675. California Farm Fried Calamari Cashew Salad

Name: 675. California Farm Fried Calamari Cashew Salad
Total time: 3900 s
Yield: 4 people, 8 dinners
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Coat the fresh squid:; 3 pounds Fresh West Coast cleaned squid calamari tubes, soaked in milk; 4 cups grapeseed vegetable oil, to be filtered and reused; 3 cups whole cashews; 1/2 cup rice flour; 1/2 cup Fine japanese style Panko breadcrumbs; 1/2 cup cake flour; 1 Tbs sugar; 1 Tsp baking powder; 1 Tsp corn starch; 1/4 Tsp cayenne pepper; 3/4 Tsp sweet paprika powder; 1 Tsp flaked sea salt; Make the herb salad and dressing:; 4 Mozambi limes, 1/4 cup juice; 4 Meyer lemons, 1/2 cup juice; 1/4 cup fish sauce; 1 Tbs slices green mild jalapeno; 1/2 cup slices red mild jalapeno; 1/2 cup slivered red onion; 1/2 cup green lettuce; 1/2 cup fresh spinach; 1/2 cup slivered celery stalk; 1/2 cup cilantro leaves; 1/2 cup Basil leaves; 1/2 cup Mint leaves; 1/2 cup Dill flowers; 1/2 cup Parsley leaves; Tsatsiki sauce for dipping

Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman

California, United States

California Squid fresh from our Pacific coast, firm, white and glistening, caught overnight, they are kept fresh on ice and cleaned in the back of the trucks while the fishermen drive to market here. Sold fresh as cleaned calamari tubes and tentacles till noon, then getting frozen.
Coated inside and out with rice flour and fine panko breadcrumbs, this proven recipe has the crust crisped quickly in hot oil while the fresh squid meat is left tender. Eaten warm but not overcooked.
Served family style, it was wonderful to see guests fill their plates three times.

Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman

California, United States

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Ingredients

Cook time 2,3,4 or 5 minutes, prep time 1 hour

4 people, 8 dinners

Coat the fresh squid:
3 poundsFresh West Coast cleaned squid calamari tubes, soaked in milk
4 cupsgrapeseed vegetable oil, to be filtered and reused
3 cupswhole cashews
1/2 cuprice flour
1/2 cupFine japanese style Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cupcake flour
1 Tbssugar
1 Tspbaking powder
1 Tspcorn starch
1/4 Tspcayenne pepper
3/4 Tspsweet paprika powder
1 Tspflaked sea salt
Make the herb salad and dressing:
4Mozambi limes, 1/4 cup juice
4Meyer lemons, 1/2 cup juice
1/4 cupfish sauce
1 Tbsslices green mild jalapeno
1/2 cupslices red mild jalapeno
1/2 cupslivered red onion
1/2 cupgreen lettuce
1/2 cupfresh spinach
1/2 cupslivered celery stalk
1/2 cupcilantro leaves
1/2 cupBasil leaves
1/2 cupMint leaves
1/2 cupDill flowers
1/2 cupParsley leaves
Tsatsiki sauce for dipping
California Farm Tzaziki Sauce
Equipment: a wok uses 30% less oil than a frying pan with the same diameter, mixing bowl, salad bowl, collander, funnel, warming oven
Cost: cleaned fresh squid $18 for 3 pounds, cashews $1,20, milk, flour, panko, sauces 60 cents, oil reused 20 cents, limes, lemons, herbs, peppers, celery, onion are farm free, dinner $2.50 per person

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Steps

Cook time 2,3,4 or 5 minutes, prep time 1 hour

1

Soak the squid tubes. Put in bowl, sprinkle Tsp flaked seasalt over, cover with milk, soak 1/2 hour to remove any squid ink sack odor or taste. Cut the 2” to 3” long squid tubes in four rings.
2

Coat the squid rings. Drain milk from squid, feed to cat, sprinkle moist squid rings with corn starch, then roll in cake and rice flour mixed with fine panko bread crumbs, baking powder, flaked sea salt, cayenne pepper, sweet paprika powder, till well coated inside and out. Shake off excess coating. Remember, you are going to fry the crust but leave the calamari meat tender.
3

Test fry a few rings of the squid. Heat oil in wok to 360F, medium flame, takes about ten minutes. Fry a few small pieces of flour coated squid 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, taste a few after each minute. That determines how long to fry this batch of calamari. Each batch of squid fries differently. The thicker the squid tube wall, the longer the fry.
4

Drop 1/2 cup of squid rings in single floating layer in 3” of 360F degrees oil in wok, brown the crust, about 2, 3, 4 or 5 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper in collander in 170 F degree oven. Bring oil back up to 360F degrees before each additional batch. Fry other 1/2 cup batches of squid rings, keep warm.
5

When done frying, cool oil to handwarm, then filter oil through paper towel and funnel back into bottle for reuse. This recipe started with 4 cups of oil, and filtered back, it will show you probably used no more than 2 Tbs of grapeseed oil per pound of calamari.
6

Make the salad. Press the limes and lemons. Save the peels to soak in brandy and make liqueur, see my Cointreau liqueur recipe. Rinse the vegetables and the herbs, chop. Slice the onion and peppers. Mix vegetables, greens, sugar, citrus juices and fish sauce, marinade 20 minutes.

California Farm Cointreau Liqueur
7

Use two cups of warm crisp fried calamari and one cup of cashews. Freeze other four cups individually shrinkwrapped. Reheats well in microwave, 1 minute. Serve warm calamari and cashews separately with freshly made cold salad, so guests can make their own ratios. Also optional but delicious, serve Tsatziki sauce on the side. Enjoy.

Linked Recipes

California Farm Tzaziki Sauce

California Farm Cointreau Liqueur

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Cooksnaps

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Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman

on March 02, 2024 19:48

California, United States

I teach people at the farmers market to grow small scale fruits and vegetables. My grandparents and parents taught me growing, cooking and preserving home grown fruits and vegetables, eggs, meats and fish. I got certified by the University of California Master Gardener Program in 2005. I try to bring out the original flavor of ingredients, then add layers of spices, herbs and flavorings that enhance, not distort the taste. These are the global, organic and vegan family recipes we use.