What is Calamari Anyway?

Fried Calamari is my favorite appetizer ever!  Some restaurants make it better than others; some add peppers or finish with a garlic aioli and some restaurants serve a perfect combination of rings and tentacles.  As long as there is lemon and a nice crunch, I am happy!  Calamari is so easy to make that my kids ask for it every week (when they don't ask for fries).  I have combined three flours for the coating however you can stick to just seasoned flour if you prefer.  Also, don't bother measuring anything, this recipe should be easy.  If you watch the video you will see I just throw the dry ingredients together, cooking is unlike baking in that regard.  Lastly, you can find cleaned calamari frozen almost anywhere or fresh at your farmers market, both work great.  OH, and what exactly is calamari?  Calamari is squid.  The kind you will buy most often has already been cleaned of the ink and outer skin.  The tubes or rings you are eating are the body and the tentacles (my favorite part) are indeed, the tentacles.  Calamari can also be sautéed or grilled, maybe we will try that next season!  

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Tailgating Tidbits 

Fried Calamari 

Recipe courtesy of Celeste

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds calamari, cleaned, rinsed and sliced in rings if using tubes.

Buttermilk

2 cups flour

2 cups corn masa flour, also called masa harina

1 cup corn meal

kosher salt

1 Teaspoon Pepper

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 Teaspoon Sweet Hungarian Paprika

2 Tablespoons Tony Chachere’s seasoning

6 cups peanut oil 

3 lemons

Marinara sauce for serving/dipping

Soak cleaned and sliced calamari in buttermilk for a few hours or overnight

                                                      Get ready: 

Line a huge sheet pan with brown paper 
(I usually overlap lunch bags)

Slice 2 lemons in half and 1 in wedges 
to serve on the side

Grab your salt and have it handy

Heat your marinara and add to a small bowl and place on sheet pan

Heat your peanut oil to about 350 degrees 
(I never measure the temp, I just throw in a pinch of flour to see if it bubbles up, that means it is ready).

Mix flour, masa and corn meal in a large bowl with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and Tony Chachere’s Seasoning, mix together.

Strain calamari

                                                      You are ready to fry:

Take a huge handful of calamari and 
add to flour mixture,

toss to coat or mix gently

Add to hot oil and stay near

Calamari will cook very quickly, 
it will only take a minute or two. 

Remove with a wire strainer and spread out over brown paper. 

Sprinkle immediately with salt and half lemon

Repeat with another huge handful of calamari

Repeat until you have cooked all the calamari

Eat immediately! 

Note:  Unlike when I make my French fries, I do not re-use this oil.  I wait until it cools and add it to an empty pickle jar to discard in the trash.  Do not throw it down the sink.