Calamari with foraged sea herbs

You can forage for herbs on most of the Australian coastline, almost all year round. They're flavour-packed and add a special local touch to this elegant calamari dish.

Calamari with foraged sea herbs Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

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Ingredients

• 2 whole large, cleaned calamari
• olive oil, for shallow frying
• 1 good handful saltbush leaves
• 200 ml buttermilk
• lemon infused extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• 500 g butter
• 1 piece dried kombu
• sea salt flakes
• 1 good handful cleaned foraged sea herbs (sea blight, samphire, karkalla)
• 1 punnet borage flowers

Freezing time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. Slice the calamari hoods open to make a flat piece. Lay the 2 hoods on top of each other flat on a tray and freeze until completely solid.
2. Slice the frozen calamari by hand with a long sashimi knife (or through a meat slicer) and reserve frozen until needed.
3. Heat 2 cm olive oil in frying pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the salt bush and fry for 1 minute or just until crisp. Drain on paper towel and season with a pinch of salt.
4. Place the buttermilk and a little of the lemon infused olive oil into blender and season to taste. With the motor running, ignite a smoking gun through the vent in the top of the blender. This is to ensure the smoke can flavour more than just the surface of the buttermilk. Blend for 5 minutes or until well combined and lightly smoked.
5. Place the butter and kombu into a saucepan over low heat and cook until melted (be careful not to boil and colour the butter). Remove from the heat, add the frozen sliced calamari and stand for 1 minute to very gently poach.
6. To serve, drain the calamari and place in the centre of a serving plate and season with a little salt. Scatter with a little fried salt bush, then the foraged sea herbs and borage flowers. Drizzle with the smoked buttermilk and scatter with the remaining salt bush (there should be almost as much herb as there is calamari). Drizzle with some more of the smoked buttermilk dressing and serve.

 

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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