Well if you grew up in my home it would be lots of fish, and vegetarian dishes on Wednesdays and Fridays. If you have questions and want answers then read this week's column. My mom imposed (now I say this lovingly, not back then) her self-restrictions on the entire household during Lent - the 40 days leading up to the celebration of Easter.
This week, I want to share with you some seafood ideas that would be great at Lent and anytime.
First off are spicy seafood balls served with a sweet-chili dipping sauce. I used a seafood-medley: shrimp, calamari, fish, cooked mussel and octopus.
Next we have smelts, any baby fish would be great this way, seasoned with cumin salt, lightly dusted in flour and fried until crisp. Eaten with a pickle or some hot pepper sauce, they make a great snack.
And finally, one of my absolute favourite seafood - squid/calamari. Everytime I go out to eat I always check the menu for calamari. A memorable calamari dining experience was at Mike Ditka's restaurant in Chicago. I had a plate full of fried calamari, lightly breaded and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. I've never had fried calamari like that since then and trust me, I've had quite a few servings since. None compares. I hope to get to Blue Ginger, Ming Tsai's restaurant in Massachusetts on one of my trips to the US to try his Bue Ginger Crispy Calamari.
A few years ago, I saw one of my favourite ladies on PBS, Lydia Bastianich, make stuffed calarmi and I've been wanting to try my version ever since. This week I did. I really enjoyed making this dish - from making the sauce from scratch to stuffing and baking the calamari. The true joy came as I watched my mom and best gal, Susan reach for more :)
Do email me if you want to try any of the recipes.
Today is International Women's Day and over at Forgive Me My Nonsense... a phenomenal woman, Bee has made a thought-provoking post with an excerpt from Karl Olsson.
Happy Women's Day!
84 comments:
Will make sure that I visit you on a Wednesday or Friday :). Those spoons are cute. But don't tell me you will serve appetizers in that spoon. I want a bowl :D
Cynthia saturdays are my days for longing, happens everytime I visit here, those fried smelt and seafood balls looks absolutely delicious.
There are many variations of stuffed calamari and I could eat each one of them.
The seafood balls look appetizing too!
I don't know if smelt is the same thing we call fry-dry (which I think is a species of sardine?) but I love that fried just the way you show it - we tend to have it also with rice and dhal. And my father loves it with the heads intact.
wow cynthia as usual the pics are awesome. we are seafood lovers and you have such nice fish recipes.
Why do we have to wait for Lent to have such wonderful food! Those seafood balls look great!
Big hug on this day and always dear Cynthia
I'd love a spoonful of those fish balls, please. And the stuffed calamari? Sign me up!!
Cynthia,
Those smelts are calling out to me - they look fabulous.
Happy Women's Day to you too.
Mamatha
Lydia is so awesome, too bad i can hardly ever catch her show. The sauce for the calamari is calling out to me... it looks so fresh & vibrant!
wow, those spoons and smelts sound so inviting Cynthia! wish I weren't a vegetarian:) hehehe
btw, I'm hosting WBB-Balanced Breakfasts this time and I hope you can participate!:)
Happy Women's Day to you girl!
I was having problems commenting earlier. But anyway...I adore calalmari, and this stuffed looks good( a why didnt I think of that moment).Thanks for the tip on Ditkas. I have to try them there.
Cynthia, If you come back to Chicago I'll meet you at Ditka's for some calamari !!
My favorite restaurant here has a spicy tuna stuffed squid, so yum! What did you put in yours? And lent doesn't sound so bad, as long as you can eat seafood... :)
Love stuffed calamari. It's on my list of what to make next- after I call my mum, for the perfect recipe!
Your food looks gorgeous, as always.
That sure does get the taste buds humming along..... makes my mouth water just reading the post.
I have onky had calamari fried never stuffed.
Your stuffed calamari looks delicious.
My hubby is doing 40days fasting ( not for relegious reasons) h just think it is the time to loose is everweight and the best time to do is now. So no luxury fod for him even though i have made his break it few times :-)
Wonderfull calamari, they have all italian's perfumes!
Kisses
Lovely pictures! The smelts dich especially made my mouth water! :)
Belated Happy Women's Day to you, too!
Greetings,
Tiina
Lovely and gorgeous photographs as always Cynthia.
Belated happy women's day to you.
Hope you had fun Y'day on IWD!:)
Hapy lent to you, don't know much about it except Easter. We had Maha Shivaratri too, unfortunately I didn't it was on Friday until I saw in the other blogs!!
Those meat balls look yummy. Enjoy Cynthia and have a great Sunday. Hugs.
I would eat these any day!!
The column made nice reading, Cynthia.
