Best Octopus Recipes

GRILLED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Fill a large pot 1/2 full with water. Add 2 tablespoons kosher salt, peppercorns, and the wine cork; bring to a boil over high heat.
• Meanwhile, place octopus on a cutting board. Using a wooden spoon or meat mallet, pound the octopus multiple times, starting in the middle and moving down each tentacle to tenderize the meat.
• Dip tentacles into the boiling water 3 times, holding them in the boiling water 2 to 3 seconds each time, until the tentacles curl up. Submerge entire octopus in the boiling water. Bring water back to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until octopus is fork-tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes.
• Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Grill octopus until charred on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
• Remove from heat, slice into pieces, and place on a serving platter. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, squeeze lemon over top, sprinkle with parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

SPANISH OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Place chopped onion, garlic cloves, bay leaf, paprika, salt, and 1 tablespoon olive oil into saucepan. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until onions start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add white wine to create the braising liquid. Bring to a simmer.
• Transfer octopus into braising liquid, turning to coat with the liquid. Cover; reduce heat to low. Simmer 20 minutes and turn octopus over. Continue cooking until octopus is tender, another 40 to 45 minutes.
• Remove from heat; transfer octopus to a large bowl. Pour braising liquid over octopus. Place bowl above a bowl of ice water to cool to room temperature.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap when octopus and liquid are cool. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Transfer octopus to a work surface and mop off braising juices with paper towels; remove as much of the purple skin as you want. Cut octopus into 3 or 4 serving-size pieces. Brush with olive oil.
• Transfer braising liquid to saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Strain out solids; transfer liquid to a mixing bowl; let cool about 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, parsley, salt, and cayenne pepper to make the serving sauce.
• Heat a grill pan or outdoor grill to high heat. Transfer octopus pieces to grill. Cook until flesh is seared, almost charred, 3 or 4 minutes. Turn and cook other side until dark brown, caramelized, and heated through, another 3 or 4 minutes. Transfer to a platter.
• Slice octopus into fairly thick diagonal slices. Place on a serving dish. Spoon braising liquid mixture over the top. Dust with a bit of cayenne pepper, if desired.

GRILLED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Combine octopus, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic and 1 lemon, cut in half, in saucepan along with water to cover. Turn heat to medium, cover, and bring to boil. Adjust heat so that liquid simmers slowly, and cook until octopus is tender, for 30 to 90 minutes, depending on whether you're using two smaller octopuses or 1 larger one (check for doneness with point of sharp knife). Drain, discarding everything but octopus. (You can prepare this 24 hours in advance up to this point; cover, and refrigerate octopus.) Set aside.
• Start charcoal or wood fire, or preheat gas grill; fire should be quite hot. Grill rack about 4 inches from heat source. Cut octopus into large serving pieces, brush it with half the olive oil, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Grill it quickly until outside browns but inside is not dried out. Cut remaining lemon into wedges.
• Brush octopus with remaining olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges, hot or at room temperature, garnished with parsley.

BABY OCTOPUS SALAD

Steps:

• Rinse octopuses under cold water, then cover with water by 2 inches in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot. Bring to a boil with bay leaf, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until octopuses are tender (tentacles can easily be pierced with a fork), about 45 minutes.
• Transfer octopuses to a colander with tongs, then discard cooking liquid and bay leaf. When cool enough to handle, cut off and discard heads and halve octopuses lengthwise. Cool to room temperature.
• Whisk together oil, lemon juice, sea salt, pepper, and oregano. Toss octopuses with dressing and marinate, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes at room temperature.

GRILLED BABY OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Boil octopus in salted water until cooked through (check inside with a paring knife), 15 to 20 minutes. To a metal bowl add oil, oregano, pepper flakes, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper, then add octopus and toss.
• Preheat a grill to high heat.
• Place octopus on the grill for 3 to 4 minutes, then transfer back to bowl and back to grill. Repeat this step a few times. Finally, put octopus back in bowl and add balsamic vinegar. Toss well, then serve over baby greens.

