Octopus and chickpea stew

Sicilian Octopus and chickpeas stew and salsa verde

Some the best octopus in Sicily is to be found in Mondello, at the Marina in Vila a mare in the summer month. Little kiosks sell the freshly boiled octopus served simply with lemon and sea salt. Simple and delicious and very tender. Traditionally the octopus would have been bashed against the harbor side to tenderize them before sow cooking but now they are blast frozen and thawed- the process softening the meat.

This octopus recipe is also inspired by Mondello but towards the end of the season when the evenings become (marginally) cooler it is cooked in a tomato stew with ceci- or chickpeas added into the mix. Its one of my favorite octopus recipes-

Serves 4-5

I frozen octopus (around 1-5-1.8kg) thawed overnight in the fridge

1 onion, peeled and cut in 4

1 stick celery

5 bay leaves

1 tsp coriander seeds

4 plum tomatoes, eyes and chopped

400g chopped tinned tomatoes

1 400g tin chickpeas- drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon pitted chopped green olives

1 tablespoon miniature capers

sea salt, and black pepper and extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic day old bread crumbs fried in olive e oil until crisp

place the octopus, bay, onions, celery and coriander seeds ina large casserole and top up with water to cover the octopus . Set over a medium heat, bring to a simmer and cook for about 1 hour 20 minutes or until the octopus is tender. A pairing knife will pierce the octopus like butter.

Turn off the heat and leave the octopus to fully cool in the liquid.

When cool drain the liquid into another medium sauce pan and bring to a boil- you now want to reduce the cooking liquid by about half.

Slice the head from the octopus and save for later use.

Cut and separate the legs of the octopus for grilling.

When the liquor is reduced add the tinned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes until the consistency is thick and rick. Now stir in the chickpeas, capers and olives and adjust the seasoning.

Heat a griddle or bbq to medium high heat. Rub the octopus with olive oil, season and grill quickly for 2 minutes on each side of the tentacle to char. Remove from the grill and slice each tentacle into 3-4 pieces

Spoon out the chickpea stew, top with octopus and thepan grattato if using.