Day 36: Htapodi Krassato; Octopus in Dry Red Wine Sauce: April 2nd, 2013

Usually it is Husband's job to cook the octopus.  He puts it on the grill to cook and we pour lemon, oil, and oregano on it.  That is our typical way of preparing octopus.  But, today, Husband did not have a chance to light the grill, and there was no opportunity to marinate, so we tried a brand new recipe that was simple enough and pleasantly delicious.

When we read about octopus, there are dozens of ways to tenderise it, cook it, prepare it, and season it so that one does not get the chewy rubber pieces that are often passed as "good" food.  Instead, we got a flavourful, tender, moist, and colourful dish of Octopus in Red Wine Sauce.  This recipe was taken from Modern Greek, by Andy Harris.  There are so many recipes for octopus, but this one seemed like it would give us an authentic Greek preparation with the wine and tomato.  Although we used an Italian wine, we feel that this helped produce a traditional Greek dish.

There were quite a few steps in this preparation, yet, overall, it was still quite easy.  We tried to simplify our work by using a frozen octopus.  It is still a special food in this house since it seems so complex and time consuming, so we don't make it very often.  But, we are going to show you how it is neither complex nor time consuming!  And, most of all, we are going to show you how to make it delicious!

For this recipe, you will need the following:

1 octopus, cleaned, ink removed (washed clean under cold running water)
3 bay leaves
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 1/2 cups red wine (we used what we had on hand; today we used a full-flavoured dry red Italian)
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 shallots (or small onions)
2 cloves garlic
1 TBSP red wine vinegar

First, make sure the octopus is clean.  We are using frozen octopus, but could buy it fresh from our local fishmonger.  If we buy fresh, we make sure that the good folks who work at the fish monger's clean out the octopus so we don't have to (the same applies to cuttlefish and squid).  If you want to go through cleaning the octopus yourself, then, by all means, good luck.  Click here for a short instructional video on how to clean octopus at home.  We are thrilled that our store-bought, frozen octopus was cleaned and ready to use.  We just had to thaw it from the night before in the fridge, then wash it in the sink a few times before using it for our recipe.  The interesting thing was that this was only half an octopus in the package.  The recipe was for a full eight-legged creature, but we were only half way there!  So, if you also get half an octopus like we did, wash your tetra-pus well.

We are going to start with the octopus.  After it is washed, pat it dry.  You don't want it to drip water.  Put the octopus in a dry pan with a lid.  Add 1 Tablespoon of red wine vinegar to the pan and put the temperature on high to cook.  You will see the octopus legs start to curl, and you will see the body begin turning pink.  At that point, lower the heat to medium-low and cover the pan.  Let this simmer on low heat for about one hour (1 Hour) until the octopus is tender.

The octopus releases its own liquids in the pan.  As you check on it a couple of times (which we all would), you will see the colour changing and the water coming out of the octopus.  Turn it over in the pan once or twice to make sure that all the sides turn pink.  Leave the liquid in the pan for later use.

You will know that the octopus is done cooking by (a) the colour and (b) using a fork.  We are going to pierce a thick part of the body with a fork.  If the fork goes in easily, then the octopus is done cooking.  If you have to apply too much pressure to get through the skin, then let the octopus simmer for a while more.  We checked our octopus for doneness in a few different spots to make sure that it was tender all the way through.  If we needed to, we would let it cook for about 10 more minutes, then check every 10 minutes after that -- cooking in 10 minute increments.

Our fork slid into the octopus as if the octopus was a potato (not quite butter).  And, that is a good way to explain -- check for doneness as you would check a potato.

When the octopus is done cooking, take it out of the liquid, and set it aside to cool.  You need to cut the octopus, but it should be cool enough to handle.  And, remember DO NOT discard the liquid!  You now have a nice octopus broth!  We are going to use that for the rest of this recipe.

While the octopus cooked, we prepared our shallots and garlic.  We sliced the shallots in whole circles because they were pretty.  We would do the same for onions.  And, we sliced the garlic so that we could see and bite the pieces.  You can use minced garlic: it just depends what appearance you want at the end.  For us, we thought the slices of garlic would be pretty.

Now that the octopus is out of the pot, and there is liquid in there waiting to be used, let's put the shallots in the octopus broth and cook them.  Add the garlic and bay leaves, and let this cook for a few minutes on medium high heat.  The liquid will actually reduce and add more flavour to the dish.  When that happens, add the tomato paste to the pot.  Mix everything well and cook the tomato paste for three minutes to give it a little bit of a brownish hue.  By now, you will notice that all of the liquid has disappeared from the pan.  That's good because it has been cooked into the shallots and the tomato to impart a bit of the octopus flavour.

While the shallots and garlic are cooking, and the tomato paste is acquiring a darker colour, cut the octopus into bite-sized pieces.  We found that this was easiest using kitchen shears (scissors).  A knife would work, too, but the shears get in between each leg easily and can cut at the thinner parts of the octopus body without you having to exert too much effort finding the best angle to cut.  Bite sized pieces are good for this, but you can go bigger if you like.  Since we had only half an octopus, we cut smaller pieces to compensate for the large quantity of sauce that we had.

After cutting the octopus pieces, add them to the pot with the shallots.  Mix them so they are all coated with the tomato paste.  Then, add the wine.

Let this come to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Allow this to simmer on the stove for approximately 30 minutes.  The liquid will reduce by about half, and then you can serve the octopus with a nice portion of the wine sauce.  Adjust the flavourings with a little salt and pepper, and even some red wine vinegar.

Everything in the pot becomes the colour of the wine.  If you are using a strong red wine (like we did), then that will be the primary flavour of this dish.  If you used a drier red that had a little tartness to it, then you will get more octopus flavour. Conversely, if you decide to use a sweet wine like sherry or vermouth you will achieve a smooth and sweet flavour.  Since everything in the pot takes on the colour of the wine, be prepared for that.  The nice part about it is that the inside of the octopus pieces is white, and they really shine amongst the reds!  Whether it is octopus or tetra-pus, it is a lovely dish to serve with some crusty bread to dip into that aromatic sauce.

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what is acceptable to the Lord."

Book of Acts of the Apostles: Ephesians 5:8-9