Waffle Fries and Biology – Fried Calamari with Broccoli Rabe, Cherry Peppers, and Gorgonzola

Over my 30-year career as a teacher I’ve used many diverse techniques to help my students. But I was always at my best when I could relate a topic to something a typical teenager could understand. Often it was food.

There were several themes that repeated themselves in different ways throughout the 10^th grade Biology course I taught for most of my career: homeostasis (maintenance of constant internal conditions), diversity of living things, and the relationship between organisms’ structures and the function of these structures, for example. Another was the importance of surface area, and French fries were the perfect way to explain it.

The more surface area there is, the more efficient the structure. The walls of our small intestines, for example, are lined with villi and microvilli, tiny protrusions that increase the surface area and therefore the amount of nutrients that can be absorbed through the lining of this digestive organ. The internal structures of mitochondria, organelles that act as the powerhouses of our cells, have lots of folds – more surface area – so that more chemical reactions can take place. And we chew what we eat, yes to make it easier to swallow, but also because it increases the surface area of our food for improved efficiency of chemical digestion by enzymes. With more surface area, a greater amount of enzymes are in contact with more food, and better digestion is the result.

Many students had difficulty understanding this concept. So, what did I talk about? French fries, of course, and waffle fries in particular.

My students probably thought I was crazy asking in the middle of class who liked French fries. Without fail, everyone raised their hand. And then we discussed different styles and cuts of fries; shoestring, steak fries, crinkle cut, curly, wedges, even those awful mushy smiley faces. I would often conduct an ad-hoc poll to see what the favorites were. Ultimately, many students agreed that waffle fries were an excellent form of French fry. It was then up to me to explain why they are so good.

“Fries are best when they are crispy,” I would tell them, everyone nodding their heads in agreement. “And they get crispy when the outside of the potato pieces sears in hot oil.” This made sense to them. “Therefore, the more potato in contact with oil, the better the fries.” It was hard for them to argue as I pivoted back to waffle fries. “With that extra surface area on waffle fries, because of the way they are cut,” I would say “we end up with more delicious crispiness, making them excellent fries.” It was easy to understand.

It is the same in Biology, whether we are talking about the hundreds of millions of tiny alveoli in our lungs adding surface area and allowing us to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, the feathery structures making up a fish’s gills, or the tiny extensions on plants called root hairs which increase water and nutrient absorption. With more surface area, there is more space for things to happen, whether it is absorption, excretion, chemical reactions, or even the crisping up of fried potatoes.

When the theme of increased surface area came up at different times throughout the year, some student would blurt out “waffle fries.” I would smile and compliment them, recognizing they had understood the concept. Over the years I’ve had several students tell me that for the rest of their lives, whenever they eat waffle fries, they will think about both the importance of surface area to living organisms and me. Lessons in Biology class can take on so many forms.

Fried Calamari with Broccoli Rabe, Cherry Peppers, and Gorgonzola

Everyone with any reasonable sense knows that the best part of a plate of fried calamari is the tentacles. Why? Because, like waffle fries, there is more surface area for more fried goodness. And fried calamari is especially good when paired with garlicky broccoli rabe, spicy cherry peppers, and salty gorgonzola cheese, an appetizer I have enjoyed on numerous occasions at Emilio’s, an Italian restaurant not far from my home on Long Island.

As for actually frying the calamari, there are lots of variations on coatings. Some prefer a batter, and many years ago I used a recipe from Union Square Cafe in which they combined equal quantities of flour and crushed graham crackers to coat the squid. However, now I am partial to the recipe from Serious Eats used here, which uses corn starch in addition to flour, making for a particularly crunchy coating, especially on the tentacles with their high surface area.

serves 2 as a main course, about 1 hour

For the calamari:

½ cup milk

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

1 pound cleaned squid, bodies sliced into ¾-inch thick rings, tentacles separated from bodies and left whole

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

⅓ cup cornstarch

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp. baking powder

vegetable, canola, or other neutral oil for frying

For the broccoli rabe:

1 bunch (about 1 lb.) fresh broccoli rabe

2 Tbsp. plus ¼ tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste

1 Tbsp. olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

¼ cup sliced, pickled cherry peppers, plus brine from the jar

¼ cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Prepare the calamari:

1. Stir milk and salt together in a bowl large enough to hold calamari. Add squid and set aside covered in the refrigerator for at least a half hour and up to two hours.
2. In a separate large bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, pepper, and baking powder.
3. Preheat oven to 200 ^oF to keep fried calamari warm as it will be cooked in multiple batches. Lay wire racks in two separate rimmed sheet pans. Place a colander on one and a layer of paper towels on the other.
4. Once the calamari has rested in the refrigerator, remove half of squid from milk mixture using your hands, allowing excess liquid to drain back into bowl, then transfer it to flour mixture. Toss the squid to coat evenly. Gently shake off excess flour and transfer squid to colander set over wire rack. Shake colander to sift out any excess flour, then transfer squid in a single layer to wire rack. Repeat with remaining squid. Let dredged squid rest for 15 minutes and discard milk and remaining flour. Work on broccoli rabe while waiting.
5. Heat enough oil to fry calamari in batches in a heavy pot with tall sides. When oil is 365 ^oF or hot enough that a little flour or a piece of squid immediately sizzles and bubbles vigorously, add some of the squid, making sure the bubbling oil does not get close to overflowing the pot. Stir occasionally to separate the pieces and cook until golden and crispy, about three minutes.
6. Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove the fried calamari from the oil and place on the paper towel-lined wire rack. Immediately sprinkle on salt. Place sheet pan with calamari in the preheated oven.
7. Wait for the oil to come up to temperature again and fry another batch of calamari, repeating until done.

Prepare the broccoli rabe:

1. Trim and discard thick stems. Separate remaining stems, leaves, and florets to cook separately. Cut stems into ¼ to ½-inch long pieces. Cut leaves into roughly ½-inch thick strips. Bring a 5-quart pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt. Add the stems and cook for about 1 minute. Add the leaves and florets and cook an additional minute. The broccoli rabe should be bright green and just barely cooked. Remove from water with a slotted spoon or spider and rinse broccoli rabe in cold water to stop the cooking. When cool enough to handle, gently squeeze out excess water. Set aside.
2. When ready to eat, warm olive oil over medium heat in a 10 or 12-inch heavy skillet. Add garlic. Stir occasionally for a few minutes until the oil is flavored and garlic is golden brown. Turn heat to medium-high and add reserved broccoli rabe, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, black pepper, sliced cherry peppers, and 2 tablespoons of brine from the jar of cherry peppers. Cook, tossing and stirring, for a minute or two until warmed through.
3. Divide broccoli rabe among two plates, top with fried calamari and sprinkle with gorgonzola cheese. Enjoy hot.

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