Something Old, Something New – Seafood Edition
Jun 22nd, 2008 | By Peter Minakis | Category: Appetizer, BBQ, Meze, Seafood, worth a second look
Last Friday was one of the few evenings where it hasn’t rained around dinner time. We’re now officially into summer and it’s been quite rainy. Me thinks summer in Toronto might be cancelled. This is one of the few instances where I hope I’m wrong.
I have two dishes at the plate today. The “something old” would be fried calamari – you know…squid.
Here, I’ve deep-fried calamari rings. You’ll find decent, frozen calamari rings at your supermarket and if you love calamari, this good convenience product saves you from the trouble of having to clean squid.
There’s no rocket science here, the calamari rings are dredged in a seasoned combo of all-purpose and corn flour. If you want to have fried calamari at your home just the way you first tasted it at the Greek “psarotaverna”, the simple and straightforward approach can be viewed here.
The “something new” is a shrimp dish I saw, gawked at, and tried. Now I’m sharing it with you. It’s easy, quick, hard to screw up and delicious.
This recipe comes from Bobby Flay’s Boy Meets Grill but interestingly (and refreshingly) this dish is not his but it comes from Bobby’s inlaws.
Bobby Flay married Stephanie March, best know for her work in Law & Order. In this episode, she and her sis and mother make an appearance and share their family favourites with Bobby and the viewer.
I love this shrimp dish because it’s easy, a little spicy, incorporates some quick grilling and when you taste the shrimp, you get the tangy zing from the lime and then bite into a contrast of naturally sweet, succulent shrimp.
Folks, this is a family favourite from Texas and now I know why…it’s easy and tastes “dang good”.
One final note…as instructed, leave the shrimp shells on. Eat this shrimp dish with your hands…suck the juices out of it, peel & eat to your enjoyment and damn to all who insist on cutlery.
Leave that for the the loopy characters in Seinfeld who ate the Snickers Bar with a fork & knife!
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© 2008, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
I cant stand it when people tell me to take the shell off before cooking. The shell add so much pleasure and keeps it intact. I just purchased some forzen squid troday. I hope the weather gets better. Soon Greece!
This looks soooo good. Way better than those travesty “Cap’n's Platter” bullshit you see in seafood restaurants. A squeeze of lemon and a pitcher of beer, and we’re laughing.
That grilled shrimp is giving me a serious craving! YUM!
Both of these dishes look scrumptious! Now going with the Bobby Flay/Stephanie March marriage theme, if you’d turn this post into a mini-series and complete it with “something borrowed, something blue…” I’d be really impressed!
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
You have to of my favorites on the table today, Peter. Looks delicious! There is, in my opinion, no other way to enjoy prawns than this way…. lotsa sticky fingers, lotsa laughter and lotsa cheer…..Thanks for sharing.
wow deep fried calamari rings! yummmm! i want this with a glass of icy cold beer or ginger ale, watching bad tv
…simply bcos i’ll have to peel of shrimp shells for my lazy azz friends hehehe
This is simply “Good Eating” all the way around!
those grilled shrimp look gorgeously delicious!! i love it!! allow me to copy this recipe for our upcoming barbeque party next week :-)
summer has officially started in france too..if you will see less posts in my kitchen its because i opted to do nothing but be on the beach or on the pool :-)
Peter, you really know how to make people hungry!
Last weekend I have been in my summer house in Peloponese, and I enjoyed kalamari rings and of course a cold beer in a psarotaverna …. mmmmm just perfect!!
I never really liked ‘kalamarakia tiganita’, I find they taste more of fried oil than kalamari, but the shrimp looks lush!
Looks delicious, Peter. Even I like a nice golden kalamari :) Are you sure it’s not the 2 sticks of butter that makes the shrimp so good? lol. I love that I am not the only one who mentions Seinfeld on their blog. It really does apply to pretty much anything, doesn’t it?
Glam, it’s okay…share shrimp with only good friends who don’t give a damn about eating with your hands.
Heather, fried seafood at restos usually means frozen- fuck that!
Glute-free…I think I’ll make this again next week…ummm!
Sandie, I could have but the post would veer way off topic.
Nina, you get 2 tastes with this shrimp dish…once from sucking on them then again when you bite into the shrimp.
Rita, I luv a gal that knocks back beer!
Marie, that’s what it’s all about.
Dhanngit, my pleasure…just tell them Kalofagas sent the shrimp!
Sylvie, I wish I could feed you all!
