Fried squid (calamares à la Romana) & aïoli

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  • 4 persons
  • Cooking time:15 min
  • difficulty

Ingredients

  • 400 g. squid, washed and cleaned
  • 300 g. flour
  • 1,5 tsp. baking powder
  • 350 ml. sparkling water
  • Zest of half a lemon
  • Sunflower oil (or groundnut oil)
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like), finely chopped
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 100 ml. olive oil

How to prepare

When Bart was in Spain, he learned how to make the traditional Calamares a la Romana. In this recipe the fried squid comes with a home made aïoli, that is way better than the one from the supermarket.

Preparation

  • 1 Fried Squid:
  • 2 Cut the squid in 1 centimeter rings and dry the rings on a plate with kitchen paper. If you also have the tentacles, dry them with kitchen paper as well.
  • 3 Make the batter by mixing the flour, baking powder, sparkling water and lemon zest in a big bowl. Finish the batter with some salt.
  • 4 Season the squid rings with some salt and put them all into the bowl with the batter.
  • 5 Heat 5 centimeters of oil to 180 degrees Celsius into a frying pan or use a fryer if you have one. Fry the calamares until the light batter is beautiful golden brown and drain on a plate with kitchen paper.
  • 6 Aïoli
  • 7 Put the garlic into a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt and crush it until a smooth garlic-paste.
  • 8 Add the Dijon mustard and egg yolk to the pestle and mortar and mix with the garlic and salt.
  • 9 Add the olive oil drop by drop while you keep mixing your mixture until a mayonaise-like sauce. This is your home made aïoli! If your sauce becomes bitter, start using a more neutral oil like sunflower- or groundnut oil.
  • 10 Serve the calamares with the aïoli and a few lemon parts and enjoy this lovely summer snack!