Greek Octopus and Potatoes

Please don't go squeamish on me, even though I almost did. I finally got around to cooking the octopus. I decided to honor my Greek heritage and cook Greek octopus and potatoes. It was so delicious. We had a salad with feta cheese beforehand.

I even played a Greek song on the internet via you tube while we ate our dinner. I always think the song in Zorba the Greek when I think of Greek songs.

As it turns out freezing octopus is supposed to help tenderize it. I thawed out the octopus over night. Then I washed the octopus several times. This was the part where I almost wished I hadn't gotten the octopus. They were soft and squishy and the tentacles were really long. I just couldn't pick them up so I used tongs to touch them. I was feeling bad these wonderful creatures gave up their lives for a meal. I told myself if I was willing to eat octopus in a restaurant then I should be able to make it at home.

Here I've got the octopus in water to cover and I simmered it for one hour. I read a cork in the water was supposed to help tenderize it. Don't know if that's true or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt anything.

I let the octopus cool in the water for an hour or so before I took it out and placed it in a baking dish. The octopus turns pink after cooking much like shrimp does.

 Here's the other side of the octopus with the tentacles curled up.

Next I cut off the tentacles and cut the body into smaller pieces to get ready to charbroil on the BBQ.

Wouldn't you know it the minute I got the BBQ warmed up it ran out of propane. I was going to charbroil them for three minutes on each side to get a crunchy crust on them. But I brought the octopus back in and warmed it up in the oven at 400 F. The octopus can be eaten cold since it's already cooked but I had my heart set on warmed up with lemon sauce. For the sauce I whisked lemon, olive oil, minced garlic, minced shallot, oregano and a dash of cayenne pepper. I prepared the sauce well in advance so the flavors had a chance to meld together. 

I essentially used the same sauce to marinate and cook the potatoes but added a 1/2 cup of white wine and water and also marjoram, rosemary and thyme. I let the quartered potatoes marinate for several house then baked them at 400 F for about 40 minutes till they were browned on top. I was worried I'd be left with a lot of liquid but it all baked away during the cooking.

I sprinkled the potatoes with toasted sesame seeds after they came out of the oven. Gary's already asking if we have any leftovers and it's not even 8 am. We'll have the leftovers today; I can't wait for lunch. Ha. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.