Calamari Fritti - Recipe by Emiko Davies.

Ingredients

350g calamari (about 2 small calamari)
60g plain all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying

Method

Rinse the calamari and make sure they are cleaned. If the fishmonger did not do it for you, you can clean them by pulling off the head; use just the tentacles and cut off the part with the eyes.

Pull out the beak, which you will find in the middle of the tentacles. Reach into the body and carefully pull out the glassy, plastic-like quill inside and any guts or ink sac. Pull off the wings, as you do that, you should be able to now easily pull off all the skin, which is like a very thin membrane.

Rinse well, so you have just an empty white tube and the tentacles.

Cut the calamari into 1.5 cm-2 cm rings. You can leave the tentacles as they are, or cut in half lengthways. Coat them completely in the flour (sometimes it helps to coat them first entirely in half the flour, then follow with the rest of the flour and toss again).

Place enough vegetable oil in a small, deep frying pan or saucepan so that it is at least 3 cm deep and bring to a medium heat (about 170 C). When it is hot enough, the surface of the oil should look as if it is shimmering.

The bottom of a wooden spoon inserted in the oil should immediately be surrounded by energetic, tiny bubbles. Drop several pieces of calamari into the hot oil (but not too many at once; you want the pan to be no more than half full) and turn halfway through if needed, until the flour coating is a light golden colour and crisp looking, about 1 minute total.

Drain on kitchen paper and immediately sprinkle with salt. Continue with the rest of the calamari and serve while hot.

Credits: This is an edited extract from Cinnamon & Salt by Emiko Davies, published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $40. Available in stores nationally.

Photo Credits: Photography: ©Emiko Davies