GRILLED OCTOPUS SALAD (INSALATA DI POLIPO)

Steps:

• Put the octopus in a pot with the wine and enough cold water to cover. Add the onions, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaf; bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook until opaque, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the octopus with a slotted spoon and cool. (This may be done a day ahead and refrigerated in a covered bowl.)
• Transfer the octopus to a resealable plastic bag and add the garlic, olive oil, and lime juice; seal and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Remove the octopus from the marinade and set aside.
• Preheat a charcoal or gas grill until hot. Position the rack about 5 to 6 inches from the heat.
• Combine the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, mint leaves, and green olives in the jar of a blender and puree into a smooth emulsion. Alternatively, whisk these ingredients together in a small bowl for a chunkier texture. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper and set aside. Toss the endive, radicchio, and chickpeas together in a salad bowl and set aside.
• Grill the octopus for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once after 2 to 3 minutes, until it is browned in spots and nicely caramelized but not burned. Remove and cut into bite-size pieces. 0054oss with the greens and vinaigrette, divide among 4 plates, and serve.

SQUID (CALAMARI) SALAD AND OCTOPUS (POLIPO) SALAD

Steps:

• For Squid, Rinse the squid in a strainer with cold water. Cut the tubes into 3/8 inch rings. Pending their size, cut the tentacles in halves or thirds.
• Cook squid in a pot of boiling water untl they begin to firm, about a minute for small, minute and a half for larger. Empty cooked squid into a strainer and cool with cold tap water. When drained, pat dry with paper towel and place squid in a bowl.
• For Baby Octopus, rinse the Octopus in cold water. Cut the octopus in uniform bite size pieces. Place them in a strainer. Submerge in boiling water for about 45 seconds. Check for doneness, just firm. If needed, dip them very briefly in the boiling water again being careful not to overcook. Cool octopus in cold tap water.
• Combine all remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour dressing into the squid or octopus and mix well. Cover and store in the refrigerator overnight. Check for seasoning then serve in bowls with a spoon and crusty bread.

GRILLED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Combine the octopus, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon salt, the garlic, and one of the lemons, cut in half, in a saucepan along with water to cover. Turn the heat to medium, cover, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers slowly and cook until the octopus is tender, 30 to 90 minutes (check with the point of a sharp knife). Drain, discarding all the solids (except the octopus). You can prepare this 24 hours in advance up to this point; cover and refrigerate the octopus.
• Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill; the fire should be quite hot and the grill rack about 4 inches from the heat source. Cut the octopus into large serving pieces, brush it with half of the olive oil, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Grill it quickly, so that the outside browns before the inside dries out. Cut the remaining lemons into wedges.
• Brush the octopus with the remaining olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges, hot or at room temperature, garnished with the parsley.
• Grilled Squid with Vinaigrette
• Much simpler: Cut cleaned squid into big rings (or use baby squid, cleaned but left whole) and skewer it. Grill or pan-grill it over quite high heat until browned, less than 5 minutes. Serve as directed or drizzled with Vinaigrette (page 600).

GREEK BBQ BABY OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Place the octopus and garlic in a pot with water and bring to boil.
• Add baking soda and simmer for 40 minutes.
• To prepare the marinade;.
• In a bowl add 300ml of olive oil, juice of one lemon and lime, salt.
• and pepper.
• When the octopus is tender rinse it in cold water.
• Place in the.
• marinade and leave overnight.
• The following day, grill on a hot plate until lightly coloured.
• Flambé cognac in a fry pan, add the butter and slowly melt, whisking.
• constantly.
• Add a touch of cream and worcestershire sauce and whisk.
• till they are all combined.
• Finish with shallots.
• Serve on a bed of rice with the cognac sauce poured all over.

