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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

Bocadillo de calamares (fried squid roll)

30 min · 2 bocadillos

Madrid's bar-counter sandwich: rings of squid in a light flour coating, fried crisp and piled into a crusty roll. That's all; some add a smear of alioli. Have it with a small cold beer.

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The real one

You need

• 400 g (14 oz) cleaned squid tubes
• 1 lemon
• 65 g (1/2 cup) flour, plus 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• Olive oil or sunflower oil for frying (about 750 ml / 3 cups)
• 2 crusty bread rolls (barra or small baguettes, about 20 cm / 8 in)
• Optional alioli: 3 tbsp mayonnaise with 1 small clove garlic grated in and a few drops lemon

How to make it

1. Prep the squid (5 min): Pat the tubes very dry and slice them into rings about 1.5 cm (1/2 in) wide. Squeeze a little lemon over and toss with a pinch of salt.
2. Heat the oil (8 min): Heat 4 cm (1 1/2 in) oil in a deep pan to 180 C (350 F). Mix the flour, cornstarch and salt.
3. Coat (2 min): Toss the rings in the flour a handful at a time and shake off the excess in a sieve. Coat them only just before frying, or they go gummy.
4. Fry (4 min): Fry in two batches until pale gold and crisp, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes; squid goes rubbery if fried longer. Drain and salt at once.
5. Build: Split the rolls (warm them 2 minutes in the oven if they've lost their crunch), spread with alioli if using, pile in the rings and eat immediately.

Tips

• Dry squid is the secret to a coating that stays on.
• Frozen squid rings work; thaw them in the fridge and dry well.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.