1. Choose squid that doesn’t smell strongly of fish, this indicates freshness.
2. To prepare tentacles, pull gently and remove from body. Cut between eye and tentacles and discard innards.
3. Inside the shorter tentacles, pull out hard ‘beak’ and discard. Trim long tentacles to the same length as the short ones. Discard the excess.
4. Feel inside for plastic-like quill, pull out and discard.
5. To prepare body of squid, locate two fins at top narrow end. Pinch together and thread a thumb underneath, pull away and discard. Pull off purplish coloured membrane and discard. Using the back of a knife, scrape down the outside of the body to remove the rest of the innards from inside. Rinse the body and tentacles thoroughly and pat dry.
6. To prepare the squid for cooking either cut into rings, by slicing widthways across the body, or slice lengthways down one side, open out squid and score surface lightly in a criss-cross pattern, using the knife at an angle so as not to cut all the way through. This helps tenderise the squid and curls it when cooking. Cut into square pieces.
7. Cook squid on a very high heat with some oil, salt and fresh lemon juice, for about 1min, adding tentacles for the last 30sec of cooking. The squid is ready when it turns white. Serve immediately with fresh parsley and lemon zest.
Use your skills to make these triple-tested recipes:
Squid and pepper salad recipe
Oriental prawn and squid fish cakes recipe
Or, try this simple seafood with garlic, parsley and lemon recipe.
White ceramic bistro plate, Sophie Conran. Pro chef's knife, Zwilling J.A. Henckels. Oak chopping board, Lakeland. Easy Induction frying pan (24cm), Kuhn Rikon UK. Wooden spoon, slate serving board, chef’s own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
