Monday 16 March 2015

Day 23: March 16, 2015: Quick and Easy Baby Octopus in Marinara Sauce - Γρήγορο και Εύκολο Χταποδάκι με Σάλτσα Μαρινάρα

Who doesn't like a quick meal?  It is a treat to be able to fix dinner in 15 minutes, without picking up the telephone for take-out or delivery.  We think there are some shortcuts worth sharing to try to simplify our lives.  And, by taking less time to prepare the food, we have more time to focus on our spiritual lives.  So, since this is a quick meal to make, we are going to make this a quick entry, too!

For this recipe, you will need the following:

1 package baby octopus (we used a 300 g package of frozen baby octopus)
1 cup Spaghetti/Marinara sauce


Here are the packages that we bought of the frozen baby octopus.  You can pick these up in many Asian grocery stores.  We like to have one on hand in the freezer for those days when you just don't have much time to prepare food.




When you open the package, there are 6 to 8 baby octopi, frozen, and stuck together.  To make this dish, it is okay to keep them frozen.  The first step in the directions is to boil the octopus for 5 minutes.  Drop the frozen block into the boiling water.  You do not need salt or seasoning or anything else, just water.  Set your timer for 5 minutes, though.  If you cook the octopus longer, you will have a chewy, rubbery dish.




After five minutes of boiling, you will see that the skin of the octopus will turn dark purple-brown.  That's a good sign.  Also, the tentacles will curl at the ends, which is the typical indicator that the octopus is cooked.  Allow the octopus to cool for a minute, long enough to be able to handle them.

If the octopus has not been cleaned, then cut the head in half and remove the eye.  It is the solid piece at the top of the head, and feels like a small softish rock.  Discard the eye, and cut the body into pieces.  Some folks like to leave the legs intact and have them whole because they are a beautiful  presentation.  For us, we took the moment to cut the octopus into bite size pieces.  And, because of that, we know that we could make this same dish using a full-sized octopus (with a longer cooking time to account for a larger diameter of the tentacles).




Once you have the octopus pieces the size that you want (cut or whole), it is time for the third step.  That is to put the octopus pieces into a small pot or pan.  Add to the pot 1 cup of your favourite Marinara or spaghetti sauce.  We like the Victoria brand because it tastes most like the sauce that our Italian neighbour, Maria, used to make (she has passed away, but we remember her sauce clearly).  It has no additives, and no weird seasonings.  It is just tomato sauce.  We would love to know what sauces you are using and why.  It is always nice to try new products or brands so we can learn!

Now, put the heat on medium, and simmer the octopus for about 5-10 minutes until the sauce is heated through and the octopus is well coated with the sauce.  Stir this occasionally so that nothing sticks to the pan, and nothing has a chance to burn if your heat may be a little too high.





Mix the two ingredients together well.  Once it is fully heated, you can serve this over a bed of rice, noodles, or alone with crusty bread.  Make sure that you like the sauce you are using because that is going to be the main flavour of this dish.  If you want to get fancy, you could add a little wine, oregano, or anything else you want to add.  We have known others to use a seafood mix or calamari to make a similar dish (same thing, different seafood). 

This is a quick and easy way to prepare octopus.  It does not take long to make, it is not too expensive to purchase the ingredients, and it is appropriate for the most strict fast.  For us, it is a nice dish to add to the list of options while we are fasting for Great Lent.  



“To admire the labours of the saints is good; to emulate them wins salvation; but to wish suddenly to imitate their life in every point is unreasonable and impossible.” 

St. John of Climacus (From the Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 4, Section 42) 

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