[2 - 2] what's up guys welcome back today i'm
[2 - 3] going to show you one of the most
[3 - 5] popular restaurant appetizers of all
[5 - 7] time and one of the most highly
[7 - 9] requested recipes that i've been getting
[9 - 11] for the channel here recently this is my
[11 - 14] recipe for extra crispy and delicious
[14 - 17] fried calamari with a homemade marinara
[17 - 19] sauce but before we get into the recipe
[20 - 21] please take a quick second to subscribe
[21 - 23] to the channel make sure you hit that
[23 - 25] bell to enable notifications as well
[25 - 27] all right meet me in the kitchen let's
[27 - 28] make it happen first things first let's
[28 - 30] take a look at these ingredients
[30 - 33] here obviously we need our calamari
[33 - 34] our seasonings we're using today is
[34 - 36] going to be old bay
[36 - 39] some italian seasoning my all-purpose
[39 - 40] seasoning or use whatever your favorite
[40 - 42] all-purpose seasoning is
[42 - 44] a little chicken bouillon powder to
[44 - 47] amplify the flavor a little bit then for
[47 - 50] our dry ingredients we have some baking
[51 - 53] powder cornstarch and two cups of all-purpose
[53 - 55] cornstarch and two cups of all-purpose flour
[55 - 57] and some buttermilk
[57 - 59] all right so first thing we got to do is
[59 - 61] cut up our calamari
[61 - 63] calamari comes in two pieces basically
[63 - 65] you got the body here and the tentacles
[65 - 67] here not much prep work needs to be done
[67 - 69] on the tentacles so we'll set them aside
[69 - 72] for the body i like bigger rings so
[72 - 75] i like to cut mine about this thick
[75 - 79] about the thickness of a finger or so
[81 - 81] maybe like a half inch thick i don't got
[84 - 85] but don't serve me those little tiny
[85 - 87] rings of calamari i feel like they cook
[87 - 89] better when they're a little bit thicker
[90 - 100] so that's how i like to cut mine
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[159 - 162] stamps.com mr make it happen so one of
[162 - 163] the most common complaints people have
[163 - 166] about calamari is that it's too chewy or
[166 - 169] it's rubbery what i like to do is soak
[169 - 170] it in some buttermilk for about 30
[170 - 173] minutes the acid and the buttermilk will
[173 - 175] start to break down the calamari a bit
[175 - 177] and tenderize it it also removes a
[177 - 178] little bit of the fishiness that people
[178 - 180] say that they taste i mean you are
[180 - 182] eating seafood so it's going to taste
[182 - 184] like seafood but the buttermilk helps to
[184 - 186] kind of mask that a little bit if you're
[186 - 188] one of those folks that don't like
[188 - 190] the seafood flavor of the calamari so
[190 - 191] two things are happening it's going to
[191 - 194] tenderize it removing the rubbery
[195 - 197] texture and it's going to kind of mask the
[197 - 199] and it's going to kind of mask the calamari flavor a little bit
[199 - 201] so get in there with your hands
[201 - 204] add some seasoning mix the seasoning
[204 - 206] into that buttermilk and just let that
[207 - 209] and that marinade for at least 30
[209 - 211] minutes before we go ahead and fry this
[218 - 218] the next critical step when frying
[218 - 219] calamari is to ensure you have a nice
[220 - 222] crispy coat on the calamari so here we
[222 - 225] have two cups of all-purpose flour to
[225 - 227] that we're going to add a fourth cup of
[229 - 235] cornstarch and then one teaspoon of baking powder
[236 - 236] that's the blend that we're going with
[236 - 238] today for the breading now it's time to
[238 - 240] season it up i'm going in with some
[240 - 242] chicken bouillon powder this is going to
[242 - 245] elevate the flavor a little bit
[245 - 248] just a teaspoon or so of that
[248 - 249] we're also going to add
[249 - 255] some italian seasoning
[256 - 256] you can really add whatever flavors you
[256 - 257] like to this you have a seafood
[257 - 260] seasoning that you enjoy by all means go
[260 - 262] ahead and use it i'm also going in with
[262 - 264] some all-purpose seasoning or just a
[264 - 265] little salt and pepper for those of you
