Squid stuffed with black pudding

Serves 4

It's best to use small squid for this starter (Jason Lowe)

This may sound like an odd combo, but squid lends itself to pork products well, as it has a meaty texture without having an overwhelmingly fishy flavour. It's best to use small squid for this starter. It's not necessary to remove the skin and wings from the squid, as they're all edible and add some character to what would otherwise look like a rather uninteresting squid tube.

4 small squid weighing about 100g each
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
A couple of good knobs of butter
4 large-ish new potatoes, peeled and cooked
100-120g good quality black pudding, chopped into small pieces
1tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A handful of small salad leaves
The juice of half a lemon
2-3tbsp olive oil

Gently cook the onion and garlic in the butter for 2-3 minutes until soft then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Chop up the potatoes and mix with the onion mixture, black pudding and parsley and season to taste. Chop the tentacles off the squid just above the eyes then remove the innards and the plastic-like spine.

Wash the squid and tentacles leaving the skin and wings intact as much as possible then dry on some kitchen paper. Spoon the stuffing into the squid, but not too tightly as the squid shrinks a little during cooking. Push the tentacles into the opening and secure with a cocktail stick.

Pre-heat the oven to 220/gas mark 7. Season the squid, heat a little olive oil in a pan and fry the squid on a high heat for a couple of minutes on each side; finish in the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove the squid from the pan, add lemon juice and the rest of the olive oil; mix well. Arrange the salad leaves on a plate, place the squid on top; spoon the lemon juice and oil over.