Need a new sauce for fried calamari

[marmalady]

Hubby looooves his fried calamari; thought I'd surpise him with a new dipping sauce; in the past, I've used a simple marinara; a sort of tapanade of roasted tomato, garlic and basil; jalepeno tartar sauce; and one we use for coconut shrimp, of orange marmalade and horseradish.

Anyone have any other ideas? TIA!

 

[GB]

I personally do not like to use a dipping sauce with mine. I just go with a simple squirt of lemon.

I am not good with sauces so I am not going to be much help here, but maybe you could do something with lemongrass? What I do not know though.

Your orange marmalade and horseradish sounds excellent!

 

[marmalady]

Tx, GB - he does lemon and a sauce ; just thought I'd try to surprise him tonite - he's had a rough week!

The marmalade/horseradish I first had on some coconut shrimp years ago at a restaurant called Hemingway's on Hilton Head Island, SC. Was absolutely awesome! When I make it at home, I use about 1/2 cup of marmalade, add 1 or more tablespoons of horseradish and a little of the 'juice', and mix it up; depending on how hot you want it, of course. It's good with fried chicken fingers as well as shrimp.

 

[GB]

Thanks Marm. I can't wait to try that. I have some chicken fingers and horseradish in the fridge. All I need is the marmalade. This might be my dinner tonight

 

[mish]

Perhaps a lemon grass pesto-like sauce, served with pasta? Or a roasted red pepper & garlic pesto-like sauce.

 

[Andy M.]

Roasted red pepper aioli.

 

[marmalady]

Oooh, ooh, Andy, you may have saved the day! And the pantry has everything I'd need TY!

 

[buckytom]

i might be too late but, marm, how about going asian, and using panko to bread the squid? then you could make a soy/ginger/garlic sauce, or a sweet chilli and cilantro sauce, and so on.

as far as regular breaded squid, i've made a tasty ranch dressing with chopped shallots and chives that was good.

or akin to gb's suggestion, lemon, garlic, celery, red onion viniagrette.

 

[mish]

i might be too late but, marm, how about going asian, and using panko to bread the squid? then you could make a soy/ginger/garlic sauce, or a sweet chilli and cilantro sauce, and so on.

as far as regular breaded squid, i've made a tasty ranch dressing with chopped shallots and chives that was good.

or akin to gb's suggestion, lemon, garlic, celery, red onion viniagrette.

I'm hungry. lol

 

[marmalady]

Bucky, the squiddies are already breaded ; but I have made 'em fresh with the panko before - love it! And he's really more of a gooey, mayo-ey, tartar sauce kinda guy, so I think I'll go w/something more in those lines.

Tx anyway!

Mish - come on over, I'm sure he'll share! But I might put you to work in the garden!

 

[mudbug]

marm, just yesterday I had some kind of cucumber-y sauce with calamari at Macaroni Grill (a place I hadn't been to before) that was quite good. Got any cukes?

 

[buckytom]

hey, yeah, a tsatsiki sauce would work. good idea 'bug.

 

[Vicious Vaness]

I saw this recipe on a local food tv show (Bay Cafe on KRON 4). It looked really good...

Orange Cilantro Dipping Sauce
1 bunch cilantro, fresh
1 tablespoon garlic, fresh minced
1 tablespoon ginger, fresh minced
1 tablespoon habanero chile sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed

1.Place all ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour into dipping bowls.
2.Serve with fried squid.



Just curious.. how do you make the roasted tomato tapanade and the jalepeno tartar sauce?

 

[ironchef]

Too late for this but for next time or for anyone else, try these two sauces:

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f76/maxim-sauce-for-chilled-seafood-17621.html

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f76/ponzu-shiso-remoulade-12277.html

 

[buckytom]

we were waiting for you ic.

copying, printing, thanks.

 

[kadesma]

Bucky, the squiddies are already breaded ; but I have made 'em fresh with the panko before - love it! And he's really more of a gooey, mayo-ey, tartar sauce kinda guy, so I think I'll go w/something more in those lines.

Tx anyway!

Mish - come on over, I'm sure he'll share! But I might put you to work in the garden!

Marm, my DH is a mayo tartare sauce guy too..But he is not fond of it being sweet..So I put together this for him and even my kids like it..It's simply mayo, finely chopped dill pickle, garlic, a drop or so of whochestershire, 2-3 dashes of Tabasco, make ahead and let come together in refridgerator til serving time..Dh refuses to even look at calamari, but I love it and this little fish place we go to, makes the best..It can be had 3 ways, plain floured and fried, cajun and fried or lemon flour then fried..I get the lemon and just give it a squirt of some lemon juice..The tartare sauce they serve is red and red HOT and not for me Glad you asked, there are some great ideas for me to try...

kadesma

 

[marmalady]

Tx to all - we actually ended up having the calamari today, after we put together the garden beds! So the sauces were simple - a southestern tartar sauce, made with Penzey's southwestern seasoning, and a marmalade dip made from Stonewall Kitchen's apricot/ginger jam and horseradish.

But I am DEFINITELY copying some of these for later! Tx all!

 

[Constance]

We don't have calamari here except the frozen, pre-coated stuff.
But I love it, and have had it a number of times in Florida.

The best I've had was at Jimmy Buffet's in New Orleans. They served it sauteed (no breading), in a sweet & hot pepper sauce that was amazing. Both julienned sweet and hot peppers had been sweated together, and the binding liquid was clear, probably thickened with corn starch. It was a little late in the day for me to determine all the ingredients, but it was garlicy and spicey.
We also had his perfect Margaritas, though I gave mine to the others after a few sips and ordered an iced tea (which was also good). We had been partyin' all day, and someone had to lead us back to the Bourbon Orleans.

That night, it had to be me! I didn't care...I got to have Breakfast at Brennan's the next morning. What a kick, to walk in there at 9:30 AM, and see all the waiters line up in their tuxedos (tails).

Sorry to go on...fond memories of New Orleans.

 

[kadesma]

connie, I could sit here and listen to more and more I'd always wanted to visit N-O but it never happened..I just got stories from my son about the the "FOOD" from him, my let's eat boy

kadesma