If you see Ming at Blue Ginger, tell him that he needs to work on having PBS lease out his episodes to the BBC! We miss him!
Your stuffed calamari looks very appetising! Wish I could have some now!
What a coincidence! I made smelts fry two days back and was craving for some more and there you go with your platter :)
With all these wonderful dishes it wouldn't seem like we are giving up anything for Lent:D I will check out the article as well Cynthia:D
YUMMY! that fish fry looks very very similar to the one ma makes :) except that she doesn't use flour.
Seafood! My knees go weak on that! Can I have...errrrm... everything ? :P
Wow....great looking dish.I wish you would have posted the recipe here.Have never tried calamari before.
Didn't know the fish name (that small type) though we eat it..! :)
that fish in the red sauce is tempting..I just imagined you cooked them in that chilly's paste from your country.. yum!!:)
Felicidades, tienes un blog buenísimo y con unas fotografías impresionantes. Me alegro de haberte descubierto. Pasaré a visitarte.
Un abrazo.
Ana
Perfect calamari!.....Love it...YUM! YUM! YUM!.... So tempting recipes.....Great job....
A great way to eat during Lent! Appetizing and beautiful!
Cheers,
Rosa
That calamari looks to DIE for!!! Yum yum yum!
Oh gosh - yes, please, to all of those!
Hi Cynthia, I wouldn't know which to choose first here all your dishes look equally delicious! :D
Great photos too.
Rosie x
Everything looks great, I especially like how you have taken your first picture =)
Oh those seafood balls and dipping sauce looks lovely! Yes I do want the recipe for that please can I have it!
hi cynthia, I just found out that the grocery store near our place have smelts, and I was excited to try these, now i saw your recipe, I am eager to try them asap:)
These each look delicious in different ways...I vote for the stuffed calamari. The color of that sauce is so intense and I'll bet the whole dish is fantastic!
That seafood presentation is fabulous!!!
Oh, stuffed calamari - yum!
I read your article and we have similar experiences as children, although my mother was not so strict on us. Your lenten dishes all sound great. I would like to receive the recipe of your seafood balls.
I love stuffed calamari!
I love smelt too, but I fry them with a tad of turmeric...love them, they are so good, don't you think? :)
Hola!
Excelente post y buena comida como sólo tu haces,
gracias por compartir tu conocimientos con nosotros.
I do love fishy things, any time of the year. Stuffed calamari were such a revelation to me the first time i tried them. I've never made them at home, though - maybe it's time I had!
Love the fried fish! looked like flying fish??
And if I ate calamari I might even try that recipe.
Seafood balls? Fab idea! Thanks for that one!
Calamari is one of my favorites too. I'll take it fried (I have to go to Ditka's and try it) or stuffed (yours looks fabulous) and I especially like it grilled Greek-style!
ummm...really yummy...the photos are just too mouth-watering...your home sounds so much like a typical Indian house-hold, where we would also have lots of fish and vegetarian dishes on Wednesdays & Fridays...I also love savouring sea-food and pamphlets are one of my favourites....lovely dishes!
The seafod balls look devine. In fact, it all does! Lent is great if the food is as good as this!
CheersDavid
Hi, Cynthia. Your stuffed chilli/tomato calamari looks splendid. I love calamari massaged with turmeric and salt, then grilled or barbequed and eaten with a spicy-citrusy sauce.
Hi cynthia
you never fail to amaze me with your innovations....good work, girl!
Great post Cynthia. :-)
Please do feel free to come and join the cooking forum at jeenaskitchen.com
Your a great friend to have and we all would love you to join us :-)
Thanks for your nice feedback on my curry recipe.
Jeena xx
Oh not bad..fish is off the menu for lent at our place...
Lovely array of seafood....love your spoons and the platter
500 years ago, the Lenten fast was abolished in Sweden. However, we stll munch on our Lenten buns - but most people don't know why.
Everything looks so good, especially the fried fish. It's not an imposition to eat any of those dishes.
The seafood balls look really really good. And when I lived in Chicago I used to go to Ditka's regularly just for the Calamari. It was better than any I've ever had before or after.
Well done, Cynthia! I'd like you to think about bringing this to our "Festa Italiana". It's perfect and the photo is really making me want some tonight :)
These are some great dishes Cynthia! I am with you on trying to find the best fried calamari! It 's a job that somebody's gotta do! :)
Cynthia - I would love to try the spicy fish balls. Fish is a huge favorite with my husband and his family who are from a coastal part of India and must have some fish everyday. In fact the smelts seem similar to fried anchvies we sometimes make.
