Crispy Chilli Squid

Fresh and delicious, straight out of the pan, crispy squid

Crispy Chilli Squid

Although happy to eat calamari in a restaurant, we can be wary of cooking squid; it’s unfamiliar and quite expensive. But it is very easy, there are two rules: fast or slow, but nothing in between. If you cook it fast and hot, deep fried, you get that lovely chewy texture with a crisp coating and a subtle flavour.  If you have a good fishmonger, you can get fresh Cornish squid, which is sustainable and low environmental impact. Tastes great and good for the planet, how can you get better than that?
Just watch out with the frying – the squid can spit in the hot oil, so I use a splatter shield on my frying pan, as I don’t have a deep fat fryer.

Serves 2 as a light lunch                 Timings:  10 minutes preparation, 5 minutes cooking

• I medium squid, about 300g prepared weight. Prepared and cut into rings, and the tentacles separated.
• 1 egg, beaten
• 70g breadcrumbs
• 2 spring onions, cleaned and chopped
• ½ red chilli de-seeded and chopped
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Garlic mayonnaise, lemon quarters and a simple salad to serve

 
Clean up the squid, removing any membranes. Dip the squid into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs, patting them on. Place the pieces on a baking tray to dry slightly – they can be left like this for an hour or so.

Heat up the oil. I use a deep sided frying pan and have about ½ cm oil in it – you need to get all the pieces of squid in one layer if possible. If you are cooking for more people, then cook in batches and keep the cooked squid in a warm oven until the final batch is done. When the oil is shimmering, add the spring onions and chilli pieces, stir, then add the squid. Add the rings first, give them a minute and turn them over, then add the more tender tentacles.

Fry for another 2-3 minutes turning the pieces over and watching out for the spitting oil.

Scoop out onto kitchen paper and serve straight away with some nice bread, garlic mayonnaise, a lemon quarter to squeeze over and a simple green salad.