Camping by the beach was bringing back unforgettable memories from our time in 2004 travelling around Australia. Back then, we were towing a fishing boat and living in a tent. Now we were towing, and living, in a camper trailer and we had a kayak to fish from. We were camped at The Gap on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.

Our very first attempted of fishing from a kayak was a little daunting – for me at least. The water was cold, and I did not relish falling in. There was a little wind, and the water was choppy, and I worried about the balance of the kayak. Probably not the best time for our maiden voyage especially as we had a couple of fishing rods, a crab net and a squid jig on a reel.

We put the net in and then attempted some fishing. After a while, with no luck, we decided we’d better check the crab net. As there was a bit of current, and chop we had to paddle against to keep balance, we had drifted quite some distance from the net. The float, a plastic water bottle, was not very visible. In fact, I am super surprised we even found it. We did, and all we caught was a rock crab. After returning the little crab back to his watery home, we put the squid jig in and soon Dwayne had a hit. Unfortunately, the squid got away. He had three more squid escape before he bagged one. Now a happy little fisherman, he said we could paddle for shore.

Back on shore, Dwayne cleaned the squid and then got the campfire lit and heated the oil. In the meantime, I crumbed the squid rings and made a salad.

Our Camp Kitchen 

We were camped at The Gap, on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Read about our stay at The Gap it here.

Crumbed Calamari

Ingredients

2/3 cup of flour
2 cups of bread crumbs
2 eggs, whisked
1 large calamari (squid)
Rice bran oil for deep frying
Salt and pepper

Method

Remove the head, tentacles and wings from the cleaned squid. (You can crumb the tentacles and wings as well). Cut the tube into rings. 

Prepare the crumbing ingredients in three shallow dishes. 1. flour 2. whisked egg 3. breadcrumbs.

Lightly coat a squid ring with the flour. Then dip the squid in egg and then coat well in crumbs. Set it on a plate and repeat with the rest of the squid.

While I crumbed the squid, Dwayne heated the oil over the fire. Once the oil was hot enough (check by testing a small piece of squid), Dwayne fried the squid in three batches.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with a tasty salad and a zesty dressing.