Spicy Squid in Olive Oil and Paprika

This dish is one of the easy ways to prepare squid and it is only made out 4 key ingredients, Squid, Olive oil, paprika and cayenne pepper.  This is one of the lesser known Spanish tapas. Tapas for those who don’t know it is a wide variety of appetizers and/or snacks which is served hot or cold, common tapas are usually different types of cheeses, fried calamari and chorizos to name some.

Tapas in Spanish means “cover” or “to cover”, there are a lot of speculations on how it got its name but the most popular ones are from a custom tradition of serving matured cheese together with bad wine covering of the smell of the drink.  Another one is that traditionally when consuming tapas you have to stand, walk and talk to other people and they usually place the small plates (where the tapas are served) on the top of a drink to free up one of the hands, in effect the plate is covering the drink.

So knowing this dish is a type of tapas, you have to pair it with either wine or beer, it’s good to serve to those cocktail parties as it is easy to cook and prepare, so if you’re planning to have a party later on try this one out.

Ingredients

800g squid tubes, cut into squares
4 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
juice from 1 lemon
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 large capsicums, sliced
salt
lemon wedges

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, add squid, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt (according to your liking).  Mix well and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. In a heavy pan add oil then add garlic, sauté garlic for a minute then remove and set aside.
3. Using the same pan, bring the heat to high then place the squid and capsicums while continuously stir frying for 3 minutes.
4. Now add the lemon juice and stir for 30 more seconds.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Serve immediately together with lemon wedges.