Grilled Octopus With Potatoes Celery And Lemon Food

GRILLED OCTOPUS WITH CELERY AND CANNELLINI BEAN SALAD

Steps:

• To make the octopus: Coat a large saucepan with olive oil and toss in the garlic, carrot, celery and onion. Season with salt and crushed red pepper and bring the pan to a medium-high heat. Cook the veggies until they are soft and aromatic, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the vinegar and fill the pan with water. Season with salt, toss in the bay leaves and bring the water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the baby octopus and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the liquid and let cool. (This part can sooooooo be done ahead.)
• To prep the salad: Coat a large straight-sided saute pan with olive oil, toss in the onions, season with salt and crushed red pepper. Bring the pan to a medium heat and cook the onions until they start to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Toss in the beans, chicken stock and celery and cook until the stock has reduced by a little more than half. Turn off the heat and reserve the bean mixture.
• Preheat the grill. Cut the heads off the octopus and cut the legs into sections of 2 legs. Oil the legs and place them on the grill to slightly char and heat up the octopus.
• In a large bowl, toss the arugula and celery leaves with the lemon juice and olive oil and season with salt. Divide among 4 serving plates and spoon some of the warm bean mixture onto the arugula. Arrange the legs between the plates. Drizzle with big fat finishing oil.
• Drain the beans from the soaking water and place in a medium saucepan. Toss in the garlic cloves, bay leaf, carrot, celery, thyme and onion. Add water to the pan until it covers the beans by about 2 inches.
• Put the pan on a high heat and bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer until the beans are very soft and tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the heat off.
• Season the water generously with salt and let sit for 15 minutes. Drain the beans from the cooking liquid and remove the veggies, bay and thyme and discard. Yield: 2 1/2 cups cooked beans.

GRILLED OCTOPUS

Steps:

• Combine octopus, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic and 1 lemon, cut in half, in saucepan along with water to cover. Turn heat to medium, cover, and bring to boil. Adjust heat so that liquid simmers slowly, and cook until octopus is tender, for 30 to 90 minutes, depending on whether you're using two smaller octopuses or 1 larger one (check for doneness with point of sharp knife). Drain, discarding everything but octopus. (You can prepare this 24 hours in advance up to this point; cover, and refrigerate octopus.) Set aside.
• Start charcoal or wood fire, or preheat gas grill; fire should be quite hot. Grill rack about 4 inches from heat source. Cut octopus into large serving pieces, brush it with half the olive oil, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Grill it quickly until outside browns but inside is not dried out. Cut remaining lemon into wedges.
• Brush octopus with remaining olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges, hot or at room temperature, garnished with parsley.

GRILLED OCTOPUS WITH POTATOES, CELERY, AND LEMON

Steps:

• To poach the octopus, adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 300°F.
• In a braising pot just big enough to hold the octopus, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat until it is almost smoking and slides easily in the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the octopus and sear it for 8 to 10 minutes, turning to cook all sides evenly, until the octopus is burgundy all over and browned in places. Remove the octopus to a plate and wipe out the pot. In the pot you seared the octopus in, heat the garlic cloves with 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil and sauté the garlic over medium-high heat, stirring often, until it is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Remove and discard the garlic cloves and return the octopus to the pot. Add the red pepper flakes, wine cork, and enough olive oil to cover the octopus. Put the lid on the pot and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the octopus is very tender; it will puncture and tear easily with a fork. Remove the pot from the oven, and set it aside to allow the octopus to cool to room temperature in the oil. Remove the octopus from the oil, reserving the oil to poach another octopus within a week, and place the octopus on a baking sheet. (If you are going to reuse the oil, strain it and refrigerate it until you are ready to use it.) Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate the octopus overnight or for at least several hours.
• Lay the octopus on a cutting board and spread out the tentacles like the petals of a flower. Use a large knife to cut the octopus in half through the body, keeping the tentacles intact. Working from the body outward as if you were cutting off the petals of the flower, cut each tentacle to remove it from the head. Turn the head inside out, scrape out and discard any guck left inside the head, and cut the head into quarters. Cut the body into 2-inch segments, leaving the ends of each tentacle long for their dramatic effect on the plate, and place all of the octopus pieces in a medium bowl or a large, nonreactive baking dish.
• To make the marinade, combine the parsley, olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the bowl of a miniature food processor fitted with a metal blade or the jar of a blender and purée. Drizzle the marinade over the octopus and toss to coat it with the marinade. Cover the bowl or dish tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the octopus until you are ready to grill it or for up to three days.
• To make the salad, steam the potatoes until they are tender when pierced with a small sharp knife, about 20 minutes. Remove the potatoes to a plate until they are cool enough to touch. Use a small, sharp knife to remove the peel from the potatoes and discard the peels. Slice the potatoes into 1/2-inch-thick rounds, place them in a small bowl, and set aside.
• While the potatoes are cooking, fill a large saucepan with water, bring the water to a boil over high heat, and salt it to taste like the ocean, adding approximately 1 tablespoon of salt to each quart of water. Fill a bowl with ice water. Place the leek in a fine-mesh strainer and plunge into the boiling water to blanch it for 1 minute. Lift the strainer out of the water and immediately plunge the strainer into the ice water for about 1 minute to cool the leek. Remove the strainer from the water and turn the leek out onto paper towels to drain.
• Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill or preheat a grill pan.
• Season the potatoes with the 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and toss to distribute the salt evenly over the potato slices. Add the leek, scallions, sliced celery, and celery leaves to the bowl with the potatoes. Season the salad with salt and pepper, drizzle with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and toss to coat with the seasonings. Taste for seasoning and add more vinaigrette, salt, and pepper, if desired. Pile the salad in the center of four plates, dividing it equally and reserving any vinaigrette left in the bottom of the bowl.
• Have the bowl with the reserved vinaigrette nearby and grill the octopus pieces until they are charred on all sides, about 3 minutes total. Remove the octopus pieces from the grill as they are done and place them in the bowl with the vinaigrette you tossed the salad with. Drizzle with another 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette and toss to coat the octopus with the vinaigrette. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if desired.
• Stack the octopus pieces on top of the salads, dividing them evenly and reserving the long dramatic tentacles for the tops of the salads. Squeeze a few drops of lemon over each serving of octopus. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette over and around each salad. Scatter a few chive batonettes over the top of each plate, and serve.
• Verdicchio Dei Castelli di Jesi (The Marches)