Stifado is a warming dish – always made with lots of tiny onions and plenty of ripe tomato. Stifado can be made ‘meat free’ with octopus or cauliflower and in non fasting times rabbit, chicken and even goat. Serve with crusty bread or potato purée and a salad of bitter leaves.
Octopus stifado
Ingredients
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 kg Octopus cleaned
- 15 Small baby or pickling onions
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 400 g Ripe tomato grated
- 100 ml White wine
- 3 Bay leaves
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 100 ml Hot water
-
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
to taste
Instructions
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In a large pot, add the octopus with no other liquid, cover and allow to simmer and release its own juices (around 20 mins). Remove from the pot, allow to cool a little and slice into bite size pieces of your preference.
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In a seperate pot, warm a few tablespoons of EVOO over a high heat, add the onions and garlic to the pot and fry for a few minutes, stirring – just long enough for them to get a little colour. Add the grated tomato and cook for a few minutes, stirring again. Add the white wine, and deglaze the pan: let the wine bubble and stir, scraping up any burned bits from the bottom and sides of the pan. Add the bay leaf and cinnamon stick, stir, then return the add the octopus pieces to the pot. Add the hot water and season to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for an hour, then check to see if the octopus is tender. When the octopus is tender, and the sauce is thick, serve warm with the pasta of your choice. 'Kofto' or short, chopped pasta is traditional, but spaghetti is also good. The dish also improves with a rest overnight and served warm the following day
