Baked Octopus Recipe By Tasty

EASY BAKED MEDITERRANEAN OCTOPUS RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 320°F (160°C)
• Rinse the octopus and discard any stuff from the inner part of its hood. Remove its tooth from the center (the easiest way to do that is to cut the octopus in half. Otherwise, you can pick it out with your finger, but this may be a bit tricky)
• Make a cross with two sheets of foil, about 1.5-2 feet each. Place a piece of baking paper on the center of the cross and place the octopus on top of it. Pour the olive oil and balsamic over the octopus, add the rest of the ingredients and wrap firmly with the foil.
• Place on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes. Unwrap and check to see if the octopus is fork tender. If it seems a little tough, bake for 30 more minutes.
• Unwrap, take the octopus out of the foil and cut into pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and some balsamic and serve.Eat!

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.

PORTUGUESE ROASTED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Combine all of the spices (except for salt), onions, garlic, oil and wine in a large roasting pan with a lid.
• Cut up the octopus tentacles into large 3 inch pieces, removing any excess skin. Separate the skin from the head by pulling it apart, then cut into large pieces. (Make sure you remove the mouth & bone from the head).
• Wash thoroughly, then add to the roasting pan.
• Roast uncovered for approximately 1 hour. Cover then roast for another hour.
• Cut the potatoes into either quarters or eights, depending on the size of the potatoes. If you're a big potato fan, you can definitely add more of them.
• When the octopus is tender, add the potatoes and cook for another hour, or so. If the sauce is drying, you can add either more wine or some water.
• The cooking time will vary depending on the size and thickness of the octopus. Adjust the time accordingly.
• Taste the potatoes, then add more salt, or more spices if desired.
• *Taste the potatoes before adding any salt because the raw octopus has a lot of salt. The octopus will shrink significantly.