House Calamari Recipe

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House Calamari Recipe

House Calamari Recipe

Crispy fried Calamari is one of the most classic appetizers consisting of lightly battered rings of squid that’s quickly fried and served with a warm marinara sauce. It’s very easy to make homemade calamari for as a nice dinner party appetizer.

Ingredients

Only six simple and inexpensive ingredients are needed to create one of the best dinner party appetizers!

  • Calamari – The squid needs to be uncooked when you purchase it, whether you decide to clean it yourself or not. If it’s frozen, make sure to thaw it first.
  • Whole Milk – use whole milk or low fat buttermilk.
  • Flour – Simply use all purpose flour. If you need to use gluten free flour, use all purpose gluten free flour.
  • Cornmeal – This is what helps to make the battering thick and deliciously crunchy. (Cornmeal is already gluten free but double check the ingredients.)
  • Salt – use the amount of salt to your taste.
  • Black Pepper – Freshly cracked black pepper will yield the best flavor.

Perform

  1. If you got a whole squid, it’s very easy and much cheaper to clean at home. It will take you 5-10 minutes to clean the squid.
  2. Remove the head from the mantle (body) by gently pulling on the head and tangles to pull out the innards. Make sure to remove the beak from underneath the tentacles by gently squeezing it and pulling it out. Cut off the tentacles right between the eye and where they connect.
  3. Pull the cartilage out of the mangle and rinse out the tentacles and the mantle inside and out. Take the skin off, if you wish, by pinching it and pulling it off. It should peel off quite easy.

    If you want to see detailed instructions and a video, please check out our post on how to clean squid.

  4. How to Make Fried Calamari.

    First, you’ll want to allow the squid to soak for about 15 to 20 minutes in salted milk.

    While calamari is soaking, start heating oil in a cooking pan over medium high heat, cover a wire rack with paper towels, and combine the ingredients for the flour mixture in a bowl.

    Take some calamari out and shake off excess milk. Then, toss it in the flour mixture, being sure to separate and evenly coat them.

    Using metal tongs, carefully add the dredged calamari to the hot oil. It only needs to cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the calamari once it’s cooked and allow it to drain excess oil on the prepared paper towel covered wire rack.

    Serve the freshly fried calamari with marinara dipping sauce or lemon aioli, and enjoy!

tips

Make calamari gluten free by using gluten free all purpose flour.
When soaking, work in batches to dredge and fry so pieces don’t stick together and dry evenly.
Raw squid actually freezes well, so you can always clean and cut the squid and then freeze it to use when needed. Get a few pounds at a time, clean it, and freeze in batches. use zip-top freezer bags to freeze it and make sure to get all the air out of the bags and label. Freeze squid for up to 2 months.

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