[265 - 268] that don't have this yet
[268 - 269] and then last but not least we're going
[269 - 283] in with some old bay
[284 - 284] you want to give this a good mix to make
[284 - 286] sure all those seasonings are evenly
[286 - 289] distributed in the flour
[295 - 295] so while the calamari takes a bath in
[295 - 296] the buttermilk we're gonna go ahead and
[296 - 298] get started on our homemade marinara for
[298 - 299] the ingredients for that you're gonna
[299 - 301] need some tomato paste
[301 - 304] some crushed tomatoes
[304 - 306] half of a diced onion
[306 - 308] some fresh chopped garlic and some fresh
[308 - 310] basil super simple way better than the
[310 - 312] store-bought stuff and it comes together
[313 - 315] to our skillet over medium-low heat
[315 - 317] we're gonna go in with a tablespoon or
[317 - 321] two of olive oil
[323 - 323] and then we're gonna toast that garlic
[323 - 324] you don't want the heat to be too high
[324 - 326] for this guys you want to add the garlic
[328 - 330] and allow that garlic to infuse its
[330 - 332] flavor into our oil
[332 - 334] it's going to permeate throughout the
[334 - 336] marinara sauce
[336 - 340] quick little sat word for you
[342 - 342] you want it to get nice and fragrant you
[342 - 343] don't want it to get too dark if you
[343 - 345] notice that it's getting too brown you
[345 - 347] can go ahead and kill the heat
[347 - 349] we just want it to simmer a little bit
[349 - 351] you should smell the garlic basically
[353 - 355] immediately after about a minute or so we're going
[355 - 360] after about a minute or so we're going in with that half of a diced onion
[362 - 362] and we're going to let that sweat down
[367 - 367] and start to get nice and tender for us
[367 - 369] i also like to go ahead and add in my
[369 - 371] red pepper flakes a little early
[371 - 373] that way the flavor starts to wake up a
[373 - 375] little bit they kind of rehydrate in the
[377 - 379] oil same thing with my italian seasoning go
[380 - 382] same thing with my italian seasoning go ahead and get those dried herbs in there
[382 - 384] don't be shy with those
[384 - 387] nice tablespoon or so
[387 - 388] and i'm also going to add that chicken
[388 - 390] bouillon powder just to kick up the
[397 - 397] give that a good mix over medium low
[399 - 400] heat and just let everything kind of come
[400 - 402] and just let everything kind of come together those flavors will start to
[404 - 407] your house would be smelling good
[408 - 409] next ingredient to arrive to the party
[409 - 411] is the tomato paste one heaping
[411 - 414] tablespoon of that
[414 - 419] we're gonna work that in
[421 - 421] kind of gotta smash it with your spatula
[421 - 423] a little bit but that's all right
[424 - 425] and then we're going in with our crushed
[426 - 428] tomatoes let that simmer for as long as you want
[428 - 429] let that simmer for as long as you want to
[429 - 430] and you have yourselves a delicious
[430 - 432] homemade marinara sauce obviously you
[432 - 435] want to season to taste with salt pepper
[435 - 437] garlic and onion powder if needed
[437 - 439] probably just a little salt and pepper
[439 - 441] maybe a pinch of sugar if you want to
[441 - 444] balance the acidity
[450 - 450] nice and simple guys very simple
[450 - 452] ingredients inexpensive
[452 - 454] you can jar this up in a mason jar keep
[454 - 456] it in the fridge
[456 - 460] make yourself some pasta for the week
[462 - 462] can't go wrong with a good marinara it
[462 - 463] freezes well too so if you want to
[463 - 466] vacuum seal it put it in the freezer
[466 - 469] that's not a bad choice either
[469 - 471] so just let that simmer for about 30
[472 - 474] minutes season the taste with a little salt and
[474 - 481] season the taste with a little salt and pepper
[483 - 483] the last thing i'm going to add is some
[483 - 485] whole fresh basil
[485 - 487] we're going to fish that out at the end
[487 - 489] but we just want to let that kind of
[489 - 491] swim in that sauce
[491 - 496] release its flavor
[497 - 497] and now we're going to keep it real
[497 - 499] simple guys you guys have done this
