The main issue with octopus is toughness. Large octopus needs to be cooked for a very long time, and they are often beaten beforehand, a bit like tripe, for tenderize them. But baby octopus is another story. It needs long slow cooking, but 45 minutes to an hour is often enough for the smallest varieties. Slightly more mature octopus is sometimes also sold as ‘baby’ octopus, so cooking times may vary. Like squid, octopus also need to be cleaned (see Notes below) but more often than not they are sold pre-cleaned. Or you can ask your friendly fishmonger to clean them for you. Once they’re clean, rinse them well and set them in a bowl until you are ready to begin cooking.
NOTES: A bit like a pizzaiola, the red sauce makes a delicious dressing for pasta. If you want more sauce, you can up the ratio of tomato to octopus from 1:2 to 1:1. The pasta could be served as a primo before the octopus or at a separate meal.
You can also use a pressure cooker to speed up the cooking time. It should take about 20-30 minutes after it comes up to pressure. You will then need to simmer it for a few minutes to reduce the sauce, since there is much less evaporation when cooking under pressure.
The august Jeane Caròla Francesconi includes a recipe for this dish in La cucina napoletana. She is very adamant that you should make sure that the lid should be tight when simmering, and suggests using a piece of waxed paper (you could also use aluminum foil) to ensure a seal. And she admonishes the reader not to open the lid during the simmering. Not sure why but I won’t question her wisdom! Of course, this is not an issue when using a pressure cooker.
As mentioned, the only tricky part of cooking octopus is the preliminary cleaning of the octopus, which is to say removing the inedible bits. You need essentially to remove its ‘mouth’, which is located on its underside, at the center of its tentacles. This can be done fairly easily with a paring knife. You then remove the ink sack (most but not all octupus have one) and any viscera through the resulting hole. (Be careful not to puncture the ink sac, as you will wind up with black ooze all over the place!)
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| A pre-cleaned baby octopus |
@Yue, If you do decide to try it, let us know how you like it!
This dish looks so yummy! I like octopus. It's more common in Asian cuisine. and it does take a long time to cook. we slow cook it for hours in soup. I always wanna try authentic Italian food, something besides pasta. maybe will get something interesting from here!
Yue
Thanks, folks! Octopus is one of those things that will win you over once you've had it done well.
@sortachef: Don, I was curious about the tight lid as well. Not sure what it does but I never ignore advice from Ms. Francesconi!
Thanks Frank. I've tried to make octopus a few times, so I'm curious to hear about the 'tightly lidded pan' part. That may be one reason for my limited success. Great info as always!
got the best one in South Italy, I love grilled octopus
Buonissimi!!!
though I love many seafood, octopus is not one of them… of the places I have tried it, they just didn't get the taste right for me… but then, I have not had this dish and I know it would change my mind
Looks wonderful!!
Yum!
That's a beautiful dish! I can taste it just by looking at it. Nice work.
And I'm with you. There would be more happy people in the world if they'd just open themselves to the polpo.
I've never made it – it's hard to find but not impossible. Have been thinking about it so maybe you spurred me on – I only had it Christmas Eve growing up when Grandma and my Aunt prepared the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Memories from octopus.
I don't know if I'm ready to tackle a whole octopus, but I have eaten, and liked, octopus sushi. I think if someone prepared Polpetielli for me I would enjoy it.