You can’t visit Italy’s seaside without stopping into a waterfront restaurant and ordering a plate of Fried Calamari to be enjoyed with a squeeze of lemon and a view.
It seems we all love Fried Calamari, what’s not to love? It’s fried with a golden crispy exterior and a delicate tender interior that whispers of the Sea. In Italy they serve it on a plate or in a paper cone to go, always with a lemon wedge but never with a dipping sauce.
Us America’s always have to take it up a notch, we love our Calamari with a side of Garlic Aoli or a Smokey Chipotle Sauce. Hmmmmm, so good! A few years ago we visited Santa Cruz California with my 10 year old nephew and ordered a plate of Fried Calamari. I really didn’t think he would like it because he was at that age that he didn’t like anything except for French Fries and hamburgers.
But he dug right into the Calamari like a hungry pirate straight off his voyage of pillaging! At first I thought he only liked it because it was like eating French Fries, so I tried to discourage his voracious appetite for my Calamari by telling him it was Squid. I even went so far as to point out the “tentacle” pieces, you know the ones that look like little octopus? I thought these might repulse the little man that was eating my calamari but he snatched up the little “octopus” and plopped it into his mouth, chewing with a smile on his face as his eyes rolled back. How could you not love this kid who eats squid? He made an Auntie proud.
Actually, many people are confused by the pieces that look like little octopus, they think maybe it’s a separate animal. But actually the squid is not to be confused with an octopus. A squid is a white translucent creature usually about 6” long in the shape of a tube. Actually, it looks a lot like a tube of toothpaste now that I think about it, but with a little “tentacle“ head instead of a toothpaste cap! Yes, the tentacles or little “octopus” is actually the head of the squid and it what propels it through the water.
Most of us feel a lot more comfortable eating the rings because we don’t want to be reminded of what the animal looked like while it was still happily swimming in the sea. Unless of course you are my 10 year old Nephew and then you relish the idea of eating tentacles.
I made Fried Calamari the other day and didn’t even think about taking pictures or explaining to you about how to clean a squid. I just happily cooked in my kitchen dreaming of my Calamari. It wasn’t until the finished product was so beautiful that I thought of taking a picture. So you will have to make do with this video or you can study these instructions by clicking the link “how to clean a squid”. Actually, it’s not hard and I find cleaning a squid to be far less gross then cleaning a fish. After all, everything on the squid is white translucent so it feels very clean to work with. There are a few things that will bring the realism home like removing the “beak” and “ink sack” but that’s real life peeps.
Or you can buy the squid already cleaned, that what I did, mine were frozen which is completely acceptable. It made it so easy, I just sliced up the tube and whipped up some batter and got to frying. In no time we were snacking on crispy fried Calamari with a squeeze of lemon and dreaming of the Seaside.
Fried Calamari
Ingredients:
- 1 large squid, or several small ones will feed two people
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- sparkling water or beer (about 1/3 cup)
- oil for frying
Instructions:
- Clean and prepare the Calamari (this includes removing the head, beak, ink sack, innards and skin)
- Slice the squid into rings
- Get oil hot for frying
- Mix a cup of flour, salt and sparkling water or beer in a bowl.
add the liquid slowly, stirring as you go so you don’t get lumps. Add more water until you get a batter, a little thinner than cake batter. - Dip the Squid into the batter, shake off excess batter and fry until lightly golden
To make a Garlic Aoli, simply add fresh chopped garlic and lemon juice to mayonnaise.
For Chipotle Aoli add blended chipotle peppers to mayonnaise.. (Smoked (Chipotle peppers can be purchased in a can in the Mexican section of a grocery store or in a Mexican market). For a similar twist you can add Sriracha to mayonnaise.
