Chargrilled octopus

By: Rebecca Seal
From: The Islands of Greece
Serves: 4 as a starter or meze
Photographer: Steven Joyce

Octopus is a staple of Greek island coastal cooking and you will often see little mesh-fronted boxes outside restaurants along the harbour, filled with octopus drying in the breeze. Drying them for a couple of days tenderises the meat, and the wire-framed boxes prevent local cats from making a feast of them. Octopus needs a long slow boil before char-grilling, otherwise it will be tough. Ask your fishmonger to prepare it for you by removing the head and mouth parts, as all you really want are the arms.

This recipe works just as well with frozen octopus as with fresh. It is easy to find in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese or Asian stores if your fishmonger doesn’t stock it.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1	raw octopus, defrosted if frozen, arms only
splash	olive oil, for cooking
2 tablespoons	extra-virgin olive oil, for dressing
1 tablespoon	balsamic vinegar
	freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon	dried greek oregano
	salt, if needed

Method

Place the octopus arms in a large saucepan with a lid, turn the heat to high and bring to the boil without any added liquid, as it will release plenty of its own. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour (you could add peppercorns, fennel seeds or coriander seeds if you fancy). Remove it from the liquid, drain and pat dry with paper towels.
Get a griddle pan hot over a high heat and add a splash of olive oil to grease the pan and the octopus. When charred all over, slice each piece on the diagonal into pieces about 5 mm thick.
Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, black pepper and Greek oregano and use this to lightly dress the octopus. Taste to see if the dish needs a little salt. Serve warm or cool.

Tags:: The Islands of Greece; Rebecca; Seal; Greek; Greece; Europe; European; Mediterranean

Chargrilled octopus

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