Serves 4 Bootians

Ingredients

- 1 lb Calamari Tubes (Sometimes squid is available locally, check your
fish markets, if you do get it fresh you make have to skin and clean it. This is easier than it sounds)
- 2 Red, Yellow, or Orange Bell Peppers (Any kind will work other than green which have a nice crunch, but are not sweet enough for this dish)
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 Lemon
- 16 Whole Basil Leaves (If you aren’t growing your own, you should start. It is super easy even in a small space indoors and it is crazy expensive at the store)
- 1 Head Romaine Lettuce - You could also use boston or bibb lettuce, you want something that will hold its shape, romaine has the best crunch and releases water when you chew which cools off the hot grilled food.
- 8 oz pitted oil cured black olives
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Sea Salt (or kosher whatever you like, just not the chemical tasting stuff with the umbrella on it.)
- Pepper

Grilling Calamari isn’t hard, but you have to work fast or it will get very tough. The trick is to have everything ready and your grill hot before you start.

Steps

1. Place olives in blender or food processor with a few tablespoons of water and process to a fine puree.
2. Cut sides off peppers so that you get 4 large pieces from each. Peel onion and slice thickly. Open calamari tubes buy making a slit in one side. Lay these three ingredients on a sheet tray and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. When grill is hot place onions and peppers on the grill and grill about one and a half minutes per side. Remove to a clean cutting board.
4. Place calamari on grill and working quickly, grill each piece 30 seconds per side. Remove to a tray and squeeze half of the lemon over them.
5. Slice grilled calamari and peppers into thin strips and separate onion slices into rings.
6. Place calamari strips, onions, peppers and basil leaves in a bowl and toss with the remaining lemon and a bit of oil. Check seasoning and if necessary add salt and pepper.
7. Split romaine into leaves and arrange on 4 plates, top romaine with one quarter of the calamari mix and garnish with a spoonful of olive puree.

*Serve this immediately as it will cool quickly. If you have left overs serve them cold, reheating will turn the squid into rubber
bands.