Broiled Baby Octopus
Ingredients
1 lb baby octopus, cleaned by your fishmonger*
¼ c good olive oil
1 t fresh lemon juice
1 T dried oregano
½ t salt
Method: mix all the ingredients and marinate in refrigerator at least 8 hours, and as long as a day or two. Broil over a medium-hot heat source (you may need to use a finer mesh grill basket like this one to keep the octos from falling between the grates on your grill) 5 minutes, turning several times, until legs have lost their white color and curled up and charred somewhat. If your guests are squeamish, consider coarsely chopping the octopus so it won’t look like a real animal. Serve warm, at room temperature, cool or reheated.
*I’ve only encountered pre-cleaned baby octos, which have a small slit cut in the sac from which the guts are removed. Do the same yourself if you need to prep the product at home. (Do not go in through the mouth, as you would with a squid, but do remove the hard beak if there is one.)
Yummy…but it would be a hard sell to hubs or friends…..maybe next time the hubs goes away!!!
We’re lucky not to have any squeamish eaters in our household, but I know that’s unusual. You can mitigate the creature-ness by chopping up the octos rather than presenting them whole, but the suction cups on the tentacles are still a dead giveaway….
By the way, since you are local I will mention they are available, cleaned, at the fish counter at the Asian Supermarket. We have been getting more adventurous about buying fresh meet and seafood there and are pleased with the quality.
That’s good to know…I use to patronize there to get my chicken feet (but have found them also in Shoprite and on occasion Walmart or even Hannaford. They are an absolute must for when I’m making chicken stock in quantities!