The one reason why I would ever prefer Greece to Turkey is the octopus. In Turkey you can only find cold octopus pieces in one kind of salad, but in Greece … oh that’s a totally different thing. In Greece they grill them, they boil them, they make salad out of them. If I were an octopus, I’d rather die in a Greek saucepan. Although I am very glad I am not an octopus. I rather eat them. I still remember that one vacation with one of best friends on Kos [here] when we ate grilled octopus almost every evening. It is that good. The meat is white and very soft. When I went from Turkey to Samos for a day last summer, I extra ordered octopus there for dinner.
Once I realized that that one stand on the weekly market in Boston sometimes sells octopus, I of course had to buy it. They came frozen and gilled. I especially appreciated the latter. Also I did some research and found out that you can eat the whole octopus, i.e. the head as well – which by the way is even softer than the arms. Unfortunately, I don’t have a grill or anything close to it. But cooking it is just as tasty. I am sure my two octopi were quite happy about their ending – they indulged in red wine and fresh tomatoes. Plus I absolutely loved eating them.
Recipe: Octopus in tomato wine sauce
Ingredients
- 500 g octopus
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 cup water
- 2 tomatoes cut in small pieces
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Put the octopus(es) in a pot (if you prefer this, cut them into smaller pieces). In the beginning they lose water themselves, so cook on a small flame until all the water is gone.
- Add all the other ingredients and boil for about another hour. You might have to add some more water to get the creamy sauce.
In case you are wondering, it is not necessary to add any salt. The octopi already contain enough salt. I had tomato bulgur with the octopi. For this cook bulgur as you normally would, but in the cooking process add one finely diced tomato. I am sure you could do the same with rice.
© janavar