Mixed Fried Seafood
By Andrew Zimmern
This dish of mixed fried seafood should be served with lemon and sea salt. Period. Let the flavors of the fish, squid, and shrimp shine through here. When I cook this at home, I serve it as an appetizer or hors d’oeuvre in my kitchen, with my guests bellied up to the counter, drinking aperitifs or a glass of champagne. I serve it by seafood type and insist on frying the seafood as guests gobble it up. Fried food this perfect, when eaten hot out of the oil, is heavenly. If it sits for a few minutes, it’s good. If it sits for five minutes, the magic is gone. Try it once my way and you will be hooked forever.
Recipe from The Blue Food Cookbook by Andrew Zimmern and Barton Seaver in collaboration with Fed By Blue. Order your copy now!
Fritto Misto
Ingredients
- 1 pound head-on shrimp, peeled and deveined, with head left on
- 1 pound anchovies, white bait, smelt, or other small whole fish*
- pound cleaned squid, cut in 1/2-inch pieces Salt
- 8 cups vegetable oil (I like grapeseed or peanut oil best)
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground white pepper 6 tablespoons potato starch
- 2 cups very dry white wine 4 parsley sprigs
- 4 sage sprigs
- 2 basil sprigs
- 1/2 cup club soda, plus more if needed
- 1/2 cup ice Lemon wedges
- Sea salt mixed with red chile flakes and ground in a mortar and pestle
- Special equipment: candy/fryer thermometer
Instructions
Prepare all the seafood. Make sure it is all very dry. Season with salt and set aside while you prepare your station.
Heat the oil in a large deep pot or, even better, in a wok (that’s how I fry mine) to 300°F. Keep a thermometer in the oil at all times.
Mix 2 cups of the flour with 2 teaspoons salt and the white pepper in a pie tin and set it on the counter. I love pie tins for dredging, and you can use thin metal tins or disposable tins.
Mix the remaining 2 cups flour with the potato starch and I teaspoon salt in a very large bowl. Whisk in the wine.
Get organized on the side of the stove where your oil is. Place the batter next to the pot first, then place the flour dredge next to that, and put the seafood next to that. On the other side of the oil, place a tray lined with paper towels and a rack over that.
Have the lid of the pot ready beside the pot. When the oil reaches 300°F, add the parsley, sage, and basil, immediately cover (it will splatter), and fry until crisp; this will only take a few minutes, if that. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve on the rack. Raise the temperature of the oil to 375°F.
Whisk the club soda and ice into the batter.
Working in batches, dredge the shrimp in to seasoned flour and knock off any excess. Dip it into the batter. It should coat but run off. Add more club soda if the batter is too thick. Fry the shrimp, in two batches, for about 3 minutes, until golden. Remove with a mesh or wire strainer, reserve on the rack, and season with salt.
Serve on a plate with some of the herbs, lemon wedges, and chile salt.
Clean the oil of any burnt batter pieces.
When the shrimp have been eaten and the oil in the wok is back to 375°F, repeat the battering and frying process with the anchovies and serve to your guests with some of the remaining herbs and more lemon and chile salt as needed. Repeat again with the squid (or whatever other seafood you are frying).
The rings of the squid will cook very quickly, only 1 or 2 minutes.
* *To prepare anchovies, make a shallow incision at the bottom end of the belly and cut upward toward the head. Under running water, gently rinse away the innards. Lay on paper towels to dry well. If you don’t have small whole fish, use small fillets of fish a size up or fillets of thin fish like rouget or mackerel.
