Fried Calamari

[drspinrx]

What Is The Best Way To Prepare It????does Anyone Have Any Info On Cooking Fried Calamari And The Sauce To Dip It In Thank U.....

[GotGarlic]

Giada de Laurentiis has a good recipe for that: Recipes : Fried Calamari : Food Network I watched her make it - it looked pretty easy. HTH.

[archiduc]

Originally Posted by drspinrx

What Is The Best Way To Prepare It????does Anyone Have Any Info On Cooking Fried Calamari And The Sauce To Dip It In Thank U.....

Hi Drspinrx,

Calamari or squid need to be cooked very quickly OR slowly.

Quick methods of cooking squid include cooking on a hot BBQ; cutting into rings, dipping in batter and deep fat frying; cutting into strips; cooking quickly in a wok for Chinese dishes or cooking on a griddle pan. These are the 3 minutes or less method!

The slow methods are 20 minutes are more (depending upon the size of the squid) and use whole squid/calamari! For these you need squid or clamari which have been cleaned and washed. Chop up the tentacles and use these to stuff the squid/calamari or mix the tentacles with, for example (and this is my favourite) spinach and pinenuts. Cover with a rich tomato sauce or an almond sauce and bake (covered) in a moderate oven until a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the squid/calamari meets with no resistence.

Hope this helps,
Archiduc

[Bilby]

I prefer my squid rings dredged in some seasoned flour rather than batter, thrown into the hot oil for deep-fry or a minute on one side before a brief turn to the other side for shallow fry. Otherwise, marinate the squid pieces/rings in oil with some garlic, chilli and your preferred herbs for a quick pan-fry. Quick is the key - they cook quicker than prawns and scallops.

I have stuffed a couple of whole squids before with spinach and ricotta and covered in tomato sauce and cheese but it took a good hour to cook them. They were very tasty though.

Deep fried squid tentacles are my favourite item on a dim sum menu, so don't automatically feel that they are just to be used as stuffing.

As to sauces. A bit will depend on how you actually cook them. A lime or plain aioli is always a winner as can a sweet chilli dipping sauce. Plum or hoisin sauces work well with the deep fried tentacles. Straight up salt and vinegar can go a treat too.

Being seafood, a lot of people would find it hard to resist a standard tartare sauce to accompany the squid. Not to my taste though.

Squid pieces/rings that have been pan-, shallow- or deep-fried, are best served with a garden or Greek salads, and a few orange or grapefruit segments on the plate work well too.

[Irland]

I had some squid at a Japanese place in LA that was pretty tasty, and I kind of impressed myself at how well I mimicked their recipe:

Clean small squid (~5" head) and cut into rings
Do the flour egg flour bit
Your second dredging of flour should contain lots of salt and a little cayenne or whatever you like
Fry till golden! I like it served with some sweet and sour because the batter is a tad spicy and very salty.

[karenlyn]

I like to dredge them in seasoned flour, fry them in hot olive oil, and dip them in salsa brava, a spicy-vinegary-tomatoey sauce popular here in Spain. Really good.

This recipe for brava sauce is pretty good, and uses ingredients you can get anywhere:

Recipe: Fried Beer-Marinated Chicken Wings with Salsa Brava

[BBQ Mikey]

I use the batter - deep fry method.
Banana peppers, Garlic (minced), cherry tomatoes and olive oil makes for a nice saute to throw ontop of your calamari.

[VeraBlue]

Soak the calamari in milk and egg for a few hours. Make a seasoned flour blend of corn meal, flour, granulated garlic, chopped parsley, paprika, S&P. Dredge the calamari into the flour, shaking off the excess liquid and flour. Fry till they float lightly. Overcooking is a common mistake. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Many people prefer a spicy marinara sauce. Also good is any creamy based dipping sauce. Try mixing a good pesto into a bit of mayo, or lemon zest and roasted garlic into mayo.