Octopus and Potatoes

As a regular reader you know how much we love Gourmet Magazine and yes, we heard the near horrible news that they be be under by year end – it possibly cannot be true!  Their January issue is really fantastic and is filled with mouth drooling Italian dishes.   There is not one that I do not want to make.

We both love Octopus.  Lenny loves them big or small.  I prefer them small or on a sushi platter.  When I saw a recipe in the January issue I knew I had to make it and after reading it I knew I would be adding my own spin to it.  The recipe calls for jarred octopus -  yick!  The first change would be to use fresh baby ones.  The recipe also calls for using the boiling water from the potatoes – I substituted with some white wine.

This recipe is part of their easy gourmet meals and it was.  I had dinner on the table in less than an hour and this included all the prep work, , i.e. cleaning baby octopuses who had sad little eyes.  While cleaning the little guys, I gently boiled Yukon potatoes until tender.  Then I slowly cooked some red onion with garlic and dried chilies.  Then it was seasoned with red wine vinegar which was reduced to a sweet but sour demiglace.  Right before serving, I added the potatoes, some white beans, the little guys and white wine, and heated through.  La e Pranzo!

This dish is really flavorful and full of texture!  Next time I would probably add a bit more garlic and peppers, otherwise, we really enjoyed it!  If you love octopus you will too!

Recipe