Every day during the summer, at 6:56 am and 8:43 am, Marion Sauveur gives you an idea of a recipe to brighten up your taste buds.
Today the octopus.
Marion Sauveur, like every morning, you tell us about the products of our region. Today's menu: octopus!
A true symbol of Mediterranean cuisine with its tender and delicately scented flesh.
The octopus is an octopus that belongs to the same family as dry and squid.
It is recognized by its 8 tentacles and their suction cups but not by its size: it can measure from 5 cm to 3 meters!
In the West Indies, octopus is called "chatrou" and "zourit" in Reunion.
Especially if you buy fresh octopus, choose the firm and shiny one.
He must smell a good smell of sea and iodine.
And before you cook it, ask your fishmonger to clean it for you.
And think that the octopus reduced during cooking: be generous!
And how do you prepare it afterwards?
This is the whole difficulty!
To tenderize it, the Greeks hit it on the rocks or with a rolling pin… the Spaniards blanch it several times in boiling water and the Italians cook it in a court-bouillon with cork stoppers.
I asked Denis Martin, executive chef of The Marcel restaurant in Sète, his tip: "When you buy an octopus fresh if you cook it immediately, it will be hard, it will be too rubber, too firm and it's not good. So in fact to break the fiber of the octopus, the main trick is to freeze it. And we thaw it ... and at that point, we can start stewing in a casserole dish or in a court-bouillon, or in a roasted oven too "
And how do you cook it?
As a salad with potatoes for a gourmet dish.
Once your octopus is cooked in court bouillon, let it drain.
And I keep the cooking water for a seafood risotto. We cook the potatoes, with their skin on to keep all their flavor… before peeling them and roughly cutting into pieces.
Red onion strips are sautéed for a few minutes, with the chorizo cut into matchsticks, in a frying pan.
In a salad bowl, mix the octopus cut into one-centimeter pieces, the potatoes, onion and chorizo with the cooking fat.
We sprinkle with lemon juice and olive oil.
A little Espelette pepper.
We mix and it's ready!
Recipe :
Ingredients :
- an octopus
- 20ne of potatoes
- half a chorizo
- a red onion
- a lemon
- a tablespoon of olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- Espelette pepper
The steps of the recipe:
1.
Once your octopus is cooked in court bouillon, let it drain.
And I save the cooking water for a seafood risotto.
2.
We cook the potatoes, with their skin on to keep all their taste… before peeling them and roughly cutting into pieces.
3.
We brown the strips of red onions with the chorizo cut into matchsticks for a few minutes in a frying pan.
4.
In a salad bowl, mix the octopus cut into one-centimeter pieces, the potatoes, onion and chorizo with the cooking fat.
We sprinkle with lemon juice and olive oil.
A little Espelette pepper.
We mix and it's ready!
Where do you recommend us to go eat octopus this summer?
In Sète of course, THE French octopus capital, at The Marcel restaurant.
Denis Martin grills the octopus a la plancha to obtain a caramelization.
It is served with an almond milk emulsion and a piquillo sauce.
If you go through Sète elsewhere, you must taste the tielle: a pie garnished with a spicy octopus-based preparation.
A delight!
And a second address, in Paris at the starred Israeli restaurant: Shabour, chef Assaf Granit offers a grilled octopus, harissa sauce.