How To: Calamari & Marinara Sauce (1st Attempt!)

Once upon a time, I hated calamari. I was absolutely freaked out by the thought of eating squid. That was until I had actually tasted it. The moment that I did, it was life changing.

Life. Changing.

Ok. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but it’s still really good. Anyway, I wanted to try my hand at making some calamari, because I had recently gone to a restaurant with my BFFL and we ordered some to eat. It was horrible. The texture was too soft (to the point that it felt like I was eating some almost solid, jelly-like gloop) and the the breading was sooo bland.

I had to renew my faith in my new found favorite appetizer, so I decided to make my own (with some marinara sauce to boot)! Check out how I made it below.

Marinara Ingredients:

*I used this marina sauce recipe that I found on YouTube and made some tiny changes.

Olive Oil | Onions

Garlic | Canned diced tomatoes (of course you can use fresh tomatoes)

Basil Leaves | Oregano Leaves

Red Pepper Flakes (to add a little kick!) | Salt

I turned the stove on to medium high heat and added some olive oil to the pot. Once the oil was hot enough, I added the chopped onions. (Tip: Chewing gum while cutting onions helps you cry a little less!) After about 6 minutes of stirring, I then added the garlic.
Next came the canned diced tomatoes. I poured it in and soon after added the basil leaves.
I stirred after each ingredient and I then added a heaping spoon of tomato paste.
I followed that with water (1/4 of the diced tomato can).
Stir, stir, stir! After adding the tomato paste, the marinara sauce tasted kind of sweet and had a funny smell to me. However, once I added a little bit of the oregano leaves it smelled muuuuch better. I also added some red pepper chili flakes to curb some of the sweetness from the tomato paste.
Finally, added a little bit of salt once all of the ingredients were added and lowered the heat and let the marinara sauce simmer.

Now on to the calamari!

Calamari Ingredients:

2 eggs | All Purpose Flour| Salt

Lawry Season Salt | Bread Crumbs

Corn oil | Calamari!

I cracked two eggs and beat them in a bowl. Simple enough!
In a separate bowl I poured about 1 and a half cups of flour and about a tablespoon of salt. I don’t use measuring cups when I cook (if you couldn’t tell haha) so I can’t give precise measurements!
Next, I added about a tablespoon and a half of Lawry’s Season Salt to the flour and salt. Lawry’s Season Salt makes everything taste good!
I also added a large spoon of bread crumbs to the mix and stirred it up. With the next batch of calamari, I added a loooot more bread crumbs — it added to the crispiness of the calamari!

I don’t know if this is an island thing, but when I cook anything that includes eggs (except for scrambled eggs, bolied eggs, or that kind of thing) I add lime peels to the eggs. I don’t know why I do it, but my gramma does and I learned from her. Maybe it’s so the eggs won’t have a strong smell? If you know, leave a comment! lol
Here’s where it gets a little messy! I took a fork and dipped the calamari into the eggs and I felt like it was taking foreeeever, so I ended up just dipping the calamri pieces by hand.
Next, I poured the flour/bread crumb mixture in a zip lock bag and added the calamari. I closed the zip lock bag and shook it around so that all of the pieces would be coated. I then placed the calamari in a sifter to get rid of some of the extra flour.
Now here’s the dangerous part — frying the calamari! I poured enough corn oil to cover the bottom of the pan. It was about 1/4 of an inch of oil and the stove was on medium high heat. I placed each calamari bit and checked on it frequently to make sure it didn’t burn, flipping over to the other side once the first side was golden brown. If you try this, be careful! The oil popped in my face and boy did it hurt! I ended up using the cover of this over-sized pot that we have as a shield! haha. I need to invest in a deep fryer stat!

Here are the results!

Look at all that golden goodness!

Calamari & marinara sauce. What a wonderful combo. <3

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but the calamari and marina sauce came out great and tasted amazingly! lol. I’ll definitely be making this again Have you ever tried fried calamari?

<3 Maika