1 small octopus for each person
3 legs of celery
1 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
PREPARATION:
Clean the octopus thoroughly: remove the beak, the eyes, the interiors.
Boil as a whole until the octopus is tender.
Remove from the heat, drain and chop into small pieces.
Chop the celery into small bits.
Season with salt, pepper, olive oil and the juice of a lemon.
Serve with fresh bread.
Today’s recipes comes from Italy, in particular from the beautiful city of Venice. Octopus is widely available in Italy and is often cooked for starter or as a main course. But how do you cook octopus, so its skin does not peel away and it remains soft? Well, you take an octopus, with eight tentacles, each equipped with a double row of suckers.
Boil water in a large pot and, holding the head of the octopus,without washing it, soak the body in boiling water quickly (in and out) for 3 consecutive times – careful not to burn yourself.
This will give to the octopus the appearance of a large flower and it will make the meat soft.
Then change the water in the pot, add a teaspoon of salt and put the octopus in cold water. Bring slowly to the boil, put a lid on and simmer for 90 minutes or until by pricking it with a fork the meat is nice and tender. For the required cooking time should be based on the weight of the animal, calculating that for every kilo of octopus it takes about 90 minutes.
When cooked, turn over the water and keep the octopus in the pot, covered, until it becomes cold.
Only then place it on the cutting board, remove the tentacles from the head, cut into strips, divide the tentacles into pieces about 3 cm.
This recipe was taken from CookInVenice.com website, an Italian cooking school based in Venice, Italy.