Chester Gerl's Squid with Watercress Salsa Verde

All week long, the GrowNYC team will be sharing recipes from The Greenmarket Cookbook -- and giving away one copy each day. Now get to the market, and make the most of summer's brightest produce before the season is over.

Today: This squid -- paired with a peppery salsa verde -- blows all others out of the water.

Squid deserves a spotlight, and this recipe from Chester Gerl at Hundred Acres gives it one. While many seafood choices come with warnings of mercury or overfishing, squid populations remain both clean and robust. Plus, it’s one of the most affordable proteins around and cooks in about a minute flat. Have your garlic prepped before you put the squid in the pan -- it can go from tender to rubbery in a flash. 

Watercress, as the name implies, likes its feet wet. Some Catskills farmers forage for the weed along the banks of pristine mountain streams, bringing the peppery plant to market by the bunch. Here, watercress gets whirred into a quick salsa verde you’ll want to eat by the spoonful. To make this dish an appetizer instead of an entrée, omit the potatoes.

Squid with Watercress Salsa Verde

Serves 4

For the potatoes and salsa verde:

1 pound Yukon gold potatoes
1 bunch watercress, about 3 ounces, any tough stems removed
1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, with stems
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced 
Zest and juice of one lemon, divided
Pinch red chili flakes
1 anchovy
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

For the squid:

1 1/4 pounds squid
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, cut into slivers
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (optional)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Salt to taste

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

We're giving away a copy of The Greenmarket Cookbook each day this week! To enter to win today's copy, tell us in the comments: What's your favorite way to use salsa verde? We'll choose our winners next Monday, August 25th.

Photo by GrowNYC. Excerpted from The Greenmarket Cookbook by Gabrielle Langholtz. Reprinted by permission of GrowNYC. All rights reserved.

Update: Klrcon is our winner! We hope you enjoy your copy of The Greenmarket Cookbook.