Spanish Squid Sandwich of Madrid: Bocadillo de Calamares

In Madrid this is a famous sandwich, which is interesting, seeing that Madrid is in the middle of the country, not near the sea. They tend not to use lots of fancy toppings on this squid sandwich in Madrid, rather just a little lemon juice, and some people don't even add that. In Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, squid sandwiches are topped with a spicy tomato sauce, called "salsa brava," and "aioli," a garlic mayonnaise. Cold beer is the common beverage to accompany a "Bocadillo de Calamares" in Spain.   

You can use sub sandwich rolls (also called hoagie rolls) or small baguettes. If you want to be authentic, the roll or baguette should not be cut completely through, so that it forms a hinged roll, similar to an American hotdog bun. If you're located near sources of squid, you can likely get squid in various sizes, then clean them and cut them to your own preference; otherwise, it's more likely that you will find frozen cleaned squid in packages at your supermarket or seafood shop. All you need do is thaw them, rinse them and slice them. This is an extremely easy sandwich to prepare. By the way, the people of Madrid are known in Spanish as "Madrileños."    

Ingredients:

squid rings (1/2 inch to 1 inch)
flour
salt
olive oil (enough to give about 2/3 inch in the skillet/pan)
sub rolls/hoagie rolls, or small baguettes, split on one side only
lemon wedge

Heat the oil in a pan or skillet. Salt the squid, put the flour into a storage container with a lid or into a sealable plastic bag and then add the squid. Snap on the lid of the container or seal the bag and shake the container or the bag until the squid are coated with the flour. Shake excess flour from the squid and then add the squid to the hot oil. Fry until the squid are lightly browned, then remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. Of course if you have a deep fryer, you can fry the squid that way. Put a generous amount of squid into each split roll. Add a squeeze or two of lemon juice if desired.  

A squid sandwich ("Bocadillo de Calamares") on a split baguette...

WORD HISTORY:
Calamari-This word is distantly related, through Indo European, to English "halm" (also spelled "haulm"), a word from the Germanic roots of English and meaning, "a plant stalk," also, "a straw;" that is, "dried plant stalk used for animal fodder or bedding." It goes back to Indo European "kolehmos," which meant "reed;" thus also, "shaft, firm straw." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "kálamos," meaning, "reed, hollow stalk;" thus also, "arrow, writing pen, measuring stick." This was borrowed by Latin as "calamus," meaning, "reed, plant stalk, writing pen," which produced the Latin adjective "calamarius," meaning, "of or about a writing pen." This passed into Italian as "calamaro," meaning, "a squid" (for its tubular, pen like shape and its ink), with "calamari" as the plural. The plural form was borrowed by English in the second half of the 1500s.