Oyster Gorge

For a belated birthday gift, friends brought me and Taste Tester 100 (yeah that's right) oysters from the fintastic Quality Seafood . See what I did there? Fin? I'm here all week, folks.

So to complement it, I took on my a challenge I've been pussyfooting(hehe) around for years: calamari fritti . I realize it's not hard to fry stuff, but calamari is so easy to get wrong. I've had it all over, often terribly chewey, and I still think the best is at North by Northwest restaurant and brewery here in town. It's so lightly fried it looks undercooked, a beautiful pale shade of tan. Their dipping sauce is untraditional, a type of stone-ground mustard aoili, and I plan to rip off their whole show tonight.

Here's the recipe I think sounds best:

• 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 pound squid, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch rings

However, instead of oregano I'll add lots of other seasonings...maybe fresh chopped parsley, Old Bay seasoning, and something spicy...

Will update when I know whether it was a success or total failure...