Greek Salad with Grilled Calamari

We enjoyed a fresh Greek style salad for dinner last night with a bottle of Russian River Valley Lynmar Chardonnay . I mention this chardonnay because both the Reserve Vineyard Designates and the Russian River Valley/ Sonoma Coast releases are some of my favorite wines. In the past it was poured by the glass at one of our favorite restaurants, Willi's Wine Bar, a roadhouse that serves small plates in the Sonoma County wine country. Later I found it at my favorite discount bottle store, the Bottle Barn. The Bottle Barn is fun to check out, you never know what you're going to find there as they always have an impressive selection of the best local wines, many of which are from small wineries and are unavailable elsewhere. Now that I know how to make links, watch out, I'll be sharing all my favorite things here! Not unlike the delectable combination of a glass of Lynmar chardonnay paired with fresh calamari brushed with a little olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper cooked quickly on a hot grill. All the veggies in our salad came from the local farmers market in town, I made this salad in less than thirty minutes and snapped the picture outside on the deck right as the sun went down. I didn't even have to hide from the fire department, nice to prepare a stress free meal! Sharing a simply prepared meal on a beautiful summer evening is one of my favorite things. I found a recipe for Greek salad in the Dining section of the New York Times but of course I used the parts that I liked and changed the rest, it's easy to do that with a salad recipe. I prefer lemon juice instead of red wine vinegar and olive oil for the dressing but I liked using the three different herbs called for in the recipe. I know romaine lettuce is normally used in a Greek salad but I found a beautiful head of red butter lettuce and used it instead. The grilled calamari was tender, mild and slightly sweet, it was wonderful with the fresh herbs and vegetables in the salad. I made enough salad for two people for dinner with a small amount left over, just enough for lunch for one person the next day. I like leftovers, even squid, yes calamari is squid but it sounds so much better when called by its Italian name!

Ingredients and Directions
2 generous servings

Grilled Calamari

1/2 pound calamari, cleaned and ready to cook
Olive oil for brushing
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the grill. Lay the calamari on a plate and brush with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Grill for 2 minutes on each side, it will cook fast and be a little bit browned. Have the salad ready except for the dressing before grilling the calamari.

Greek Salad

4 cups red butter leaf lettuce, cleaned and torn into pieces or romaine lettuce
4 small radishes, sliced
1/8 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced thin
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced thin
6 medium size cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 cup fresh green beans, cooked and sliced in small pieces
1 small garlic clove, cut in half
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 fresh lemon, juiced
1 small piece feta cheese, crumbled
8 Greek or Italian black olives, pitted and cut in half
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Sprinkle a little salt into a large salad bowl and rub the cut side of the garlic over the salt, throw away the garlic. Place the lettuce, radishes, red onion, peppers, green beans and tomatoes in the bowl. Add the fresh herbs. Before serving add the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix together and sprinkle with the crumbled feta and black olives. Arrange the grilled calamari on top.