Genoese squid salad with potatoes & green beans
Squid braised in red wine until tender, served warm over boiled potatoes and green beans with a balsamic dressing. Genoese, unfussy, and genuinely good.
Most squid recipes either fry it fast or stuff it and bake it. This one does something different: it braises the squid in red wine in the oven for almost an hour. I know that sounds like a lot. But squid is one of those ingredients that behaves backwards. Quick heat keeps it tender. Slow heat in liquid also gets it tender. It's the middle ground (a few minutes in a pan) that turns it into rubber.
Braising it in wine gives you something you don't get from a quick fry. The squid absorbs the liquid, goes a deep reddish-brown, and comes out soft and rich. You serve it warm over boiled potatoes and green beans with a simple balsamic dressing. The whole thing is Genoese, which means it's unfussy, it's hearty, and it actually makes sense as a meal.
No searing first. The squid just goes straight into the wine. That's it.
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 500g squid, cleaned and cut into 1cm rings
- 2-3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
- 500ml red wine
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper
- 300g potatoes, boiled and sliced
- 150g green beans (fresh or frozen), boiled
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
How to make it
Heat the oven to 180°C. That's all the setup.
Put the squid in a baking dish. Add the garlic cloves, bay leaf, and a good amount of salt and pepper. Pour in the red wine. You want enough to mostly cover the squid, so 500ml is a starting point but go up to 700ml if your dish is wider. The squid doesn't need to be completely submerged, but it shouldn't be sitting dry on top.
Cover the dish tightly with foil and put it in the oven. Leave it alone for 45 minutes. Check it then. The squid should be tender when poked with a fork. If there's still a bit of resistance, give it another 10-15 minutes. Total time is usually somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour.
While the squid braises, cook the potatoes and green beans. Boil the potatoes whole or halved until just tender, then slice them. For the green beans, frozen ones work fine here. Just boil them until cooked through, a few minutes for frozen, slightly longer for fresh.
Make the dressing. Whisk together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a pinch of salt. That's the whole dressing.
Assemble. Spread the warm potato slices and green beans on a plate or shallow bowl. Lift the squid out of the braising liquid with a slotted spoon (leave the liquid behind) and pile it on top. Spoon the dressing over everything and serve while still warm.
A few things worth knowing
On the wine: Use something drinkable but not expensive. A basic table red works fine. The squid absorbs the flavour, so something totally unpleasant to drink will taste unpleasant in the dish too.
On the braising liquid: It turns a dark reddish-purple and looks intense. Don't panic. The squid takes on that colour, which is exactly what you want. You discard the liquid at the end, so don't try to reduce it into a sauce. It's done its job.
On frozen green beans: They're genuinely fine here. The salad is a warm assembly rather than something delicate, and frozen beans hold up well. Just don't overcook them into mush.
On timing: The squid and vegetables can all finish around the same time if you start the potatoes about 20 minutes before the squid is done. But it all holds warm for a few minutes, so don't stress about precision.