The octopus, or polpo in Italian, is a great fish, but needs precooking to make the meat tender and not ‘chewy chewy’. Cook the clean polpo, frozen or fresh, in a large pan filled with water, 250 ml of white wine, a few bay leaves, 1 carrot, 2 stems of celery and a pinch of salt. Cook for 50-60 mins for medium sized polpo (1,2 kilo for 4p). Drain and cool down. Chop the octopus in pieces and store in the fridge. This can be done the day before.
Roast 50 grams of almond flakes. Mix the almonds with 250 grams of peeled tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil, 2 garlic cloves, a handful of fresh parsley . Add some olive oil to make the paste smoothy. Taste and add pepper and salt. Store the sauce in the fridge.
Mix the octopus with pepper, salt, dried basil and a drizzle of olive oil. Grill or bake the octopus on a high fire with a few halved spring onions. Add a few halved cherry tomatoes for some extra color.
Serve the octopus with the sauce and some ovenbaked potatoes. Taste the summer in your mouth.
Doc V's Healthy Kitchen 