#fresh octopus

[gelato444]

food spam from LA and SD

[askwhatsforlunch]

Octopus in Tomato Sauce

This fragrant, colourful and absolutely delicious Octopus in Tomato Sauce make a comforting and warming stew on a chill and rainy Spring day --these happen! Happy Monday!

Ingredients (serves 2):

3 bay leaves

1 heaped teaspoon coarse sea salt

700 grams/1.5 pound fresh octopus tentacles, rinsed

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 small hot red chili pepper

half a dozen large leaves Garden Basil

1 onion

half a small courgette, rinsed

1 tablespoon Modena Balsamic Vinegar

4 small, ripe tomatoes, rinsed

1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel or sea salt flakes

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 small lemon

1 teaspoon caster sugar

2 tablespoons Chili and Herb Oil

a small bunch fresh Parsley, Chervil and Chives

Place bay leaves in a large pot. Cover with water and with a lid, and bring to the boil over a high flame. Stir in coarse sea salt until completely dissolved, and then plunge in the octopus tentacles. Reduce heat to medium, cover with the lid, and cook, about half an hour.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Add dried thyme and oregano, and fry, 1 minute.

Thinly slice red chili and stir into the pot. Cook, a couple of minutes more. Finely chop Garden Basil, and stir it in.

Peel and finely chop onion. Stir into the pot, and cook, 3 minutes, until just softened.

Dice courgette, and add to the pot, coating in herbs and oil, 3 minutes more.

Deglaze with Balasamic Vinegar. Cook out, 1 minute.

Dice and roughly chop tomatoes, and stir them into the pot along with their juice. Season with fleur de sel and black pepper. Thoroughly squeeze in the juice of the whole lemon. 

As the mixture comes to a boil, gradually stir in about 1 1/2 cup of the octopus cooking water. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, until slightly reduced. Keep hot over a low flame.

Once the octopus is cooked, lift out of its cooking water (keep it for fish or seafood soups or stews, or risotti...) and place onto a cutting board. Allow to cool slightly, before cutting into generous chunks.

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add Chili and Herb Oil. Once hot, add octopus chunks and sauté, a couple of minutes.

Finely chop Parsley, Chervil and Chives and add half to the octopus. Sauté, a few seconds more, before stirring into the tomato and courgette sauce.

Serve Octopus in Tomato Sauce hot, sprinkled with remaining chopped Parsley, Chervil and Chives, and Parmesan Polenta. A light and crisp dry white wine, like a Pinot Grigio or a Côtes de Gascogne, pairs beautifully with it!

[fieriframes]

[We're going to add the octopus. So the octopus is not going to get any salting, nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends. No. It's fresh octopus, so it doesn't need it. Got it. We're going to...]

[fieriframes]

[We're going to add the octopus. So the octopus is not going to get any salting, though my students say cyning, not cunning. No. It's fresh octopus, so it doesn't need it. Got it. We're going to...]

[bradleysfishuk]

Buy Frozen Squid & Octopus Online - Bradley’s Fish Factory is supplying the Frozen & Prepared Squid Octopus with great prices.

[pleasurehouseoysters]

Fresh octopus on ice

[tiffypoo]

Yesterday's post was just a teaser! I tried 산낙지 (San Nakji), which means fresh(ly killed) octopus. We were at lunch for 30 minutes, so the dish "settled" down... or so I thought. But when I went to pick a piece up, they would start squirming again. 

My coteacher got a kick from watching me struggle with my chopstick and the tentacles. She also would encourage me to eat the bigger pieces that suctioned onto the roof of my mouth. 

Overall, it was a really interesting experience. Not sure if I would eat it again because it had a really fishy taste and because I feel so inhumane knowing that "in some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia". (Wikipedia)