild garlic leaves

100mlneutral oil

1clove garlic, crushed

50mlolive oil

2egg yolks

½ tspDijon mustard

½ tspwhite wine vinegar

to tastesalt

other bits:

2pickled guindija chillis

a handfulfresh parsley

1medium banana shallot, cut into rings

1, juicedlemon

1 tbspsumac

2brioche buns, toasted in butter

Calamari. Too often it's left neglected in the starters section - a pallid, greasy, chewy overture to more interesting things to come. Not this time. This calamari recipe is centre stage, singing loud and proud in a brioche bed with wild garlic mayo and pickled chillis. Isn't it lovely? It's also a perfect snack to eat with our really quite beautiful beer that we've made with our pals at Brewgooder.

Method

Place the prepared squid rings and tentacles into a bowl along with the salt and milk. Stir to combine and leave to tenderise for half an hour.

Whisk together the cornflour, plain flour, baking powder, pepper, kashmiri chilli, smoked paprika and the other tsp salt. Set aside.

To make the mayonnaise: heat the oils gently in a saucepan then pour into a blender/nutribullet with the chopped wild garlic leaves. Blend hard until emulsified and pass through a fine sieve.

In a steep sided bowl place the egg yolk, mustard and vinegar. Get an electric whisk and very slowly whisk in the green, garlic infused oil. The mixture will start to thicken up and you'll be left with a bright green mayonnaise. Stir through the salt and garlic (just to make it even more garlicky). Classy!

When ready to fry, toast the buns in the butter until golden brown and set aside.

Heat the oil to 170°C. Take the squid pieces, around 5 at a time, and place them in the bowl with the flour. Move them around to coat liberally then move them to the hot oil. Fry for around 2 minutes or until golden and crispy. Repeat with the remaining squid.

Take a liberal tablespoon and slather your bottom bun. Cover with a liberal mound of the hot calamari and a squeeze of lemon. Add the guindija chillis, shallots and and a good dusting of sumac, then stuff it in your face and enjoy the Good Times.

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Hugh Woodward

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Hugh's culinary life began aged 14 when he cooked spaghetti hoop burritos to impress girls. Since then his colourful career has taken him to performing in Skegness, making cheese in Peckham, running a wine bar on Columbia Road and reluctantly working in a (briefly) Michelin Starred restaurant. He likes fish, things cooked on charcoal, cheap dinners and London's rich cultural tapestry of food shops. When he's not cooking or eating he can be found mudlarking by the river Thames, buying bits in flea markets and hanging out with his cat Keith.