John Cioffi's Tasmanian Sea Dragon
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 1 hour's soaking
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1small octopus, 1 to 1½ pounds
- 5 to 6tablespoons olive oil
- 3cloves garlic
- ¼cup wine vinegar
- ½teaspoon salt, if desired
- ½teaspoon pepper
- Several sprigs of parsley
- Dash Tabasco sauce (optional)
- Bibb lettuce
Preparation
- Step 1
Have octopus cleaned at fish store. Soak for 1 hour. Rinse with fresh water.
- Step 2
In large pot, brown garlic in olive oil and add octopus, ⅛ cup vinegar, salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, 45 minutes, being careful to add water if liquid evaporates. Pot should have about ¼ inch of liquid.
- Step 3
Add remaining wine vinegar and parsley and cook 30 minutes more. Octopus is done when fork-tender. Add more salt and pepper if needed, and Tabasco.
- Step 4
Remove octopus and reduce liquid in pan by rapid boiling for 10 minutes.
- Step 5
To serve, slice tentacles in bite-size pieces, arrange on a bed of lettuce and cover with gravy from pan. Can be served with rice.
Private Notes
Comments
I did it with baby octopuses from the Chinese store, and the result is very good. Probably I overdid on wine vinegar, but it is remarkably forgiving.
I did it in a casserole. Also, be wary of adding vinegar after browning the garlic, because vinegar literally exploded on a hot casserole. Add octopus first to get the heat down a bit.
I did it with baby octopuses from the Chinese store, and the result is very good. Probably I overdid on wine vinegar, but it is remarkably forgiving.
I did it in a casserole. Also, be wary of adding vinegar after browning the garlic, because vinegar literally exploded on a hot casserole. Add octopus first to get the heat down a bit.