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Wine & Food

Calamari with Ginger and Herb Butter

by Charlie Trotter

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch fresh ground pepper
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups peanut oil
• 1 pound calamari, cleaned
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 6 to 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon peeled and minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon minced basil
• 2 tablespoons minced chives

Heat oil to 375 degrees.

Skin the calamari and rinse under running water. Drain well, then slice into rings.

Mix the salt, pepper, cayenne, cornmeal and flour until thoroughly combined. Dip the calamari into the buttermilk and then toss with the cornmeal and flour mixture to coat. Make sure it is coated evenly. Lower into the hot fat. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Meanwhile melt the butter and, when it becomes frothy, add the ginger, garlic and herbs and swirl to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the butter sauce over the calamari and garnish with a wedge of lemon.

The calamari can be pan fried in a small amount of oil rather than deep fried if you prefer. This recipe is also delectable when made with shelled jumbo shrimp or whole soft shell crabs.
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Cindy Pawlcyn

Real Restaurants: Mustards Grill, Fog City Diner, Tra Vigne, Bix, Bistro Roti and Buckeye Roadhouse in San Francisco and The Napa Valley
Cindy Pawlcyn, executive chef and owner of six California restaurants, has been working in professional kitchens since she was 13 years old. Food was an important part of growing up in the Pawlcyn household. Her father's Russian heritage and her mother's Norwegian and German roots were reflected in the great variety of ingredients used in their family meals. As Cindy's interest and aptitude for cooking developed, her mother encouraged her by finding suitable classes for her to attend. By the time she was in high school, she was working five nights a week for a local kitchen equipment company and taking cooking classes. Cindy graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, receiving a degree with honors from the hotel and restaurant administration program. She then worked as a sous chef at the Pump Room in Chicago, where she met her future partners in Real Restaurants, Bill Higgins and Bill Upson.

The trio opened Mustards Grill in the Napa Valley in 1983 with the goal of "redefining and enhancing our native cuisine and giving it the presence it rightfully deserves." The success of Mustards led to a more ambitious concept, the Fog City Diner in San Francisco, a smash hit from the moment the doors opened in 1985. Tra Vigne, BIX, Bistro Rôti and the Buckeye Roadhouse followed, each with its own personality. In 1994, Real Restaurants opened the Buckhead Roadhouse in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Ajax Tavern in Aspen, Colorado; Café Museo in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a Fog City Diner in Dallas. In early 1996, a Fog City Diner opened in Las Vegas.

In 1985 Cindy was named one of America's Top Twenty-Five Chefs by Food & Wine, and in 1988, she was inducted into the Who's Who of Cooking in America. She has been featured in Bon Appétit, Rolling Stone and Gourmet as well as in cookbooks by Irene Chambers, Martha Stewart and James McNair. Her own cookbook, The Fog City Diner Cookbook, was published in 1993, and a Mustards Grill cookbook is in the works.
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