Home >Recipes >Fritto Misto with Two Mustard Sauces

Serves: 8

• For the sauce:
• 1/3 cup honey mustard
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup Champagne vinegar
• 2 tsp black or yellow mustard seed, toasted
• 1 tsp minced shallots
• gray salt

• For the batter:
• 1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
• 1 cup semolina
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

• For the Fritto Misto:
• 1 lb cleaned calamari (not giant squid)
• 1 medium fennel bulb, sliced lengthwise 1/8-inch thick
• 1 medium onion, very thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, very thinly sliced (discard ends)
• buttermilk for moistening
• peanut or canola oil for deep-frying

Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 minutes

Make the sauce: Whisk together mustards, vinegar, mustard seed, shallots and salt to taste.

Make the batter: Grind the rice in a blender until very fine. In a bowl, stir together the ground rice, semolina, flour, salt and pepper.

Make the Fritto Misto: Slit calamari bodies open so they lie flat. Place calamari (bodies and tentacles), fennel, onion and lemon in separate bowls. Toss each with enough buttermilk to moisten them.

Heat several inches of oil to 375°F in a deep fryer or wide, deep pot.

While oil heats, drain the calamari, then place some of it in a strainer over a large bowl. Sprinkle generously with rice coating and shake; repeat until the calamari is well coated. Fry until golden-brown and crisp, then transfer to a tray lined with paper towels. Season immediately with salt. Transfer to a low oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining calamari, then drain, coat and fry the fennel, onion and lemon slices in the same way, working in batches and transferring them to the low oven as they are done. Do not crowd the fryer.

Put a generous pool of mustard sauce on each plate, then top with an assortment of fried squid, fennel, onion and lemon.