My success rate with seafood generally as a cook isn't too high, but I cooked this last night and it's officially the best seafood dish I've ever cooked, and since I'm proud of myself I thought I'd share the recipe (which I heavily modified). This will have the octopus so tender it will melt in your mouth.

Take about a pound of baby octopus and marinade it for 4-12 hours in a light bodied red wine (I used Brown Brothers Tarrango, but a bo-jolly or a lighter grenache would do nicely as well). Just enough to cover the octopi. Add a clove or 2 of crushed garlic, some extra virgin olive oil, a good crack of pepper and a little chopped basil to the marinade.

Chop 1 large onion into a fine dice and fry over a low heat with some finely minced garlic, about 2 cloves or so. Heat until the onion has softened and started to get golden. Whack in 1 cup of the marinade liquid, 1 tin of tomatoes and a cup of fish stock, break up the tomatoes with the side of a spoon. Bring to a boil then toss in the octopus, throwing away any excess marinade. bring back to a slow simmer. Add pepper and salt to taste and some finely chopped sage and a couple of bay leaves.

Let this simmer away over a low heat for 90 minutes, with the frypan lid slightly ajar, then chuck in a small jar of clams and their liquid and let this heat through for about 5 minutes.

Serve on couscous, which soaks up the juice nicely. Serves 4 normal people, or 2 seafood pigs. Serve with a light red wine, the one used in the marinade should be fine.

By the way for the pedants out there I'm a signed up member of the TLAR (That Looks About Right) measurement society.

For fun I'll also add in the side dish I did to go with it, that just has the most spectacular presentation for a vegetable dish.
Roast 4 or 5 medium beetroot in a 325F oven for 70 minutes or so. Take out of the oven and allow to cool slightly.

Take 2 large onions and thinly slice them using a mandolin slicer set to 1/8" if you have one.
Heat the onion slices in some butter until they get golden and are starting to soften, stirring often

In the meantime peel the beetroot and slice them into roundels about 1/8" thick
Toss the beetroot in with the onions, heating through and tossing the pan regularly for about 5 minutes.

Add about 3 or 4 handfuls of baby spinach leaves and toss with the onions and beetroot until the spinach just starts to wilt.
The deep red of the beetroot matches with the deep green of the spinach and the onion will have just started to pick up some red on the edges, and this looks superb. The sweetness of the beetroot and onion is contrasted to the slightly bitter taste of the spinach.

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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer

For the non-aussies out there, bo-jolly = beaujolais

Sounds great Pauly. I shall try it.

oops, forgot to add - add a good squirt of fish sauce or soy sauce (cook's choice) at the point where you're adding the liquid ingredients for the simmer.

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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer

And strike me pink Vinserve, you're giving the Seppos the good oil on how to chinwag like a dinki di banana bender.

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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer

My wife and I love octopus. This is one of our favorites:

Baby octopus and grape tomato salad

Grill a pound of baby octopus. Drizzle with some good olive oil and lots of lemon while on the grill. Also, salt and pepper as soon as they're done. Grilling baby octopus is easier if you skewer them otherwise they may fall thru the grate.

Mix octopus with grape tomatoes, cut in half, crumbled feta cheese and coarsely chopped fresh mint. Drizzle with more olive oil and lemon, add more salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with a Sauv Blank from NZ or the Loire.

We had some great octopus last night, super simple.

A very basic marinade all day (worcestershire sauce, cheap white wine, dunno what else, my hubby did it).

Grilled it with mesquite, afterwards dumped some extra virgin olive oil with raw minced garlic on it.

Paired great with a nice rich Rosso di Montepulciano!

The trick? QUALITY. Those octopus were nice and firm from the meat counter where we bought them. We've done this kind of thing several times with mixed results, the quality of the octopus is key.

Don't buy limp-looking octopus!!

Nancy

quote:

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Originally posted by Pauly:
And strike me pink Vinserve, you're giving the Seppos the good oil on how to chinwag like a dinki di banana bender.

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OK I demand a translation as to what the hell Pauly just said.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

i second that!!!!

OK, but only because there was a seconder,

"Strike me pink" - you can substitute "crikey"
"Seppos" - Americans
"The good oil" - not a furphy. Reliable information.
"chinwag" - talk
"dinki di" - fair dinkum, ridgy didge, genuine
"banana bender" - Queenslander.

Try a search for "strine" we had a quite a discussion on Aussie slang a while back.

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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer

thanks pauly,
couldn't wait for my brotherinlaw he lived an went to school their. some were near eagles point. (ford people)
thanks