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EXTRA-CRISPY FRIED CALAMARI With Cheat SAFFRON AIOLI

Course Appetizer
Cuisine Spanish
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 4
Author Albert Bevia @ Spain on a Fork

Ingredients

  • 3 tubes cleaned squid
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 2 organic cage-free eggs
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 tsp saffron threads
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1 cup sunflower oil

Instructions

  1. To make the saffron aioli, add 2 cloves roughly minced garlic into a mortar, pinch in 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads and using a pestle pound down until you form a paste, then add in 1/2 cup mayonnaise into the mortar, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt & black pepper, whisk together until well combined, cover with seran wrap and set aside

  2. Pat down 3 cleaned tubes of squid (I bought mine frozen and thawed them out) with paper towels, then cut each tube of squid into 1/2 inch thick rings

  3. Add a generous 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour into a bowl, a 1/4 cup of cornstarch and season with sea salt & black pepper, mix together, in a seperate bowl crack in 2 eggs, season with sea salt and whisk together

  4. To coat each squid ring, dip each one into the flour mixture, then into the egg wash and then back into the flour mixture, continue until all the squid rings are coated

  5. Heat a large fry pan with a medium-high heat and add in 1 cup of sunflower oil, after 4 minutes and the oil is very hot, start adding the coated squid rings into the pan, cook in batches to not over-crowd the pan, after 60 to 90 seconds flip the squid rings to fry the other side, after a total cooking time of 2 1/2 to 3 minutes remove the fried calamari from the pan and transfer to a dish with paper towels, continue to cook in batched until done

  6. Add the fried calamari into a serving dish, transfer the saffron aioli into a serving bowl and add to the plate with the fried calamari, sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley, enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Get the Saffron Threads I used to Make this Recipe