Simple Grilled Octopus with Lemon and Parsley

The best octopus I have ever tried was from my hometown neighbours..

[O melhor polvo que eu já tentei foi de meus vizinhos da cidade natal.]

All my Galt neighbours from the Azores could be found tenderizing the fresh octopus on a rock in their back yards.

My fond memories of grilled octopus started 40 years back at Barrels Portuguese Restaurant in Kitchener. A friend of ours who had just been back from the Azores took us there to dine and asked if we have ever tried the Portuguese style roast suckling pig, donut fish or the grilled octopus. Octopus I exclaimed. One of my favourite Tapas items. It’s called Taka in Japanese.

Today Granville Island market has them fresh on ice and some live in tanks for the Japanese clients. I confirmed the local seafood market had one. I got 4/5 pounder fresh from the tank. Simmering the octopus over low heat seemed to be the most common cooking method. to simmer the octopus in a roasting pan, covering it with water to which I had added the basic herbs and spices which took about two hours.

I then peeled off its gelatinous covering and placed it on a broil pan drizzling it with olive oil, olives and lemon zest and juice. After charring under the heat for 10 minutes I added a liberal sprinkling of flat parsley when it came off some more lemon juice. The octopus was tender, and everyone one loved it.

Based on my experience of cooking tough cuts like pork shoulder and goat, I decided to try my own way by slow cooking it on indirect heat on the BBQ. I kept the cooking method simple.

I placed the octopus on a heavy seasoned baking sheet, sprinkled it with a little sea salt, covered it loosely with foil, and set the temp 250 degrees.

I checked it a couple of times during the process during the two-hours. In the last minutes the octopus went from chewy to uber tender. I quick chilled it down, stripped off the gelatinous coating I tossed it on the grill, topped it with some of my lemon, caper herb butter and fried parsley.

Este polvo é o mais esplêndido. Coma bem, meus amigos.

Ingredients

1 octopus (aim for 4 pounds), thawed if frozen

sea salt

1 tablespoons olive oil

ground black pepper

2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

1 halved lemon, half cut into wedges

2 tbs. chopped fresh parsley.

Oven Method

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees.

Place octopus on a large roast baking pan, sprinkle with sea salt, cover with foil, and gently cook until tender when pierced with the thin blade of a sharp paring knife, about 2 hours.

Uncover and let stand until cool enough to handle.

Discarding octopus liquid that releases during cooking. Optionally, use fingertips to slip off the octopus’s gelatinous coating. Cut up octopus by removing the tentacles, and then halving the body and head crosswise to make 4 thin cutlets. Can be refrigerated for a couple of days.

When ready to serve, prepare a hot grill.

If using a bbq gas grill, turn all burners on high until fully preheated, about 10 minutes. Same if using real hard wood or charcoal by burning off till you have the required even on interrupted heat source

Use a wire brush to clean grill rack, and then brush lightly with oil. Coat octopus pieces with the olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Place on hot rack; cover and grill, turning only once, until spotty brown and tentacle tips char, 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove octopus to a cutting board, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, squeeze with one of the lemon halves, and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with extra lemon, cold beer or wine, letting each person cut off their own bite-size pieces.. Yum-Yum!