Delicious Grilled Octopus

In Finland, we have father's day celebrations every second Sunday of November and we take pride in making the good daddy's feel very SPECIAL.
Personally, I'm all about simple and delicious meals, so when our daddy requested for some delicious seafood; frozen octopus came to the rescue.
I always go for frozen octopus simply to save cleaning time and avoid encountering the deadly* ink delima 😉.
Octopus is a very sticky seafood to begin with. If not cooked well, you will end up with a tough and gummy meat. And you that's is not a nice thing to have in your mouth.
The secret to the perfect octopus, is to tenderize carefully. There so many way of rendering the meat of an octopus and mine is to cook it in a simmering water/stock for at least 1 and1/2 hours.
Then you allow it to cool down, oil it slightly and then grill them for some those crispy bits.
For a little spicy twist, I took inspiration from my Ghanaian pepper sauce, Meko and created a delicious sauce which I topped onto the grilled octopus and later cleaned it up with our home baked bread. It was such a delicious feast with this recipe.
You simply can't go wrong with this recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much I did also.

All you Need
1 kilo of defrosted octopus
5-7 garlic cloves
1 lemon
1 bouquet garnish ( fresh thyme, rosemary, parsley and oregano)
Salt
Black peppercorns
Water to cover
Peanut oil(for grilling)

For sauce
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
1 habenero(optional if you can't stand the heat 😉)
2 tomatoes
Salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 white wine
1 teaspoon Kats Ghana Spice or a combination of dried rosemary and bay leaves.

How to make it
Firstly wash defrosted octopus and put in a sizeable sauce pan. Add all other ingredients but peanut oil, cover and bring to a boil. Once it boils, lower the heat and allow to slowly simmer for 2 hours or least an hour and half.
To check if the octopus is tender, poke it with tip of a knife and it should easily pierce without much effort. Once cooked, allow to cool down in the stock, about 30 minutes, remove and pat dry with a clean napkin.
Oil the octopus generously for the grill. Grill it on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, turning it once to get the perfect charr.

Meanwhile, get the spicy sauce ready by combining all ingredients in a blender. Blend and add to oiled pan (I coarsely chopped up mine ingredients for some bite).
Allow to boil uncovered for 10 minutes. Check for salt. Once the octopus is grilled, arrange on a suitable plate and top with the spicy sauce.
Enjoy with some bread, garlic pasta or just by itself.
Delicious.

Comments

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