Hello my good friends
I honestly don't know how fast the summer past
and we are in September
I did manage though to build my barbecue
which means I will show you some recipes here from time to time
It is a DIY job made with recycled oven bricks
After the sun dried fish I made you
a lot of you asked me
to cook an octopus
since I am a massive fan of seafood
I didn't have to think twice
Besides we made two desserts back to back
so I think an octopus cooked in wine
everyone will enjoy
Because I want to cook it old fashioned on a wooden stove
I will create a temporary base for my pot
The pot fits perfectly
Of course you can use your standard kitchen stove
the wood
are washed out to shore by the Rhine river
which is only 300 meters from my house
when the water rises
It is plentyful
All you need is time and muscles
I will weigh my octopus
so I can determine the quantities of the rest of the ingredients
It is two full kilograms
I will remove its teeth
which look more like a parrots beak
Now I will wash ti really well
The octopus is not from the river, but from the depth of the freezer
I will light the fire
and I will place it in the pot with out adding a drop of water
I will just add two bay leaves
and I will let it boil in medium fire
for about fifty to sixty minutes
until it is soft
I will also place a weight on top
to trap its liquids
We boil for 50-60 minutes until soft
The ingredients
Dry white wine
Red wine vinegar
Finely chopped onion
5 bay leaves
Mavrodaphne (Greek sweet red wine)
Olive oil
Tomato paste
All spice grains
Juniper berries
Black whole pepper corns
and finely sliced garlic
You can see the quantities in the card to follow
but also in the video description
2kg octopus, 2 chopped onions, 1 glass dry white wine, 1 glass red wine vinegar, 1 glass Mavrodaphne, 1 Ts tomato paste, 6 cloves garlic, 5 bay leaves, 10 pepper corns, 6 all spice grains, 6 Juniper berries
Half way through cooking it
we will check there are still enough liquids
and we flip it once
if necessary we add some water
as soon as it is soft
we remove it from the heat
This is the octopus juice left in the pot
after one hour of cooking it
I didn't add any water at all
It started to rain
but I will cook the octopus outside regardless
I will cut it in portions
any size you prefer
I will also cut the sack in four
I will add a frying pan on the stove
I will add in the olive oil
when the oil is hot enough
I will add the onions
when it softens I will add the garlic
and I will continue to fry for another minute
then I will add the octopus
after 3-4 minutes
I will add the white wine
the vinegar
the Mavrodaphne
the all spice
the juniper berries
the whole black pepper corns
and three bay leaves
I will loosen the tomato paste
in a glass from the octopus juice
I will also add this in the pan
we cover and we cook for half an hour
reducing the heat to medium
after the half hour we remove the lid
we turn the heat up
and we cook for a few more minutes until our sauce thickens
we remove and we leave aside with a lid on
for 30 minutes to rest
we can serve this
as a main course
with home made fries
I will top it with a bit from the
very nicely thickened sauce
maybe a bit more
It is really raining out there
Cheers!
An ideal ouzo meze
for wine
It is really soft
It is like cotton
Amazing
The bread together with the sauce
is out of this world
I forgot to add some freshly ground black pepper
Perfect, now we are talking
To good health my friends
Until our next culinary date
take care
and as always
with love
Grandpa Tassos