Fried Calamari

We order fried calamari once in a while when we go to a restaurant.  Because of the high levels of cholesterol in squid, I am not so keen on making it at home.   

Yesterday I felt that I had an urge to make it, thinking that treating ourselves occasionally with something that is not considered healthy shouldn't hurt.  So I looked up recipes of fried calamari on the internet and noticed that most of them are quite similar.  The basic ingredients are flour, salt and pepper.  I decided to go with the one from Giada De Laurentiis on the Foodnetwork channel.   I made my own dipping sauce, simply a mixture of 1 tablespoon of mayo and 1 tablespoon of sour cream. For a bit more flavor, I also added some dried parsley and chives to the dipping sauce.

Fried Calamari

Adapted from Food network: Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

1 lb clean squid cut into 1/3”to ½” thick ring

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons dried parsley

Pinch salt and black pepper

2 lemons, cut into wedges – I didn’t serve with lemons

Marinara sauce – I made a different dipping sauce.

Directions

1. Pour enough oil into a large saucepan.  Heat over medium heat to 350ºF. 
2. Mix flour, parsley, salt and black pepper in a large bowl.
3. Working in small batches, toss the squid into the flour mixture to coat.
4. Add the squid to the oil and fry until crisp, about 1 minute per batch.   
5. Transfer the fried calamari to a plate lined with paper towel to drain.
6. Place the fried calamari on a serving plate.
7. Sprinkle with salt.
8. Serve with dipping sauce.