Fried Calamari Antipasto | Recipes of Italy

An enticing antipasto with light and crispy fried calamari you won't be able to resist! An authentic Italian recipe from our kitchen to yours. Buon Appetito!

Ingredients

- 1 ½ lbs fresh calamari (squid), cleaned and sliced

- 2 cups hard wheat flour (durum flour or semola di grano duro)

- Canola oil for frying

- Lemon wedges

- Salt

* If you would like a dipping sauce, use our Home-Style Tomato Sauce.

Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse calamari to make sure all bones are removed.

2. Drain as much water from the calamari as possible.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add enough oil for frying, ensuring there is at least 1 inch between the oil and the top of the pan.

4. Dredge calamari through the flour making sure to cover every part of it, otherwise the calamari will pop in the hot oil.

5. In several batches, drop the calamari into the hot oil and fry until the flour is a golden brown all around – 3 - 5 minutes.

6. Remove the calamari from the pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

7. After frying, lightly salt the calamari and serve with lemon wedges.

Notes

If you can’t find hard wheat flour (aka durum flour), you can use semolina flour. The texture won’t be exactly the same, but it’s a decent alternative. All purpose flour is not recommended as the crispiness does not develop because the flour is too soft. There’s also a company that produces a semolina, durum and all-purpose flour mix for making pasta, though it has not been tested, this would probably be a good alternative as well.