Chipirone (tiny squid) Salad with Arugula, Grilled Padron Peppers, Grilled Pineapple, Tomatoes & Cucumbers

Chipirones a la plancha are one of my many favorite Spanish dishes

My friend for life, Rocio 

Chipirones are very small squid, one of the smallest in the sea, and I am crazy about them grilled with garlic and a little salt. 

My friend Rocio lives near Bilbao, in Euskadi, the Basque Country in the foothills of the Pyrenees. On a recent visit we decided to make a dinner salad with grilled chipirones and it was delicious!

It's not so easy to find these small squid here, so the next time I made the salad I used regular squid cut into 1/2" circles. The most important thing about cooking squid is the cooking time. I made this salad for my niece Belle, and the squid was too chewy.  I'll update this recipe when I get the exact cooking time for the squid.

Pimientons de Padron (Padron Peppers) are scrumptious peppers from Galica,Spain. You often see them sold as tapas throughout Spain, grilled and sprinkled with course salt. Pimientons de Padron are not easy to find in Manhattan, but they can sometimes be found in Whole Foods or the Union Square Green Market.  We often substitute shishito peppers, which can be found in some Asian Markets (especially Japanese or Korean markets).

Just because it isn't super easy to find some of the ingredients for this salad in this country, it's not impossible, and it's easy enough to find delicious substitutes

Note:  When grilling squid  don't cook it for more than 2 to 3 minutes. If you cook it longer and you want to retenderize it, you have to cook it for a lot longer, maybe even 1/2 hour - anything in between will taste like rubber. 

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Nephew Eli's Salad

My handsome nephew Eli Gabel-Frank

My nephew Eli Gabel-Frank introduced the family to this salad, well, the family minus his dad Steven who hates, hates, hates avocados. But the rest of us love this delicious salad. I've added a little here and there, but it's still Eli's salad.

Every time I make this, Eli reminds me that he really got this salad from his friend, but to me it's Eli's salad.  And he reminds me that when he makes it he just mixes everything together.  Of course, I like to serve it 'pretty',  and once everyone sees it we can toss it around. It doesn't make any difference, as long as the ingredients are the same it's delicious.

Thanks Eli!

My friend Cathy Rosen Zuckerman (one of my very first friends in my life) introduced me to Avocado Oil - it makes a wonderful addition to this salad. Give it a try! You can usually find it in the organic section of the grocery store.

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Eli's Salad

Blackened Shrimp and Arugula Salad

You might wonder why I'm posting so many salad recipes.  Well, there's a reason to my madness. 

First, these salads are meals you can make for yourself or you can make them when you are entertaining friends and they're always a success. Second, it is January 4th.  Just a few days after the holidays and many of us have eaten way more than we should have and the last thing we want to think about is stuffing our faces. 

But, that doesn't mean we have to starve.  Take a minute and read the page titled 'Salads - They are NOT a Punishment!' on the right side of the page on this blog. These salads are delicious! I promise. 

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