ENSALADA DE PULPO: OCTOPUS SALAD

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, combine octopus with bay leaves, halved lemons, peppercorns, white wine, hot pepper sauce. Cook until the octopus is very tender, about 2 hours. Strain, cool, and peel the octopus. Clean squid and open tubes flat. In a bowl, season squid and octopus. Grill quickly for 2 minutes on each side. Cool and slice thinly. In a large bowl, combine squid, octopus, tomatoes, onions, scallions, garbanzo beans, and olives. In a separate bowl, prepare a vinaigrette with 1/4 cup oil, vinegar, basil, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Pour on top of the seafood salad and toss well to combine. Set aside. In a saute pan, heat up the remaining 1/4 cup oil with annatto seeds. Remove seeds and add the sliced garlic. Cook until cloves are golden brown. Add the hearts of palm. Continue to cook until the hearts of palm are brown. Add the lemon juice, and season. Serve the salad over the roasted hearts of palm.;

OCTOPUS SALAD

Steps:

• Cut off and discard head of octopus, then cut tentacles into 1-inch pieces. Generously cover octopus with water in a heavy medium pot and gently simmer, uncovered, until tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Drain octopus in a colander and cool to room temperature, then transfer to a bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and additional sea salt to taste.
• Let stand 30 minutes for flavors to develop.

ITALIAN STEWED OCTOPUS IN WINE AND TOMATOES

Steps:

• Invert head of baby octopus(if not using regular octopus, which takes longer to cook) and remove any goo and rinse heads of octopus. Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Toss the octopus into the boiling water, return to a boil and cook for 1-2 minutes, then remove. Discard water. Pat and squeeze octopus dry in a paper/towel. Cut the octopus into large pieces(I prefer bite-size) and saute in olive oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and saute for another minute or two. Add the wine and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir well and let it cook down for 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chile flakes and bring to a simmer. Add about a teaspoon of salt and the honey or sugar. Mix well, cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, add the capers if you are using them, plus half the dill and half the parsley. Check the octopus -- sometimes small ones will be tender in just 30 minutes.{/p] If using full-size octopus, cover the pot again and simmer for up to another 20-45 minutes. (Octopus is done when a knife can be inserted and removed without effort, or when it doesn't taste chewy!). When you think you are about 7-10 minutes away from being done, uncover the pot and turn the heat up a little to cook down the sauce(if octopus tastes great, remove it and cook sauce alone at this point). To serve, add the remaining dill and parsley and black pepper. Eat this with pasta or bread either hot or at room temperature.

SHRIMP AND OCTOPUS SOUP (CALDO DE CAMARON Y PULPO)

Steps:

• Place the water in a large soup pot, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add octopus, and continue boiling for about 20 minutes.
• While the octopus is boiling, heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, potatoes, and pasilla pepper. Fry for about 15 minutes, adding the onion and tomato at the very end. The ingredients do not need to be fully cooked.
• When the octopus has boiled for 20 minutes, add the shrimp in their shells to the octopus, and let it boil for 5 more minutes. Add the vegetables from the skillet, and season with salt to your liking. If corn is used, put it in with the shrimp. Let everything simmer together for 15 minutes.

PULPO A LA GALLEGA : GALICIAN OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Peel the potatoes and put them to cook in a pan with boiling water and a little salt. Drain, cut into slices and reserve.
• Scary octopus 3 times in a large pan of boiling water (meter out of the water and, holding it by the head, until it shrinks)
• Then enter it definitely and cooking for 30 minutes. Leave temper and cut into small pieces with the help of scissors. Reserve.
• To serve, put the base of a wooden saucer and potato slices placed over the piece of octopus. Seasoned with a splash of olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. Season with coarse salt and ... Enjoy!

