Red, White and Green Squid Salad

Red, White and Green Squid Salad is visual and full of textures and flavours.
Personally its the highlight of this weeks menu at work. A lot of washing up to do afterwards but hopefully you can rope some family or guest into doing the chores afterwards.

500g Squid tubes with tenticals removed
500g potato flour
75g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper
1.5 liters Vegetable oil
100g baby spinach washed
50g almond flakes
1 teaspoon chilli flakes

PICKLED ONIONS:
2 red onions
250ml white wine vinegar
250ml water
1 lemon
100g sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt
8 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 dried chilli

LIME AND GARLIC MAYONNAISE:
2 egg yolks
1 lime
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic
200ml vegetable oil
2 tablespoons water
Sea salt and craked pepper to taste

METHOD:
First make the pickled onions, place the vinegar, juice of lemon, water, sugar, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, chilli, garlic peeled and sliced into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer till sugar has dissolved. Peel the onion and slice into 5mm rounds and place in a container and pour the pickling juice over onions cover and leave to stand for 2 hours.
Next place a shallow fry pan on a medium heat and add the almonds and chilli flakes toast the nuts in the pan till you get uneven brown flecks then remove from heat and put aside.
To make the mayonnaise place the yolks, juice of lime, dijon, garlic, salt and pepper to taste into food processor and blend together for 1 minute then slowly pour in the oil bit by bit and lastly add the water to make the mayonaise white. Place the mayonaise in fridge till ready to serve.
Pour the vegetable oil in a large pot and place on high heat to get hot! Slice the squid tubes in half length ways then very gently score the outer serface with a criss-cross pattern and place in mixing bowl. Add the plain flour, salt and pepper to the squid and mix together till evenly coated, in a side bowl place the potato flour. Now test if the oil is hot enough by placing the handle end of a wooden spoon in the oil, if rapid bubbles form around the handle after a few seconds then the oil is ready for cooking. Cooking the squid is a little dangerous and needs a balance of patience and timing, first lay a tea towel or paper towels over a large baking tray, this is where you'll put the squid once cooked. Dip a piece of the squid into potato flour covering both sides then gently plunge into the hot oil and repeat with 3 or four more pieces of squid (don't over crowd the oil as it will make the squid soggy). After about 30 seconds the squid will float to the top of the oil and it is then ready to remove with a slotted spoon and place onto lined tray. Repeat the process till all the squid is cooked.
Now its time to construct the salad, on a large platter lay out half the spinach followed by half the onion rings evenly distributed. On top of the onions evenly lay out half the squid then dot the salad sporadically with some of the mayonnaise and finally garnish with a sprinkling of almond flakes. Then repeat the layer and serve as soon as possible.