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Use any Octopus, Squid or Cuttlefish for this dish; it’s a great way to make larger specimens tender, while smaller ones will need a shorter cooking time. Leave the skin on if you like the dark purple colour, or peel it off for a whiter look.
INGREDIENTS:
3 x 500g Octopus, tenderised, cleaned, head discarded
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 small red onion
⅓ cup dry white wine
400g canned tomatoes, chopped
⅓ cup Ligurian olives
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf, torn
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
⅓ cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
Cooked macaroni, to serve
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Cut Octopus tentacles into chunks.
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add garlic and onion and cook for a minute then stir in Octopus and cook for a few minutes until it all comes into contact with the pan and turns opaque. Add wine and bring to the boil, stirring well. Stir in tomatoes, olives, thyme, bay, salt and pepper and pour into a baking dish.
Cover with foil or a tight-fitting lid and cook for 30 minutes. Baste and return to oven for another 30 minutes, then check to see if tentacles are tender. If not, continue cooking, checking every 15 minutes until tender, this may take another 30-60 minutes, depending on the size of the octopus. If there is a lot of liquid left once the Octopus is cooked, remove Octopus and boil cooking liquid until reduced to a sauce consistency, then stir Octopus back through sauce.
Serve with macaroni.
ALTERNATIVE SPECIES:
Calamari, Cuttlefish, Squid.