Crunchy Cornmeal Fried Squid Food

FRIED CALAMARI

Steps:

• First, coat the calamari rings in corn meal, shaking them out to get rid of any excess.
• Then dip them into a mixture of the eggs and garlic.
• Lastly, dip them into the bread crumbs mixed with salt, coating them well, and shaking off any excess.
• Up to this point may be done in advance, and the calamari rings refrigerated for a couple of hours, until you are ready to fry.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil (the secret to crispy calamari is hot, hot oil, just below the smoking point.) Fry the rings (in batches) about 1 minute, or until they are golden.
• Remove and drain on paper towels.
• If you have a deep fryer it's best, but otherwise, make sure the oil is deep enough to cover the calamari.
• Serve immediately with lemon wedges, garlic mayo, and marinara sauce.

LIGHT AND CRISPY CALAMARI WITH FRIED LEMONS

Steps:

• To make the calamari, clean the squid. To clean a whole squid, separate the head and tentacles from the body. With a paring knife, cut between the eyes and the tentacles, discarding the eye portion. In the center of the tentacles, push out a little round bead with the hard beak and discard it; reserve the tentacles. For the body section, peel off the flaps and the dark-colored membrane. Remove the quill, the plastic-like bone. Squeeze out the innards like squeezing out toothpaste. Rinse the tentacles and body sections and dry well. Cut the body sections into nice rings. Leave the legs intact.
• Whisk the heavy cream and eggs together in a medium-size bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the squid, onion and lemon and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• To make the dredge mix, combine the flour, cornstarch, cornmeal, paprika, salt and pepper in a separate bowl.
• Pour the oil into a heavy 5-quart (4.5 L) Dutch oven or any heavy-bottomed pot at least twice as deep as the oil and heat to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C) on a frying thermometer. Keep the lid nearby in case of emergency.
• Drain the squid, onion and lemon, leaving some cream stuck to them, then immediately place in the bowl of flour. Roll everything around so the flour mix sticks to the cream like a heavy dredge. Knock off any excess. Fry in small batches until crispy and golden brown, about 1 minutes. Drain well on paper towels or a rack and season again with a little salt and pepper.
• Garnish with the chopped parsley and lemon zest, and serve with the marinara.

SOUTHERN-CORNMEAL CRUSTED CATFISH WITH CRUNCHY CORN RELISH

Steps:

• To make Crunchy Corn Relish: Melt butter in a large skillet. Add water and corn; cover and simmer for 4 minutes. Stir in red pepper and cook for 1 additional minute. Add green onion, half-and-half, and salt and pepper to taste.
• To make Southern Cornmeal Crusted Catfish: Stir together buttermilk or yogurt and hot sauce; brush on catfish and allow to marinate for 10 minutes. Coat catfish lightly with cornmeal and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
• Melt butter and olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. When skillet is hot, sauté catfish about 3 minutes on each side, turning only once, until golden and crisp. Serve with relish. Makes 4 servings.

FRIED CALAMARI

Steps:

• Cut the tubes of cleaned squid into 1/2-inch ring.
• Transfer the squid to a big bowl with a beaten egg. Stir to mix well.
• In another big bowl, combine the all purpose flour, cornstarch, salt and cayenne pepper. Stir to mix well. Working in small batches, drop some squid into the flour mixture. Coat well and transfer the squid out to a strainer. Repeat until all squid are nicely coated with the flour mixture. Gently shake the strainer with squid to remove excess flour.
• Heat up a skillet with 1-inch oil on high heat. When the oil is heated, deep fry the squid until they turn light brown in color. Remove the squid from oil and drain on paper towels.
• Garnish the squid with parsley, serve warm with tomato sauce.

CRISPY SQUID WITH CAPERS

Steps:

• Cut the squid into rings about ½cm thick. Tip the flour into a freezer bag and season well. Add the capers, then give everything a good shake to mix together. Tip the squid into the bag, then shake again until all the rings are well coated. Mix together the garlic and mayonnaise, then place in a serving bowl.
• Pour some oil into a large pan until it comes about 7cm up the sides, but the pan is no more than a third full. Place over a medium heat and let the oil warm up. To test that the oil is ready, place a small piece of bread in the pan - it should sizzle when it touches the oil.
• Remove a handful of squid from the flour and shake off any excess. Gently drop into the oil, then cook for about 3 mins until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining squid. Serve straight away with the mayonnaise and lemon wedges.

FRIED CALAMARI

Steps:

• Place the calamari in a bowl with the buttermilk and stir to combine.
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat 3-4 inches of oil in a large deep pot to 375 degrees F.
• Place the flour, salt, paprika, pepper and garlic powder in a medium bowl; stir to combine.
• Remove each piece of squid from the buttermilk and dredge in the flour. Repeat the process until all pieces are coated.
• Place 8-10 pieces of squid in the oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove the squid from the oil and drain on paper towels. Repeat the process with the remaining squid.
• Sprinkle additional salt over the squid if desired, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

CRUNCHY CORNMEAL-FRIED SQUID

Steps:

• Drain any remaining liquid from squid. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal and pepper. Heat oil to 360 degrees. Working in batches, drop a handful of squid into flour mixture and toss to coat evenly. Lift out of flour, shake to remove excess, and drop carefully into hot oil. Cook briefly until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove squid from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining squid until all are fried. Serve warm with chipotle mustard dipping sauce.