From Croatia to Kitchen: Black Risotto with Zucchini & Pomegranate Salad

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What does a nutritionist bring home from Croatia?

My suitcase clinked with a bottle of olive oil from Brač, so green and peppery it felt alive.

A paper bag held a limestone pot of salt from Ston, its crystals carrying the Adriatic breeze.

And folded between clothes were hand-embroidered placemats from a shop my mum had asked me to visit in Dubrovnik.

Inside I met Lena who carried her mother’s tradition in her hands.

By day she worked a city job. Her daughter, she told me with pride, was a doctor, and her husband manned the shop during the summer days, she in the evenings.

But each winter, when the tourist crowds had gone and the stone streets fell quiet, she and her family embroidered, stitch by stitch, in the warmth of the kitchen.

Come summer, their shop filled with linens made in those cold months, a quiet thread of continuity stretching across generations.

Each piece holds more than thread, it holds seasons, stories, and the patience of women who stitched their winters into something lasting.

And in my carry-on, tucked safe to read on the plane, was Ana-Marija Bujić’s cookbook What’s Cooking in Dubrovnik.

Inside was the recipe for Crni Rižot, Black Risotto, the dish I had eaten in the old city, dark as ink and brimming with sea flavour.

The ingredients were straightforward until I reached the part about gutting a cuttlefish and carefully removing its ink sac.

That’s when I knew I’d need to take a different path.

Because while the recipe is beautiful in its tradition, some steps simply don’t translate easily into my own kitchen.

So my Black Risotto became a little different, less about strict authenticity, more about capturing the spirit.

Jarred squid ink instead of cuttlefish surgery, squid from the fishmonger, and a few familiar ingredients coaxed into something that still tastes of the Adriatic, but in a way I can actually cook on a weeknight.

The Science in the Sauce: Why Squid Ink?

Before it was a delicacy, squid ink was survival.

Cephalopods release an inky cloud when threatened, a kind of biological smoke bomb that buys them a few seconds to escape.

The dark pigment is melanin, the same compound that colours our hair and skin, combined with enzymes and amino acids.

Humans, endlessly curious, found uses for it.

The Greeks and Romans experimented with squid ink as medicine and pigment.

Renaissance cooks used it to tint pasta and risotto, while writers tried it for ink on parchment.

Over time, what began as a defence mechanism became a flavour, and then a tradition.

From a nutrition lens, squid ink carries antioxidants, including melanin itself, that help reduce oxidative stress.

It’s briny, mineral-rich, and like many foods once meant to repel, it turns out to protect us, too.

Plants and Their Secret Weapons

Squid aren’t alone in this trick. Plants can’t run away from predators, so they defend themselves with chemistry.

• Polyphenols ward off pests but also reduce our inflammation.

• Carotenoids protect leaves from sun damage while safeguarding our eyes.

• Organosulfurs in garlic deter grazing animals but help us tame overactive immune signals.

Our ancestors worked this out through trial and error. For every edible berry, there were dozens too bitter or toxic.

Over generations, the survivors became food, and food became culture. Today, we inherit that wisdom without the risk, layering epinutrients in our meals for benefits our bodies still recognise.

That’s the quiet genius of EPIPL8: it isn’t about one superfood, but the way small flavours, defences, and signals build on each other.

This risotto is one example: squid ink, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and pomegranate molasses, all carrying their own protective notes.

Flavour + Function

Black Risotto is indulgent and grounding at the same time.

• Squid ink gives it depth: salty, mineral-rich, antioxidant-dense.

• Squid adds lean protein and minerals.

• Tomatoes, peeled and cooked, release more lycopene, an antioxidant that calms oxidative stress.

• Garlic delivers allicin, anti-inflammatory and immune-supportive.

• Olive oil is your gene grease, MUFAs that soothe inflammation and steady blood sugar.

• Parsley offers vitamin C and gentle detox support.

• Pomegranate molasses brightens the whole plate with sweet acidity and ellagic acid, a polyphenol linked to cardiovascular health.

How It Fits with EPIPL8: The Functional Food Formula for Real Life

• E – Epinutrient Flavour: Squid ink + garlic (melanin + allicin).

• P – Plants with Purpose: Onion, tomatoes, parsley, rocket, zucchini (polyphenols, carotenoids, vitamin C).

• I – Intelligent Starch: Arborio rice (slow starch made creamy with fat and broth).

• P – Protein Power: Squid (protein, selenium, zinc).

• L – Lipid Logic: Olive oil (MUFAs and polyphenols).

• 8 – Flourish Finish: Pomegranate molasses + parsley (brightness, vascular support, antioxidant finish).

A plate where flavour carries function, and function helps you flourish.

Recipe: Black Risotto with Zucchini & Pomegranate Salad

Dark, briny, and deeply satisfying, the risotto carries the depth of the sea, while the zucchini, rocket, and pomegranate salad lifts it with freshness and brightness.

Each ingredient has a purpose, squid ink’s antioxidants, garlic’s anti-inflammatory allicin, cooked tomatoes’ lycopene, olive oil’s gene-grease MUFAs, and pomegranate’s cardiovascular polyphenols.

It’s food as conversation: a dish that tastes of the Adriatic, while nourishing your body here and now.

Serves: 2 (easily doubled)

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil (divided)

• 1 onion, finely chopped (divided)

• ½ small red onion, thinly sliced

• 1 garlic clove, crushed and left 10 mins before cooking

• 4 large ripe tomatoes

• ½ cup cherry tomatoes

• ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

• 1 cup fresh rocket

• 300 g squid, cleaned and sliced into thin strips

• 1 tsp squid ink (add extra ½ tsp if needed)

• ½ cup white wine (divided)

• 2 cups fish stock

• ¾ cup Arborio rice

• 1 tsp pomegranate molasses

• Optional: fresh pomegranate arils

Directions

• Prep the magic: Crush garlic and let sit 10 minutes (to boost allicin). Blanch tomatoes in hot water, peel skins to reduce acidity and release sweetness.

• Sea base: Heat half the olive oil in a pan. Sauté half the onion until transparent. Add garlic and peeled tomatoes, stirring until softened. Add squid ink, squid strips, and ¼ cup white wine. Reduce slightly, then add ½ cup fish stock, cover, and simmer gently.

• Rice rhythm: In another pan, heat remaining oil. Sauté the rest of the onion, add Arborio rice, and stir to coat. Deglaze with ¼ cup white wine and extra squid ink. Add 1 cup fish stock, let absorb without stirring. Continue adding stock gradually until creamy (~20 minutes).

• Salad side: Place rocket in two bowls. Shave zucchini ribbons on top, scatter cherry tomatoes and red onion. Drizzle with pomegranate molasses. Add arils if in season.

• Bring together: At the halfway point, stir in the squid mixture. Simmer until rice is glossy and tender. Finish with parsley.

• Serve: Deep, briny risotto alongside a fresh, sweet-tart salad. A plate of sun and sea.

Why Epinutrients Work Like Stories

Every ingredient here carries its own story, of defence, survival, and protection.

Squid ink shielding its owner, garlic deterring pests, pomegranate protecting its seeds.

We borrow those stories when we eat, rewriting them into our own biology.

And it’s not about the quantity. You’re not eating buckets of squid ink or drinking olive oil by the glass.

It’s the layering, bit by bit, bite by bite, that creates the conversation.

This is why I keep cooking. Because food isn’t just fuel, it’s feedback. It’s memory. It’s story.

And sometimes, it’s risotto so black it feels like holding the deep sea in a spoon.