CALAMARES FRITOS

One of the most popular seafood tapas recipes in Spain. The recipe includes instructions for cleaning the calamari and two variants of coating.

Fried squid or fried calamari (calamares fritos) are clearly the most common way how calamari is served in Spain and are popular with everyone. They are universal, suitable for winter and summer and taste well even from frozen ingredients. They are most often prepared from larger squid, whose body is cut into rings.

WHAT SIZE IS BEST? 

For fried calamari, the bigger the better. Small calamari are fried whole and called chipirones. For this recipe, i.e. for calamari rings, you need to have large calamari, ideally min. 300g.

CAN WE USE FROZEN SQUID?

Yes you can, but using fresh is always better. Using frozen squid is perfectly acceptable, but avoid the frozen semi-finished product, where the rings are already coated. Always coat the calamari yourself, the difference is huge.

WHAT DO YOU EAT FRIED CALAMARI WITH?

It is most often eaten alone served with some freshly squeezed lemon juice. When we say alone, we really mean alone without bread, without alioli, without anything. However, we still recommend serving with some alioli. In Spain, this is mostly an acceptable request, although some Andalusians in particular consider it a sin.

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR?

You have to dry the rings thoroughly before coating, otherwise the juice explodes when it touches the hot oil. It is also necessary while coating well in flour or the batter. The oil must be well heated and there must be enough of it - the rings should be more than half, preferably whole, submerged. The oil must be really hot so that the batter or flour is fried quickly, in about a minute. This is enough time to fry the calamari well and not to make them chewy.

TIPS AND TRICKS?

If you are worried about the calamari being tough, you can soak them in cold milk for half an hour before coating and frying. However, if you don't fry in cold oil, they shouldn't be hard at all.

WHAT ARE THE VARIANTS OF THE RECIPE?

The main difference is the coating method. Either it is coated only in wheat flour ( special for frying) or increasingly, you can come across a gluten-free version in restaurants, where calamari are coated in fine chickpea flour. The next variant is coating in some beaten eggs with parsley and flour or in a classic batter made of eggs, flour and some beer or baking soda.

INGREDIENTS:

The basic variant  - coated only in flour

Basic ingredients:

• 300g uncleaned squid
• Olive oil
• A lemon wedge

Aioli

• 1 egg yolk
• 20 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 crushed clove of garlic
• a few drops of lemon juice
• salt
• Aioli sauce - mayonnaise made from olive oil with garlic.

Variant in flour:

• Semi-coarse or smooth wheat flour
• Salt

Variant of batter:

• 1 egg
• 50 ml of beer
• About 3 tablespoons of plain flour
• 2 tablespoons chopped smooth parsley
• Teaspoon of salt

METHOD:

• Clean the squid well according to the instructions for cleaning the squid. It is necessary to separate the body from the head, empty the cavity, remove the membrane from the body, cut off the tentacles and remove the "beak". We also tear off the so-called wings, which we then coat separately.
  
  

  

• Cut the flesh into rings about 1 cm thick. The tentacles can be cut longitudinally into 2 or three parts depending on the size. Wings according to size for 2 to 3 pieces. We dry everything perfectly with some paper towels.

Variant in batter:

• >Beat one egg with 50 ml of beer and a teaspoon of salt in a mug.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl, in which we will then coat it. Add the chopped parsley and gradually mix in the flour spoon by spoon using a whisk. The resulting consistency should be quite thick, resembling stirred yogurt. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.
• In a deep, not too large pan, heat a 1 cm layer of oil over high heat.
• Coat the calamari in batter, place on a plate and deep-fry in oil on both sides.
• Allow the finished calamari to drain for a while on a paper towel.
• Serve hot with lemon and garlic mayonnaise - alioli.

Fried calamari in batter with some freshly chopped parsley

Variant in flour:

• Prepare the flour in a deep plate.
• In a deep, not too large pan, heat a 1 cm layer of oil over high heat.
• While the oil is heating, carefully coat the calamari in flour, tap off the excess flour and place them on a plate so that they are not touching. Do this step just before frying, otherwise your flour will become soggy.
• Deep-fry the calamari on both sides in hot oil, depending on the size of the pan, in several or one batch (salt the calamari on both sides while frying). It is important that the calamari are well cleaned from the excess flour, which otherwise burns in the oil and spoils its properties.
• Allow the fried calamari to drain for a while on a paper towel.
• Serve hot with lemon and garlic mayonnaise - alioli 

Recipe for alioli

• Carefully separate the yolk from the egg white and put it in a small round bowl, which must be at room temperature.
• Pierce the egg and rub it with not too hasty movements with the belly of the fork. A common mistake is to beat the yolk with a fork at high speed. Meanwhile, mayonnaise is made just as well by slow, long-winded mixing.
• Add about a 1-2 cm drop of oil and slowly mix it into the yolk by picking up and turning the yolk with the tip of a fork until it is completely combined with the oil (this should be after a few flips).
• Then add another drop and mix it all into the oil again. Continue like this until the mayonnaise is so thick that it no longer drips from your fork. It takes about 10 minutes.
• Be careful never to add too much oil as the oil will separate from the yolk and no amount of whisking will bring it back together.
• At the end, lightly salt, add a few drops of lemon and grated garlic.