River Cottage

Clean the squid. Set aside the trimmed tentacles. Now cut open the squid pouches and ‘butterfly’ them, making sure you don’t cut right through the flesh. Cut each butterflied squid body into 2 or 3 smaller pieces.

Combine the squid pieces, along with the tentacles, in a bowl with the garlic, olive oil, paprika or sumac, and salt and pepper, tossing them together with your hands and making sure lots of the flavourings get trapped in the diamond cuts. Heat a barbecue, cast-iron griddle or heavy-based ridged pan until really hot. Lay the pieces of squid on it, diamond side up, and the tentacles as they fall. Let them cook for just 1 minute, then turn them all over. Cook for a minute more.

The butterflied squid pieces will want to curl up, so flip them over one more time to encourage them to do so, and allow the curled-up pieces to get a final minute of cooking. Total cooking time: 4 minutes max.
Serve immediately, with a few more pinches of paprika or sumac flicked over the squid. On the side: a few dressed, peppery salad leaves, such as rocket, mustard and baby kale. And, if you want to make a main course out of it, chips.