Barbecued Squid With Roast Pepper Sauce

First, light your charcoal and leave it to get really, really hot – as a rough guide, it’ll be ready when the coals have a coating of light-grey ash, which usually takes at least half an hour. While you’re waiting, prepare the squid. Take the body parts of your washed and cleaned squid and cut them along one side so that you can open them up and lay them out flat(ish). Using a sharp knife, score the inside of each body in a criss-cross pattern, but don’t cut all the way down through the flesh. Put the prepared bodies with the tentacles – which are fine to barbecue as they are – back in the fridge until your charcoal is ready.
To make the sauce, use scissors to chop the red peppers into large chunks and put them in the bowl of a food processor. Chop the parsley roughly and add it to the bowl, then crush the garlic cloves and add them too, together with the oil, lemon zest and lemon juice. Season well with salt and pepper, blitz until you’re happy with the consistency (the smoother the sauce, the easier it is to drizzle), pour into a serving jug and set aside. Put the salad leaves on to a serving plate.
Next, drizzle a little olive oil over the prepared squid bodies and tentacles, tossing them to coat evenly, and season them with salt and pepper. When your barbecue is up to heat, put the tentacles on the grill first, then add the squid bodies with the criss-crossed sides facing down. Let the tentacles cook for a minute before turning them over and cooking for a further minute. The squid bodies will need perhaps an extra minute (so about two minutes per side, though cooking times will vary depending on the size of the squid) and will roll themselves up as they cook.
Remove the cooked squid from the barbecue, pile it on to the salad leaves and drizzle over some of the sauce, then take the plate to the table with the rest of the sauce and some lemon wedges so guests can help themselves while it’s still hot.