Greek Fried Squid and Salad

Wednesday 3 December

Anyone who's been to Greece has fond memories of kalamarakia tiganita, the simple fried rings of squid (or to copy the Greek diminutive, squidlets) you get at any seaside taverna.  But how to do it at home, with frozen squid (okay, the squid in Greece is also usually frozen), and no blue Mediterranean to inspire you?

We went to this website for guidelines.

We took their hint and added some semolina as well as some dried thyme to the dredging flour.  We then got a suggested frying temperature of 350º F from one of our Greek cookbooks, but despite setting our electric skillet to just that, it was nowhere near hot enough to crisp the little rings up.  So we turned it up to 400º and it did much better.  

Drained the squidlet rings and tentacles, sprinkled them with kosher salt, and squirted lemon all over.

We served this with a salad: arugula picked in the dark garden, and bag-ripened garden cherry tomatoes, dressed with garlic oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar.  

Not bad for early December in Cincinnati, rather than summer in the Cyclades.  But next time we'll start at a higher temperature; use a batter rather than a dredge; or maybe just ask one of our Greek friends what to do.