The Caribbean Life – Grilled Calamari for Greek Salad
When we lived on St. Thomas in the Caribbean for two years in the mid-1990s, our favorite restaurant was not a local West Indian joint, but a Greek restaurant with the unoriginal name: Zorba’s. Despite this, we loved local food. A hearty serving of Bull Foot Soup from the food trucks lined up near the airport serving mostly cabbies in their big vans was always a good lunch, notwithstanding the heat. A half chicken with peas and rice from the barbeque stands both on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront and in Red Hook on the east end of the island made for an excellent take-out dinner. And as a snack, I would get a West Indian meat pate – similar to an empanada – from the old lady who fried them one at a time in a cast iron skillet in a small booth on the ground floor of the building that housed the Hard Rock Cafe.
Zorba’s (long since closed) was situated on Government Hill, an open air restaurant (as so many in St. Thomas are) with the breeze blowing through and a cat who wandered in and out of the dining room and kitchen, presumably keeping it rodent free. The most incredible item they served was their gratis bread. Not pita as one would expect, but a fresh brick oven loaf, round and studded with seeds. Crusty on the outside and firm and airy within; it was served while you waited for your main course, with a small dish of olive oil with herbs and chili pepper flakes. It was the first time I had ever dipped my bread in olive oil rather than slathering it with butter, and I was a convert. So taken were we with this bread – the best we could find on the island – that we would stop in solely to purchase it on special occasions for the exorbitant price of four or five dollars a loaf.
The bread was only an appetizer, although sometimes we ate too much. The rest of the meal was delicious as well, even though we always ordered the same two things. Sometimes when you find that perfect dish at a restaurant, you can’t get past it to explore the rest of the menu, which in this case I assume was excellent too.
I ordered a gyro sandwich, wrapped tight in pita with tzatziki on the side. I’m sure the meat was homemade, unlike many Greek restaurants, which buy it already ground, spiced, and shaped into a cone ready to be put on a rotisserie, cooked, sliced, and served.
Marci got a simple Greek salad topped with grilled calamari. While some might have seen it as just an ordinary Greek salad, it was special because fresh vegetables were neither especially abundant nor fresh on the island, and the dressing was excellent. The squid just made it that much better. Small specimens, they were simply grilled probably with just olive oil and salt, and maybe a bit of crushed garlic and a squeeze of lemon at the end. The tentacles were barely charred and crispy, the bodies soft and flavorful. It was a salad she never saw replicated anywhere else, despite that it was only a Greek salad with a pile of grilled calamari on top.
The memory of that salad stayed with us. For years Marci would look for it whenever we were at a Greek restaurant. She has ordered plenty of salads with grilled fish. “Delicious,” she would say, “but not the same.” She could also get it with octopus, but that was an animal she’d never eat; too smart and too much personality.
Finally, it was up to me to re-create it. The Greek salad part was easy. But the calamari took a little effort to figure out. The rule for squid is either fast and furious or low and slow. Cooked quickly over a high heat – fried, sautéed, grilled – there won’t be a hint of chewiness. Over a low heat for a long time – braised for example – the collagen will melt and it will be incredibly tender. Anywhere in between is a recipe for disaster, a texture rubbery and awful, like chewing on rubber bands or someone’s ear. To top Marci’s Greek salad, fast and furious – over a roaring hot grill – was the way to go.
When I served her the calamari, tentacles separated from the body and the tube cut into rings, she was delighted. Lightly charred and very tender; it was the closest we’ve gotten to eating a Greek salad in the warm Caribbean sun in years. Thinking about it now, maybe it wasn’t the food at Zorba’s that was so extraordinary, but that it was a special time and place in our lives. Anyway, now I need to get working on that bread.
Grilled Calamari for Greek Salad
These grilled calamari would be a tasty appetizer on their own with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, but they are especially good topping a Greek salad.
½ hour (10 minutes active), serves 2
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 – 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely minced
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ lb. small whole squid, cleaned
¼ cup vegetable oil for cleaning the grill
Lemon wedges for serving
- Mix olive oil, crushed garlic, and salt in a bowl large enough to hold all the squid.
- Thoroughly pat the squid dry with a paper towel. (If they are wet, they will steam rather than sear.) Place the squid in the bowl with the olive oil and thoroughly coat. Marinate while preparing the grill for direct, high heat cooking.
- When the grill is ripping hot, carefully oil the grates with a vegetable oil-soaked paper towel held with long tongs.
- Place the squid on the grates, allowing to cook for about a minute or two per side, two or three minutes total. The tentacles should be lightly charred, while the bodies should be tender and just cooked through.
- Remove to a cutting board and allow to cool until easily handled. Serve whole with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or cut to serve plain or over a Greek salad. If cutting them, pull off the tentacles and cut the bodies into ¼- to ½- inch rings. Add lemon juice before serving or topping a salad.
