New Take On Calimari

kyheirloomer

Well-known member
Finally gave up hoping to find Ana Sortun's "Spice" through the ILL, so broke down and bought a copy. It's everything everyone has claimed. But what caught my eye immediately was:

FRIED SQUID WITH AVOCADO HUMMUS

2 ripe avocadoes, split, seeded & scooped

¾ c milk

¼ c tahini

½ c all purpose flour

1 tbs chopped garlic (3 cloves)

¼ c fine cornmeal

3 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp salt

4 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice

black pepper, to taste

¼ c olive oil

1 med hot paprika

salt to taste

4-6 c vegetable oil, for frying

1 lb small squid bodies,

1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

cleaned & washed

1. Blend avocadoes, tahini, garlic, 2 tsp cumin, lemon juice, olive oil & salt to taste in food processor. Blend until mixture is smooth and creamy, like sour cream. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, placing the wrap directly on top of the avocado so that no air get into it to turn it brown. Set aside.

2. Slice across the squid bodies to make ½-inch rings and place them in a small mixing bowl. Cover the squid rings with the milk

3. In another small mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, 2 tsp salt, the pepper, Aleppo chilies, and the remaining tsp. cumin.

4. Heat the vegetable oil to 350.

5. Drain the milk from the squid and toss them evenly in the flour mixture. Carefully drop the squid rings into the hot oil, being careful not to crowd them. May need to be done in batches. Remove squid with a slotted sp9on and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

6. Spoon the avocado mixture onto 4 plates and top with the squid and parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.

Excuse that the ingredients aren't in the proper order, that's how they cut & pasted from my file.

The use of cornmeal was a bit strange, and I'd skip it next time as it made the breading too course I thought. But that avocado hummus really worked well, and would go with other shellfish too.

 
Welcome KYHeirloomer! This recipe sounds delicious. I would never have thought of the avocado.

 
Souncds good - except for that darn chili. We don't like cornmeal on calamar, too, but it does crisp

 
what are Aleppo chilies? and how much? it's not in the ingredient list, sounds yummy smileys/smile.gif

 
A good substitute for the corn meal is corn starch. That way the

coating still fries up and stays crisp, but avoids the coarse feel of the corn meal. I usually use half corn starch (or corn flour for those in other countries) and half wheat flour.

 
Aleppo Chilies.

Sorry. Recipe calls for a tsp of the Aleppo chilies. Aleppo chilies come from Syria and are hard to find. A medium-hot paprika can substitute. I just ground up a chipotle. The idea is to add a subtle spicyness, not add a bunch of heat.

My usual coating for calamari is 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tbls baking soda. The baking soda helps the coating stick. But the most important step, no matter what dry coating you use, is to first dredge the calamari in the mix, shake off excess, then transfer to a strainer held over the bowl and shake off any remaining excess. Then transfer to the hot oil for two minutes.

Oil should be between 350 & 375.

Joe, I'd have never thought of avocado either; nor of mixing it with tahini. But that's Sortun's creative beauty. I can't recommend the book highly enough.

I was working on developing an orange mayonaise for calimari when I read her recipe, and decided my project could go on hold while I explored hers. No regrets.

 
Penzey's has Aleppo peppers. They are wonderful, their's are from Turkey,really different and yummy!

 
There's also a chili from Turkey

called Maras, which is pretty much indistinguishable from the Aleppo.

According to Sortun (I haven't double checked the sites), Aleppos are available from www.kalustyans.com, and Maras from www.formaggiokitchen.com.

 
The orange mayonnaise sounds delicious too; be sure to report back if you get around to it.

 
Will do, Joe....

But it's a work in progress, so may take a little time. Somebody over at Epi suggested adding Tang, and I want to give that a try.

Meanwhile, an interesting sauce for calamari and other seafood is to mince about a quarter cup of bottled peperoncini with a half cup of mayo, then add a squirt of chili sauce. The basic idea came from Gourmet, and I added the chili sauce for color as much as flavor.

 
I just can't bear the thought, I'm not sure if it is they way they look before prep, or ?

Of course that has happened to me with a lot of meat and seafood lately - can't over think what's on the plate, or it becomes unappetizing.

 
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