Steven Pinkert has been working on perfecting fried calamari and after a number of attempts it turns out to be very simple to prepare and a delicious appetizer.

Steven Pinkert buys most of his fish from Whole Foods as they are reliable and the quality is usually very good.  Whole foods has fresh frozen calamari both tubes and tentacles, and it is usually available by the pound defrosted on ice at the fresh fish counter.  The price is about $10 per pound these days and a pound is enough more than enough for an appetizer for 5-6 people.

Ingredients:

1 pound Calamari mixture of tubes and tentacles
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
4 T onion powder
4 T garlic powder
4 T ground black pepper
3 T Seasoning Salt
3 T Cayenne Pepper Powder
2 T chili powder
2 lemons quartered
Tabasco or other hot sauce

Steven Pinkert cooks using a Deep Frier with fresh vegetable oil but if you are careful you can probably fry the calamari in a frying pan. Although Steven Pinkert recommends the ingredients listed above the spices should be varied according to taste.

First cut up the calamari tubes into about 1/2 inch wide rings.

Then place the Cut up Calamari into the buttermilk and allow to soak for about 20 minutes.

After soaking drain the calamari.

Now mix all the dry ingredients together and bread the wet but drained calamari with the dry mixture. Allow the breading mixture to sit for about 10 minutes.

Fry the Calamari in oil for about 3-4 minutes at 325 degrees.

Now plate, drizzle with fresh lemon juice and serve.