Calamares a la Romana Recipe

Deep Fried Squid Rings

This popular dish is served all over Spain. It will probably have been on every menu you saw while on holiday there.

Calamares Ingredients

Serves 4 – 6

• In Spain you can buy the fresh squid already cleaned and cut into rings. If you have this option available to you buy it this way as it is much easier than buying the full squid. You should probably buy about 450gg of these rings. If not buy 4 medium squids (about 18cm long in the body size)
• 6 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
• sunflower oil for deep frying
• 2 lemons cut into wedges
• salt and pepper

Cooking Method

If you are using whole squid start by cleaning it. Hold the body in one hand and the head in the other and gently pull them apart. Throw the entrails away. Pull out the spine which runs the length of the body and wash the squid well.

Cut the body into rings about 1.5-2cm wide. Slice the wings into strips and cut the tentacles from the head and discard the heads. Put the squid in a bowl with 4 lemon wedges – don’t squeeze the juice from the wedges – and leave to marinate in the fridge for 1 or 2 hours.

In a deep bowl combine the flour, salt and pepper. Don’t be tempted to leave the salt out as it is a very important ingredient. There won’t be much flavour without it. You could add 1 teaspoon of paprika if you would like a smoky taste but I don’t think it is really necessary. Leave this mixture to the side.

When you are ready to cook pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a deep saucepan on a medium heat until it is smoking hot. It is very important that the oil is very, very hot. Dip the squid in the bowl of seasoned flour making sure they are coated thoroughly.

Once the oil is hot drop a large handful of squid into it and fry for about 1 minute until it is golden brown. Remove the squid from the oil using a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Fry the remaining squid in the same way but make sure the oil is still very hot.

Be careful not to add too much of the squid to the fryer at one time as this will cause the oil to cool too much and the flour will absorb too much of the oil.

Serve with lemon wedges on the side.