Greece – Marinated Baby Octopus Salad

Famed for  its myths and legends, exquisite islands and  mountain ranges, the Hellenic Republic of Greece is a south eastern European nation located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Considered the cradle of Western civilisation, people have been writing about the wisdoms and wonders of Greece for 3000 years. It’s been a cultural  powerhouse since antiquity, but there is far more to Greece than stories. 

 

Greece has made significant contributions to the food diversity of the World due to the diaspora of its people who have passionately carried their Mediterranean food practices with them as they migrated across the globe and shared them in the new countries they have called home. Greek cuisine is famously hearty, bold and unpretentious. Founded on a triad of olive oil wheat and wine, it is renowned for  its unique culinary blending of flavours that allow ingredients to speak for themselves.  

 

The ocean and mountain landscapes that dominate Greece are twin mothers to the key ingredients in the kitchens of Greek cooks. Seafood and nimble footed hill-climbing goats/sheep (and the milk, cheese and yoghurt they provide), are the stars of the offering alongside garden produce such as capsicums, olives, nuts, onions, tomatoes, spinach, eggplants and lemons. What really sets Greek food apart from other cuisines is its combination of citrus flavours with  aromatics such as bay laurel, oregano, mint, garlic, rosemary, cumin, coriander, thyme, parsley, peppers and dill.   

The  

GREEK

recipe I want to share with you here is

Marinated Baby Octopus Salad

MARINATED  OCTOPUS SALAD

TIPS

This used to be a very smelly hands-on and time consuming dish to make. I eliminated the smelly part and halved the prep time by buying Octopus that was already gutted, de-inked and de-beaked from  my local Fish Mongers. It is still a time consuming dish to make so I suggest you buy  reasonable quality wine to make it with so you have something nice to sip on whilst you cook!

This dish will still take 3-4 hours to make if you buy the octopus already cleaned  (if you have to gut it first add another hour), so begin it around lunchtime or you will be up all night! Also, it is best to prepare it the day before you want to eat it so that the lime marinade has time to infuse its flavours into the octopus flesh. Once it is made this dish will last for several days as the marinade has a preserving effect. 

 

The cooking process significantly reduced the volume of the octopus. You will  only get about 3 cups of cooked octopus from 2 kg of uncooked octopus 

 

INGREDIENTS FOR MARINATED OCTOPUS: 

·        2 kg cleaned Octopus (whole baby octopus or tentacles of large octopus)

·        4 sticks celery, washed and roughly chopped

·        2 carrots, roughly chopped

·        2 onions, skinned and roughly chopped

·        3 sprigs fresh rosemary 

·        red and white wine; 1 large cup each

·        4 parsley stalks

·        1 tbs peppercorns

·        1 lemon cut in half

·        6 bay leaves

·        2-3 limes

·        2 tbs wholegrain mustard

·        200 ml white wine vinegar 

·        some extra white wine vinegar for rinsing the octopus during skinning

·        400 ml olive oil

·        salt and pepper to taste

 

METHOD:

1.     Clean octopus (if you have to)

2.     Put octopus in a large pot with celery, carrot, onion, rosemary, red and white wine, lemon, bay leaves, parsley stalks and peppercorns

3.     Cover with water and bring to boil then turn back heat  to  simmer and cook for 1 to 2 hours (or more depending on the size of the octopus) until the flesh is tender and skin peeling off

4.     Make sure all the ingredient in the pot remain covered by  liquid during the entire cooking time. If the  liquid in the pot evaporates too much add extra water to cover

5.     Whilst the octopus is cooking make the marinade

6.     Combine lime zest and juice, seed mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large glass jar that has an airtight lid and mix well

7.     Taste test and add more lime if needed; you want the dominant flavour of the  marinade to be tangy not oily

8.     When the octopus is cooked  take the pot off the heat and cool on the bench for about ½  an hour

9.     Now you are ready to de-sucker and skin the octopus.

10. note: If you have cooked baby  octopus  it is likely that the body and the tentacles will  be separated from each other due to the cooking process and will be very delicate. Tentacles of larger octopus will be firmer but still need to be handled carefully

11. Put a bowl of salted water beside you so you can wash your hands at intervals and have another bowl of  vinegar to rinse  the Octopus once it is de-suckered

12. Wash your hands thoroughly before commencing

13. Gently peel/rub  skin and suckers from the cooked octopus with your fingers. This will take time; perhaps ¾ of an hour or more. Go gently or you will pull the octopus tentacles into pieces. 

14. The octopus will look shell-pink once it is de-skinned

15. As you go, place the de-skinned  and rinsed octopus into the jar of  marinade 

16. If octopus isn’t completely covered when you are finished add enough extra oil & vinegar to cover. The marinade will preserve the octopus from decaying/drying out so you don’t want any octopus to be uncovered.

17. Shake the jar to mix all ingredients around the octopus; then refrigerate.

18. Over the next hour turn/shake the jar to ensure all the flavours of the marinade permeate the octopus flesh.

19. To serve: give the jar a good stir then spoon octopus into a dish or  onto a plate of salad greens.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:

When you finish de-skinning the octopus you will have to do something with the pot of cooking liquid, vegies etc that is now full of discarded octopus skin. If you have decided to drink the cooking wine whilst making this dish it is important to have a forward plan for what you are going to do with this. Don’t ever leave it for tomorrow whilst you think about what to do with it or you will have every fly for 2 km desperate to get into your kitchen. If you keep  pigs or poultry you can feed it to them. Or you could bury it in the yard if you or your neighbours  don’t have a dog that likes to dig up smelly stuff. I live in suburbia so I flush it down the toilet!

 

INGEREDEINTS FOR OCTOPUS SALAD

The following ingredients are a guide only for 1 meze platter to share between 2- 4. You can use more or less of any ingredients as you prefer, or make the salad and serve individual plates topped with the octopus as an entre

 

·      ½ cup pickled octopus, cut in bight sized pieces (or equivalent baby octopus)  

·      ½ cucumber, cut in 1 cm dice

·      1-2 ripe tomato, cut in 1 cm dice

·      8 marinated artichoke hearts, cut in quarters

·      A slice off the side of 3 different coloured capsicums, cut in 1 cm dice

·      ½ cup rocket

·      12 black olives, pitted

·      1 tbs capers

·      2-4 tbs octopus marinade

·      6 or 8  fresh sprigs of flat leaf parsley

·      a few parley flowers if you grow them or can get them for garnish

 

NOTE: The oil will separate from the vinegar etc in the octopus marinade over time, so make sure to gently stir ( or if the lid is good turn the jar upside down a few times) to ensure that the octopus is evenly coated with all marinade ingredients and that the marinade you take out to use as salad dressing is indeed a vinaigrette type blend not just oil that has floated to the top of the jar. 

 

METHOD:

1.    mix the octopus, cucumber, tomato, olives, artichoke and capsicum together in a bowl along with a few tablespoons of the octopus marinade

2.    fan the rocket out across a serving plate

3.    mound the octopus mix onto the rocket 

4.    sprinkle the top with the capers

5.    garnish with parsley drizzle a bit more octopus marinade over the salad

6.    finish with the parsley flowers as final garnish

These are Q-Zine original recipes adapted from several learnt as a young Chef working for Greek Restaurateur  Michael Kassim in Sydney, Australia, in the 1980s. The foundation of the Marinated Octopus recipe comes from Michael’s Mother’s family cookbook that was written  a century ago in Greece. I am guessing her Mother or Grand Mother or  their Sisters  taught  her how to cook octopus, just as their Mothers or Grand Mothers taught the women of their family a century earlier.  So special x