Before I married a seafood addict, my choice at the fishmonger might have been a snapper or another whole fish. That all changed with Mr K, whom I am convinced must have been an Ionian fisherman in his previous life. My married life has been an education in the finer points of eating and selecting a variety of seafood. When I go to the fishmonger now, I am always scanning for the icy rows for small fish like silver shimmery sardines (and if I am ever lucky enough to find them in Australia, fresh anchovies), small, sweet red mullet and for extra special days, octopus.
Some people shy away from cooking or eating octopus, but who wants to miss out the taste of the poor man’s lobster. What’s more, if you have a trusted fishmonger who will properly clean your octopus, the hard work is done and it is incredibly easy to cook.
This particular recipe involves no effort, apart from peeling a few potatoes and throwing everything in a baking pan. It was given to me on a trip to the spectacular island of Lefkada, by Kyria Katia the owner of an apartment we were staying in. We had returned salty, happily exhausted and bedraggled after a day of swimming in the spectacularly clear aqua waters of Kathisma beach. I made it that evening and it was the best kind of a summer holiday food. This recipe was just so simple and Greece produces such incredible produce, that I thought this recipe would be just that – holiday food, a memory not able to recaptured in quite the same way at home. But I have been pleasantly surprised! This recipe worked just as well at home here in Australia with the addition of some imported Greek oregano, called rigani. It really is the easiest way to cook octopus. No complicated method or ingredients or husband-tending-to-a-BBQ required
Baked octopus (octapodi sto fornou)
Χταπόδι στο φούρνο
Ingredients
- 1 medium octopus cleaned (ask your fishmonger)
- 1/2 kilo small baby potatoes peeled and cut into small similar sized pieces
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 tea cup light style red wine
- 3/4 tea cup extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch salt and ground black pepper
- 1 bunch Greek dried oregano (Rigani)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 200C (180C for fan forced oven). Place the cleaned octopus in a the middle of a baking pan and place the small pieces of potato and garlic cloves around it. Dust the octopus and potato with lots and lots of rigani, freshly ground black pepper and just a pinch of sea salt. Pour over the the olive oil and wine and cover tightly with foil. Bake for around 1 hour and 15 minutes - or until the octopus is tender. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes to colour the octopus and potatoes. You could also pop under a grill at this point, if you prefer. Serve with a good rustic sourdough bread, a green salad, plate of Greek olives and feta -and of course, a little more of the light style red wine.
Recipe Notes
When you remove the foil, you may need to remove some liquid from the pan to colour the potatoes and octopus. Although it really depends on the octopus itself as to how much liquid it will actually release.
