Two ways with octopus

Two ways with octopus
I have been hankering to eat octopus during the Easter Break. Since the weather has been very changeable hot and dry one day and the next wet and cold I thought why not try dishes that suit each of these kinds of days, so it doesn't matter what happens on the day.

There are only two ways of cooking octopus and they are
1. Slow and long or
2. Fast and furious
or else the octopus will be tough and taste of nothing.

Below are my two most favourite recipes they are super simple and always give a great result

Slow and long
Sweet Chilli Octopus
1/2 kg cleaned baby octopus (chopped into small pieces)
2 cups of tomato pasta sauce (use the kind with onions and herbs)
1/2 tablespoon of chilli sauce (hot)

Place all ingredients into a medium pot, simmer for 2 hours or until sauce is very thick. For some reason when octopus is slow cooked with tomatoes and chilli they became very sweet and soft and the sauce becomes intensely red. Makes about 2 cups of sauce since the octopus shrinks a lot.



Fast and furious
BBQ octopus with oyster sauce and red wine
1/2 kg cleaned baby octopus (chopped into halves)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
3 tablespoons of red wine
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley,

Heat a large heavy saucepan until the oil just starts to smoke. Place octopus pieces with the oyster sauce into pan and stir constantly until tentacles are curled and the flesh is dark golden brown (about 4 minutes). Remove from pan and add red wine reduce until thick sauce forms (about 1 minute). Pour over BBQ octopus and sprinkle parsley on top. Serve immediately.