Elena, “zilevo”…don’t tease me like that!~
Ioanna, I must admit to preferring grilled calamari but this is still enjoyable. If you use fresh oil, not greasy at all.
seafood and a cold beer is all i need too
I remember that calamari recipie that is the first time i stumbled to your blog, while looking for a recipie and i remember asking u ifi canmake them with scampis :-)
Delicious shrimps.
Peter – I love calamari, if it’s cooked properly and not overdone so it’s like eating an elastic band LOL (had it once like that – not nice)
Yours looks excellent and so does the shrimp.
Calamari-licious & Shrimp-atastic in fact!
I adore calamari – and miss it here in London as it’s an absolute standard on most South African restaurant menus, but far rarer here in the UK. I remember the best calamari rings I ever ate were at a restaurant in Durban called Incognito many years ago – they were done to perfection – not at all chewy and with a light, crispy batter. Fantastic. An ex boyfriend’s mom used to soak the cleaned calamari tubes in grushed pineapple overnight before rinsing, dredging and frying them and they were glorious. Not sure if it was the pineapple that did the trick, but she sure did something right :)
And I have to agree on the prawns – the more of your forearms are covered in prawn shell an butter, the better they taste!
I love seafood. If I don´t remember the consist of cholesterol in shrimps, I ´d like to eat them all :)
I’ve always shied away from frozen calamari, so, unfortunately I don’t usually make it. I love it grilled in restaurants. Do you think the frozen stuff is good for that as well?
Yum on the shrimp and I agree on peel & eat. Fun!
Yeah, we usually have shrimp/prawns with the skin still on. Peeling them while eating is fine, but for some reason, peeling them *beforehand* is a little of a dealbreaker for us, hehe.
Although, JS has been peeling shrimp for dishes now. I haven’t gone that far yet. ;)
Grilled shrimp, bread, and cold beer. I’m in! Where do I sit?
Well…. if it’s from Texas, then it HAS to be good! Definitely eating with your hands is grossly under-rated. Once you know that there is going to be sticky fingers, you can’t help but smile & relax. Wash it down with beer to complete the low-brow fun! Great post. I can’t wait to try both recipes.
xoxox Amy
Oh, I forgot to add: I hope it warms up over there. Summer ain’t fun without some heat & shine.
Elly…2 sticks of butter will make sawdust taste good! lol
Maria, good beer on a hot Greek evening…perfect!
Happy, glad to hear that dish was your intro to my blog…it’s a keeper.
Jan, calamari, flash fried to a golden brown…shouldn’t take more that 2-3 minutes…soon you’ll have some in Thassos!
Jeanne, nice descriptives of the SA seafood. I hope you’ll showcase them in your blog…they sound delish.
Retno, I’d be more worried about the butter than the shrimp!
Lori lynn, most squid (even at high end restaurants) were previously frozen. I’ve found the squid that’s frozen whole to be best. There’s a bit of cleaning but well worth it.
TS, I’ve found that the shells protect the shrimp from getting dry or over-grilled.
Hi Dawn and welcome…have a sit…one bowl comin’ up!
Amy, don’t be messin’ with Texas or these shrimps! You luv both these dishes. As for our weather…again we had more rain today…enough already!
My girls love calamari. Anyplace we go that has it on the menu they order it! Yours looks just as good as any one we’ve ordered!!!
The shrimp look real yummy too!
Hey…I saw that episode – thought he was pretty gracious albeit surrounded by 3 pretty powerful women. Of course a few of my favourite things and they look wonderful. Maybe I could pick some music for you – yeah…a little rap or something :)
As always the simple things in life are best. Both of these recipes are bookmarked:D
I like Bobby’s recipe. Those shrimps would be a winner in the house.
Hey Peter. Love the look of these shrimp. My husband normally doesn’t like them as a standalone main dish, but he saw these and wanted them! :)
In Madrid you can get “bocadillos de calamares” They make sandwiches (with baguette bread kindda) and get the calamari inside!!! I’ve never tried it myself but it’s so popular there :D
Judy, that’s so cool that you have young kids that love seafood – their peers are not like that.
Giz, did you see Flay just taking orders…he knew not to mess with 3 women!
Val, both dishes are most enjoyable.
Helene, a winner in any house!
Melissa, with some other sides, this is perfectly fine as a main…he’ll luv’em!
Nuria, I’ve had a calamari sandwich here…with tartar sauce and it’s yummioso!
I just want to let you know that I appreciate your response. I look forward to preparing some squid.
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