 |
| The final dish, Greek Octopus in a wine-vinegar, olive oil, salt and Greek oregano dressing. It is a delicious protein-based meze which can also be used as a main dish during Great Lent. |
Octopus is a food that someone either likes or does not like. We have not found too many people who go in between the strong preferences. We have, however, found people who prefer to have their octopus grilled and marinated, as opposed to having it stewed or braised. Today, we are going to share an "easy" way to make a lovely, lightly marinated octopus that is perfect as an appetiser or as a main dish. We have listed the preparation of the octopus first, and the marinade second. This way, you can adjust the marinade as you like, but always have the easy steps to cooking octopus, regardless of what you will put on top of it.
For this part of the recipe, you will need the following:
1 octopus
Yes, that's it… one octopus. We buy frozen octopus that is already cleaned of the head, beak, and non-edible parts. You want to run your hands over all the parts to make sure that you do not feel any of the hard cartilage remains. If you do, just use kitchen shears to cut that part away. But, please remember to take out the garbage after that!
Once the octopus is thawed from its frozen state, rinse it to remove any residue from packaging. Then, put the octopus in a dry pan with a lid and cook it on medium high heat until you start to see the juices come from the octopus You will also notice the colour changing exterior -- it turns a bright pink colour fem the starting point of grey-brown. Turn down the heat to a medium temperature, and allow this to cook for approximately 45 minutes. Turn the octopus a few times while it stews in its own juices in the pot. If you notice the juices evaporate, add a little water to the pan.
You want to cook this octopus until it is "fork tender," which means that you can stick a fork into the top of the leg (the thick parts) with very little effort. It should cut like butter. If it is still hard, cook it a little longer.
Next, you need to cool the octopus and clean the skin. Let the octopus cool on its own, which will take about 30 minutes, or you can run it under cool water which will take 10 minutes. This will depend on how quickly you want to eat the octopus!
Run cool water over the octopus. While the water is running, rub your hands up and down the legs of the octopus to remove any of the dark purple-brown skin. Most of this has become dry and a little crispy, so it comes off very easily. You do not have to rub too hard. But, make sure to rub the top parts of the legs, too, to remove as much skin as possible. The cool water serves two purposes here -- first, it cools the octopus. Second, the water will help remove the skin.
Once all the skin is removed, cut the octopus into bite sized pieces. You can use a knife, but we find that kitchen shears are easier to manoeuvre around the legs. Keep the size of the pieces to one bite or two, even for an entree.
Now, we make the marinade which makes this a xidato (ksidato - ξιδάτο - i.e. vinegar-based)
6 TABLESPOONS Olive Oil
6 TABLESPOONS Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
Mix the ingredients well, and add the octopus pieces to the marinade. Allow the octopus to marinate for at least 2 hours before serving. It is better as it sits a bit. The vinegar is a really strong flavour that enhances the garlic and the oregano.
This octopus will keep in a mason jar (or any glass air-tight container) for up to one month in the refrigerator. In our family, one octopus keeps for one meal!
|
The Hymn of Kassiani (in English). This is sung late in the evening on Holy Tuesday. This beautiful version is also useful for its inclusion of the words throughout this video.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHIqvNngR2c
This version of the beautiful hymn of Kassiani, is sung in the original language of Greek by the very talented Petros Gaitanos.
No comments:
Post a Comment