Squid, Harissa Chickpeas & Saffron Sauce
The fish counter is your allie this month, and squid particularly so. With a whacking great 200g portion coming in at just 100 calories, squid should be top of every dieter's shopping list. If you're buying from a supermarket then in all likelihood it will come all ready cleaned and prepped so there is reallynothing to be scared of either; there will be little tubes of squid and the mini octopussy but will be inside. I removed this part this time and set aside for another recipe, so then all I did was to score a few marks into one side of the tube to allow the squid to cook better. Not scary at all.
For the harissa chickpeas, I dry fried some chopped red pepper until there was colour on it then added a chopped tomato or two, paprika, tbsp tomato puree, tbsp harissa and half a can of chickpeas (for two people). Harissa is one of those invaluable ingredients, like Sriracha, that is great for adding bucket loads of flavour to food without having to rely on fat, as so many people are used to doing. If you've got some white wine hanging about then a dash of that will be nice too, then put it on a high heat for the alcohol to evaporate before turning it down to a simmer and allowing the flavours to mingle. Season to taste.
Meanwhile heat a frying pan with a few spritzes of Fry Light and pat the squid dry before transferring to the pan on a high heat for about three minutes (I used 300g of squid for two). Overcooked squid is horrible as we all know, so you're just looking for some colour and loss of translucency and then you can squeeze a bit of lemon and parsley/mint over it and turn the heat off.
I made Jamie Oliver's Saffron Sauce from his Flashy Fish Stew recipe in the 15 Minute Meals book - essentially bash some garlic, saffron and salt together with lemon juice then stir into some natural yoghurt.
I served it all with some kale because: January. All in all I calculated this to be under 300 calories - and I erred on the side of caution. Go forth and eat squid.