[499 - 501] before we're going to take our calamari
[501 - 504] out of that buttermilk bath
[504 - 506] drain off any excess buttermilk
[506 - 508] and then go right into that seasoned
[510 - 513] flour and just make sure that it's properly
[513 - 517] and just make sure that it's properly breaded
[526 - 526] and then place it on a plate to hang out
[526 - 528] until our oil comes up to temperature
[528 - 530] for the oil we're looking for 350
[536 - 536] all right so we got our fryer filled up
[536 - 539] with some oil looking for 350 degrees
[539 - 541] you guys always ask where i got this
[541 - 543] fryer from it's from a company called
[543 - 545] camp chef one of my favorite fryers as
[546 - 548] you can tell i use it quite a bit it's a
[548 - 549] little banged up but she's still working
[551 - 553] we're just at about 350 degrees as soon
[553 - 558] as we hit 350 i'll drop the calamari
[559 - 559] one thing you want to keep in mind guys
[559 - 560] it's important to monitor your
[560 - 562] temperature you don't want to just guess
[562 - 564] especially with calamari because if you
[564 - 565] overcook it it's going to get super
[567 - 568] rubbery so i like to use this digital food
[568 - 570] so i like to use this digital food thermometer to make sure that my oil is
[571 - 573] 350. calamari cooks exceptionally quick guys
[573 - 574] calamari cooks exceptionally quick guys so
[574 - 577] literally just a minute or two is all
[577 - 578] it's going to take
[578 - 580] make sure you don't overcrowd your fryer
[580 - 583] try to give them a little bit of space
[583 - 585] we'll do these in two batches just to
[585 - 591] make sure we don't overcrowd
[594 - 594] that's what you want to see right there
[594 - 595] you just want to get in there and make
[595 - 596] sure they're not sticking to the bottom
[596 - 600] or sticking to the sides
[601 - 601] make sure they're getting a nice even
[601 - 611] color like you see
[613 - 613] as you can see we got a nice golden
[613 - 614] brown color here the breading is
[614 - 616] definitely sticking to the calamari
[616 - 618] these are looking nice and crispy
[618 - 619] feeling crispy
[619 - 621] about another 30 seconds and then we're
[621 - 623] going to remove them from the oil
[623 - 624] all right so now i'm going to go ahead
[624 - 626] and remove these from the oil they're
[626 - 629] nice and golden brown super crispy
[629 - 631] cooked to perfection i like to let these
[631 - 633] drain on a wire rack that helps make
[633 - 635] sure that they stay nice and crispy for
[636 - 638] then another pro tip as soon as they
[638 - 640] come out the oil hit them with a little
[640 - 642] bit of finishing salt
[642 - 644] just can't wait for you guys to try this
[645 - 648] recipe oh man look at that
[650 - 650] just a little sprinkle of salt
[650 - 657] as soon as they come out the oil
[658 - 658] after the salt i'm going to hit them
[658 - 660] with just a little bit of lemon zest
[660 - 662] just for extra pop of flavor
[662 - 666] because why the hell not
[668 - 668] lemon pairs nicely with calamari this
[668 - 671] steps optional guys but i do like to
[671 - 679] zest them up a little bit
[681 - 681] so there you have it folks just a little
[681 - 683] bit under a pound of perfectly fried and
[683 - 686] crispy calamari and our homemade
[686 - 688] marinara sauce
[688 - 690] now my friends it's time to plate this
[696 - 696] oh man look at that
[696 - 697] doesn't get much better than a nice
[697 - 701] platter of crispy calamari
[701 - 703] i can't wait to get in there
[703 - 705] brace yourself for a trademark money
[705 - 708] shot say it with me guys looking good
[708 - 710] going down with a little fresh chopped
[710 - 713] parsley for a pop of color
[713 - 720] and we're gonna add a little lemon
[722 - 722] and the only thing left to do is get in
[722 - 724] there for a taste test but before we do
[724 - 725] that please take a quick second to
[725 - 727] subscribe to the channel make sure you
[727 - 729] hit that bell to enable notifications as
[729 - 732] well and now my friends it's finally
[732 - 734] time for the moment of truth