Fried Calamari
I am a firm believer in extending the birthday treatment for a few days before the actual date, especially when your birthday is during the work week. Since my husband’s birthday was on a Monday this year, we started on Friday. I swung by the fish market and picked up some tiny calamari and anchovies to fry for our dinner that night. The one thing my husband has craved more than anything since we moved back to Italy is fried calamari, but for some reason he has not been satisfied with what he has had thus far, nor has he had enough of it. I finally broke down the other day and asked my fish monger to show me how to clean a squid, he was kind enough to do so, so I brought those babies home and cleaned them myself. These were tiny, so they took forever to clean, but it was much easier than I had ever imagined and I feel like my world is expanding even wider with so many new things to cook!
Fried Calamari
- 1 pound cleaned squid with tentacles, bodies cut into 1/2-inch rings
- 1-2 cups semola flour (normal white flour will also work, I had semola and loved how light and crispy it made it)
- vegetable oil for frying
- lemon wedges
- salt to taste
If your squid is not already clean, remove the tentacles with your fingers, leaving the body intact. Cut the interior part of the tentacles off and discard, try to keep the tentacles together, but remove the eyes and the hard seed in the center. Peel the skin off of the body, remove the beak, rinse out the tube and drain with the tentacles, repeat with the rest of your squid. Dry with paper towels.
Pour enough oil into a heavy large saucepan to reach the depth of 3 inches. Heat over medium heat until it sizzles when you put a little flour in it.
Toss the squid with the semola until it is fully coated, carefully place them in the hot oil in batches, stirring to keep them from sticking together. When they have turned a golden brown removed from the oil with a spider or a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and repeat.
Serve with freshly cut lemon wedges.
Two Years Ago: Luchin
Italicious 
Have never tried making calamari at home — but it looks so easy to do! ~ Kat
My favourite 🙂 Fritto misto, next time tell me and I will join you, well done for cleaning the squid yourself:-)
A true classic, and for good reason.
Hi italicious
Love ur blog. We just moved to manfredonia from rome 2 days ago. I love the food here! My husband also has a thing for fried calamari that has to be crisp. would love to meet u sometime. Baci J
Jane Biscarini Via Della Camiluccia 727 Rome Italy
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