MINI HOT DOG OCTOPUS MAC 'N' CHEESE

Steps:

• Cut wieners lengthwise in half, starting each cut about 1 inch from 1 end of each wiener. Roll each wiener one-quarter turn and cut a second lengthwise cut, again starting about 1 inch from uncut end. (This will form the 4 legs of each octopus.) Use sharp knife or kitchen shears to cut each leg lengthwise in half, about 1 inch from uncut end, creating a total of 8 legs in each wiener. Poke 2 holes into the uncut portion of each wiener for the eyes.
• Prepare Dinner as directed on package. Meanwhile, add wieners to separate saucepan of boiling water; cook as directed on package, watching each wiener turn into an octopus right before your eyes.
• Spoon Dinner into 4 serving bowls; top each with a wiener octopus.

OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Squeeze in 1 lemon and add the rinds to the water. Holding the octopus with tongs, dip the octopus into the boiling water 3 or 4 times, until the tentacles begin to firm and curl. Then, submerge the octopus in the water and cook for 40 minutes, uncovered.
• In a large bowl, mix the oregano, vinegar, oil, and salt together. Remove the octopus from the boiling water, place it into the oregano mixture, and let lightly marinate for a few minutes.
• Heat the grill to medium high. Grill the octopus until browned and crisped on the edges, turning every 5 minutes for 15 minutes. Remove from the grill, place on a platter, and cut into pieces. Squeeze the lemon over the octopus and sprinkled with some dried oregano.

MARINATED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Place octopus in a large pan with plenty of water and boil for 2 hours.
• Remove from heat; wash and remove the skin.
• Cut in desired size pieces.
• In a bowl, combine all the ingredients, except the lemon juice, and add octopus.
• Mix well; cover; and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
• When ready to serve, stir in the lemon juice.

BRAISED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Set the saucepan over low heat. Pour in 6 tablespoons of the olive oil. Scatter the onion in the bottom of the pan and add the garlic. Nestle the octopus on top of the onions. Scatter the olives over the octopus. Cover and let the octopus stew in its own juices for 1 hour.
• Uncover the octopus, there should be a lot of liquid from the octopus in the pan. Cover and continue to stew over low heat until the octopus is very tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes more, depending on the size of the octopus. To test for doneness, stick a fork in the thickest part of the octopus, it is done if the fork slides out easily.
• Remove the octopus from the pot and let cool slightly. Cut the octopus into 3/4-inch chunks, skin and all. Put the octopus chunks in the skillet and pour in the contents of the saucepan as well. Taste the sauce for salt (the octopus can be very salty) and add the salt, if needed. Get the sauce simmering rapidly over medium heat and stir in the parsley. You should have 2 cups or so of braising juices in the skillet. If there's much more than that, boil to reduce the sauce

MEDITERRANEAN OCTOPUS SALAD

Steps:

• Wash the celery and the carrot and put them in a sauce spoon with plenty of cold water, the bay leaves, garlic, vinegar, salt and bring to the boil.
• When the water boils, holding the octopus from the head, dip the tentacles in and out of the water repeatedly for 4 times until they curl up (this will make them tender) then dip the whole octopus into the water.
• Turn the heat down, cover it up and let it cook for about 35 minutes.
• Check that it is cooked by prickling it with a fork. It should be tender, if not let it cook for longer.
• When cooked, take it out of the water and let it cool down.
• Chop it into small pieces, then add the lemon, the cooked chopped carrot, olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic, parsley and mix it all up well.

PICKLED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• If you can buy cleaned octopus you can skip the next stage.
• Gut the octopus and peel the skin from the octopus. Remove the beak (it is located at the top of the legs).
• Place the octopus in large pan with 1 cup water. Cook over medium/low heat. The octopus will give off a lot of liquid but check ocassionally that there is still enough liquid in the pan.
• Cook for about 1 -1 1/2 hours. Test with a skew, it should easily pierce the flesh.
• Remove from pan and allow to cool slightly or cool enough to handle.
• Slice tentacles into 3cm lengths and body into pieces.
• Mix up the dressing ingredients. Check dressing that it is not too vinegary as vinegar strenght is so variable.
• Pack the octopus in the sterlised jars and pour over the marinade.
• Let sit in the refrigerator for 5 days before eating.
• Serve as part of meze.