GRILLED OCTOPUS WITH FRIED CAPERS / FEIJOA GINGERBREAD
These two straddle the seasons. Somehow I’m sort of in the mood for both.
Those last golden rays of summer, flirting with us as they are, keep the appetite whetted for light share-y things doused in too much olive oil and probably from the sea. Nobody cooks with octopus, and it’s a terrible shame.
Without sounding too much like an ad for chocolates from the 80s, when I mean gingerbread I mean crisp, crunchy, caramelised chewy goodness on the outside, soft and fudgy and utterly gratuitous in the middle.
GRILLED OCTOPUS WITH FRIED CAPERS
I feel as if I have an almost moral obligation to write about octopus. We’re talking some of the most sustainable seafood around, cheaper by kilo than most other seafood, extremely resilient to the impact of fishing, and a species that reproduces extremely quickly. Not to mention the fact that it is sweet, delicious and - get this - ridiculously easy to cook. I like to have a store of it in the freezer because I know that in a pinch, I can throw the frozen tentacles into simmering water, forget about them for forty minutes or so until tender, then give them a quick roast with whatever takes my fancy. Once poached, you may want to thinly slice into a carpaccio with some good olive oil, a bit of lemon and a bit of salt and pepper. Or dice up a tentacle or two and mix with a bit of herb to go on top of grilled bread. A paella-y situation is always an option, as is a risotto. Just remember that octopus, if you are cooking it, needs time to become tender first - so once it yields to a prick with a knife, it’s ready.
I won’t hear any noise about availability being lacking. Sometimes we need to create the demand. Do your research online. It’s more accessible than you realise.