How to make my own breaded fried calamari?!
Answers: I love calamari (octopus) but I don't know how to make it! It's expensive to get as appetizers in Italian food places so I'm wondering how to make it on my own?? How to bread it, season it and fry it and is there any additional detail I should know? What sort of octopus to buy and where? Thank you!!!!
Calamari is NOT octopus, it is squid ! You can find it in any store that offers fresh seafood, or you can even but it frozen. You usually have 2 options with squid, you can either get it whole, in which case you'll need to clean it and slice it, or you can get in in rings ready to cook, and just bread it and fry it.
Anyway, here's a good recipe that i make all the time, its delicious :)
Ingredients
1/2 to 1 pound calamari sliced into rings
1 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Enough vegetable oil to fill bottom of heavy skillet to 1/2"
Directions
Clean calamari and keep chilled.
Mix flour, paprika and cayenne in shallow bowl.
Heat oil to 375 degrees.
Toss a handful of calamari with flour, shake off excess.
Fry for 3 or 4 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and salt to taste.
The calamari can be found usually at a fish markey. Drain the ink well and wash then dredge as desired and fry til crunchy. Keep in mind that this will all shrink a lot and the huge amound you start out with in the beginning will not be what your end result will be.
I don't a have a recipe to share with you but I've seen Alton Brown of Good Eats on the food newtwork make it. It looks plenty yummy so try looking on foodnetwork.com. As far as buying it look at a high end grocer like Harmons, Albertsons etc...
you can calamari 'steaks' tentacles off and the cartilage has been removed, at most good sea-food stores. you can either buy Tempura batter mix, and add beer to the dry mix, it till it looks like pancake batter. Using a a pairof tongs, dip just a little bit into hot oil, until it starts to float,. then let it go. when one side is brown, flip it over, to the other side4e, to get both sides brown. Or, you can buy a can of cheap bread crumbs, add what ever spices you like. Make an egg wash, 1 egg, to about 6oz of milk, beat the egg, then add the milk. Roll the calamari, in the egg-wash, then in the Bread crumbs, and the dip in the oil, as stated above.