Octopus?
 

Got a small octupus from the fish man yesterday. He kindly removed the eyes and beak and innards but I still have no idea what to do with it! Coat in flour and fry with lemon and garlic? Grill? Stir fry? Should I marinade?

Also, how long does it take too cook and is it edible raw?

Ta muchy

Dave

For those that are interested this is what I found out about cooking octopus:

- The younger the better as it has a better texture and is generally less tough.

- In Greece the fishermen smack the octopodes against the rocks to tenderise them. One can beat them with a mallet or rolling pin or alternatively freeze them for a period (Stein). It is considered that freezing improves their flavour but I doubt that an extended period would make more of a difference than just a slow freeze. However I have no knowledge of sub-zero food storage save that ice crystals destroy cell structure.

- Several recipes including an Elizabeth David one call for an extended period of cooking, 4-5 hours. I found that after dry frying to release and evaporate the mositure, then browning in oil a subsequent 30 minutes in the pressure cooker with the other ingredients sufficed.

- A common theme seems to be, tomatoes, red wine vinegar, shallots (browned with octpus), red wine, bay and oregano. This gives a wonderful med flavor, strong aroma and rich sauce. I had mine with rice cooked with aubergine and yogurt mixed with lemon and tahini.

Isn't that baba ghanoush (or however you spell it) - eggplant, tahini, lemon and yogurt...

sounds tasty...

We eat octopus regularly here in portugal. one of the most popular dishes is arroz de polvo. It's pretty easy to make and tastes delicious.

First you should get the fishmonger to clean the octopus for you - as avernus' did.

Then you should rinse the octopus in tap water and place it either in a regular large pot or a pressure cooker. The pressure cooker does wonders for tenderness. Fill the pan/cooker with water until it just covers the octopus, adda little sea salt, and a peeled onion that you have scored. boil the octopus for an hour in a pan or 1/2 hour in the pressure cooker.Once it's ready, it should have turned a pink/purple colour (the skin anyway, the flesh is white).

Remove the octopus but reserve the water. Chop the octopus into small 1/2 inch pieces, removing most of the flesh under a running tap (leave some as it adds flavour and colour). Set aside. You may need more than one octopus depending on how much they shrink.

In a large pot, fry a large diced onion and 2 finely diced garlic cloves in 2 tablesppons of olive oil or more (depending on your preference). When the onion has softened, add one chopped deseeded tomato, a squirt of tomato paste, and 1/4 cup of red wine. Let that fry a little, then add 1/3 cup of rice, and twice that in water - the water that the octopus boiled in, but strain it first! Don't forget to add salt to taste.

Leave to cook until the rice is tender and ready or if the pot is drying out beofre that, add a little more of the water. Just before the rice is cooked, add the chopped octopus pieces.

At the very end, some chopped coriander works very well. I also cheat and sometimes add a slug of worcestershire sauce when I add the tomato - works well.

Sounds simple but it's actually really yummy - a real favourite here. The rice should have some liquid, and not be totally dry. We call it "arroz de polvo malandro", which literally means naughty octopus rice - though the naughty bit refers to the rice not being dry and instead is juicy.

fire up your grill. make a dressing of olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, minced garlic and fresh oregano. reserve half of this dressing, slice your octopus across 1/2" thick, and marinate with the remaining half of the dressing. peel, halve and core some apples, sprinkle them with lemon juice and set aside. get some salad greens (I prefer arugula with octopus), tomatoes, paper-thin red onions, or whatever else you want to add to the salad, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

throw your apples on the grill. when the first sides of the apples have start to caramelize, turn them, wait a few minutes then add your octopus. cook until they're a couple shades away from being solid white, then remove everything and go back to your salad. lightly dress the salad, top with grilled apple and octopus and a little more of that dressing on top. serve with hummus and pita bread

Next time I go to Portugal I'll make a point of eating octopus, I used to enjoy the lulas (sp?) there, in fact all the sea food is outstanding. There was this little place in Armacao de Pera on the south coast where you paid something like 1000 escudos (old money) and had as much fish, caught that day, as you could eat.

Thanky you for both the recipes, they sound lovely I'll give them a go next time I can get hold of octopus.

Mal, babaganoush is lovely and called Poor Mans Caviar for a good reason! I used the yog and tahini as a dressing for both dishes though. Claudia Roden (who I'm seeing talk next week!!!) gives a simple recipe in her Book of Middle Eastern Cooking, basically roast the auberinges (and some garlic) and scrape out the middle when cooked. Mix with lemon, tahini and the crushed garlic (can be raw!) to taste. serve chilled.

I've been making this one for years - without the tahini... and tons of lemon juice so the eggplant/aubergine doesn't discolor... in the summer, i'll throw in some chopped up fresh tomatoes at the very end...yummmmmm