Fried Calamari

I needed another quick, cheap dinner tonight. Calamari is $6 a pound at Wholefoods, and I only bought a little more than a third of a pound, which was plenty. I sliced the tubes thinly, and cut the tentacle parts in half. This made enough for Alex and I to eat for dinner. I served the calamari with marinara sauce that I had in the freezer, but they would be just as good with a squeeze of lemon.

Fried Calamari

1/3 lb calamari, cleaned

1/2 c rice flour

1/2 c cornmeal or fine polenta

1/2 t salt

1/2 t paprika

1 egg

1 T milk

oil for frying (I used only 1/2 inch in my pan and flipped them halfway through)

Slice your calamari tubes into slices about 1/3" thick, across the tubes so you make rings. Cut the tentacle parts in half. Combine the rice flour, cornmeal, salt and paprika in a ziplock bag. Zip closed and toss to mix. Beat the egg with the milk. Dip the calamari parts into the egg, then drop them in batches into the bag, seal, and shake. Repeat until all calamari is coated. Heat the oil until a bit of flour dropped in sizzles, then fry the calamari until lightly browned. It will only take a minute or so. Sprinkle with salt when they're still hot.

Serve with marinara sauce, I used the sofrito sauce from the risotto. YUM.