Please do let me know how I can get (bribe :)) you for the fish balls recipe!
merhaba arkadaşım nasılsın?
balıklar çok güzel görünüyorlar
hoşçakal
that calarmari looks amazing! i'm not a huge fan of the fried kind, but yours looks really wonderful!
i don't eat fish , but your presentation is gorgeous:)
Cynthia, I love all the dishes. The last one reminded me of my mom's stuffed calamari. I think she stuffed it with sticky rice. We don't get much smelt but deep friend white bait is pretty common. The smelt also reminds me of the Japanese deep-fried "pregnant fish" (can't remember the actual name), great with beer!
take care,
Nora
Those seafood balls with sweet-chili dipping sauce look really good. Great photo!
these all look fab. they are almost too indulgent for Lent :-)
Those fish balls with the dipping sauce literally made my mouth water. I don't need Lent as an excuse to eat those any day of the week!
I don't think I'd be able to wait until Lent to eat your spicy seafood balls. Though I'm allergic to seafood, it'd be really hard to resist!
Oh, I love those smelts! And the stuffed calamari looks incredible. I also love calamari; sadly, getting good fried ones at restaurants is not easy. If I get up to Chicago, I'll have to try the ones at Ditka's. It's funny how we remember these great meals; I still remember, from close to 30 years ago, fried clams that I had at an Italian restaurant on Fishermans' Wharf in SF. Light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth breading, succulent, tender clam inside—out of this world. I never again have had fried clams that good.
Those seafood balls and the dipping sauce look yummy! I've never had smelts, but they do look tastey as well. :-)
We have those cute serving spoons here too. Happy Women's Day!
your pix are amazing! and the dishes look so yummy! Great entry.
I love that first pic Cynthia, that is darned beautiful! We also eat crispy-fried smelt here- a nice treat.
Hey Cynthia,
Whay are u not on Taste of India?:-(
Hey Cynthia,
Lovely Photos......cute little spoons.I'm sure it tasted like heaven.
Oh my! All this yummy food. I love the smelts and the stuffed calamari!
Beautiful pics and delicious looking foods! I'm hankering for some now ;)
hi, thanks for the birthday wish do have a great weekend!
I can't comment on the food (don't eat sea food) but beautiful pics!! And the food looks so well prepared...perfectly shaped sea food balls, the fried fish...
Those seafood balls look totally gorgeous!
Hello, my name's Claudia, I don't speak english very well but I want to congratulate you for your blog!
A greeting!
Suganya - don't worry, you and I will have ours in bowls :)
Indo - you always make me feel special. Thank you.
Peter M - I agree.
Chennette - yep, this goes great with dhal and rice and that's the way we eat it too :)
Mansi - I'll try my best hon.
Coco - I wish I could be there to join you.
Marie - You're on! I'm holding you to that.
Sig - I stuffed mine with fresh herbs and panco bread crumbs
Pixie - I'm coming over.
Happy Cook - you are a wicked woman
Asha - you were caught napping :)
DaviMack - Whenever I get there and see him, I'll be sure to pass on your message.
Bellini Valli I Know! (lol)
Tigerfish - always
Homecooked - I'll email it to you.
Seena - that would have been way too spicy :D I made it with tomato sauce
Meeta & Ivy - the recipe is on the way! Enjoy!
Rasa M - yes I do
Annemarie - maybe it is time :D
Lori-Lynn - I've never had it grilled. Would love to try it that way.
Argus -sounds sooooo tasty!
Jeena - will be along soon
Rachel - interesting
Karin - I'm intrigued and will email you for more details
Mary - I heart you!
Maryann - I'd love to!
Jenndz - I know!
Madhumita - I don't have your email address :( so you'll have to email me (tasteslikehome@gmail.com) and I will send you the recipe.
Lisa - thank heavens for such memorable meals.
TBC - I thought I was :O
My heartfelt thanks as always to Saswati, Pamela, Christine, Mamtha, Alpa, Lyndia, Tiina, Swati, Deborah, Sra, Lyrical Lemongrass, Nags, Shn, Sukanya, Rosa, Dana, Fork full of Spaghetti, Rosie, Kelly-Jane, Elle, Chris, Caff. Cowgirl, Flo, David, Bren, Flying Stars, David, Anamika, Melisa, Katy, Nanditha, Nora B, Kevin, Maybahay, Toni, Valentina, Keva, WMW, Anuzi, Pel, Durianberry, Hazel, M & Ms, Veron and Kiriel
A very warm welcome to Ana, Kits Chow, and N33ma - your comments and visits are very much appreciated. Do come back when you have the time.
Claudia - I cannot speak a word of Italian and yet I know that we will communicate effectively :) Welcome!
Why is it that the only days I could kill to eat meat are Fridays in lent as well as Ash Wednesday?!
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