Photo: Fried Calamari Recipe
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
- 1 pound clean squid with tentacles, bodies cut into 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick rings
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lemons, cut into wedges
- 1 cup simple tomato sauce, recipe follows or jarred marinara sauce, warmed
Directions
Pour enough oil into a heavy large saucepan to reach the depth of 3 inches. Heat over medium heat to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, parsley, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Working in small batches, toss the squid into the flour mixture to coat. Carefully add the squid to the oil and fry until crisp and very pale golden, about 1 minute per batch. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the fried calamari to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
Place the fried calamari and lemon wedges on a clean plate. Sprinkle with salt. Serve with the marinara sauce.
Simple Tomato Sauce:
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.
Add 1/2 the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.
Yield: 6 cups
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
East of preparation: easy
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By FoodieNY315
on March 19, 2013
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Yuck!!!! Normally I love everything that Giada makes but this was horrible. I followed the recipe exact, I am not impressed. The breading did not stick at all. The saviour of stars was the sauce, that is wonderful it will be my quick go to sauce when I don't have a lot of time. Although, I did pizazz it up some like others suggested.
By hrartt
on February 21, 2013
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Great 'all purpose' recipe. I will use this for all dishes that call for marinara sauce. The only changes I made were that I added 3/4 teaspoon of basil, 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup of dry red wine for the full recipe. It really made it crazy good! I would also suggest cutting the recipe in half, unless you are needing a lot of sauce.
By susan.penta_111...
Grand Lake, CO
on October 29, 2012
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My husband and I recently moved to Panama and decided to try cooking fresh Calimari we found in the local grocery. You'd think, being from New England, that I'd tried this before, but NO! Wow - so easy and so......good. Did as other reviewers suggested and added garlic powder and paprika to the flour coating. I did not have any problem getting the coating to stick and it really does only take about 1 minute to cook. Yummy, but I'm going to look for a lighter, less flavor intensive dipping sauce. The marinara was yummy with pasta, but really did not let the calimari taste shine! Great recipe and so glad I finally conquered my fear and tried calimari. It's so inexpensive here and I look forward to looking like a star at our next dinner party! Thanks, Giada!
Read all 73 reviews