Last week we received a copy of Jamie Oliver’s new book “Jamie Does…” in the post and started having a browse through it. He covers a number of different countries in it, all of which are within easy short-haul flying distance from the UK – a mixture of the usual culinary suspects and a couple of surprises – Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Greece and Sweden.
We immediately went for those that we felt we had explored less in the kitchen – Greece and Sweden. When we saw the Barbecued Octopus recipe in the Greek section though, the search ended pretty much immediately. We were determined this year to have an earlier first barbecue than we did last year and were also keen to try octopus again. We bought a rather large octopus from a local fishmonger and it was more expensive than the ones that we bought last time, but it was already cleaned, which was a bonus.
The recipe involved stewing the octopus for 45 minutes in a mixture of wine, tomatoes, anchovies, lemon zest, herbs (mint, oregano and parsely) and white wine before chopping it up and barbecuing it. The recipe says to mix some honey into some of the stewing liquid and use a thyme sprig to brush it onto the octopus while it is on the barbecue. This sounded a bit fanciful, but we gave it a go. Hard to tell if that technique added anything to it, but the octopus was really good when finished, with the slightly crispy, smoky outside (particularly the suckers!) complementing the meaty, white flesh of the tentacles. It reminded me a lot of pulpo a la gallego, the perrenial tapas favourite. That will be on our list to cook next time we have octopus, I’m sure.
In keeping with the Greek theme, we also barbecued some halloumi (a little overdone in places as you can see in the picture) and some lamb chops which we marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon and oregano (and then topped with a thyme twig for some reason… we had some lying around).
Not bad for a first barbecue of the “summer”!
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Had my first BBQ of the year last night too. But people were hungry so no time to take pics! Will live vicariously through yours. Lovely sounding – Octopus is still on my list to try
.-= Becky´s last blog ..Dan Dan Noodles =-.
That halloumi looks amazing! I wish I had some outside space to BBQ at my flat.
YAY! First bbq. I have a hankering for bbq’d meat now. Damnit! Lovely photos as always.
.-= Niamh´s last blog ..Recipe: Home Cured Salmon =-.
delicious – and did you beat the record for earliest bbq of the summer?!
.-= gourmet chick´s last blog ..The Underground Restaurant =-.
I love octopus, and I imagine bbq’ing it is especially good.
.-= Lizzie´s last blog ..Sweetcorn Cakes =-.
Ooh, all gorgeous!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Battlesbridge Antiques Centre =-.
Not bad at all! I definitely want to try BBQ’ing octopus this year.
Thanks everyone!
Gourmet chick we did beat it, by a week and a half or so!
That octopus looks divine…sorely tempted to try now… xxx
.-= The Curious Cat´s last blog ..Further Plans =-.
That barbecued octopus looks very tempting. We had our first barbecue of the year last weekend and did halloumi and lamb chops as well as burgers and sausages. I’d like to say Ipreferred the lamb chops (I liked them), but really, it’s all about the squeaky, salty cheese. Nothing beats halloumi on a BBQ.
.-= ginandcrumpets´s last blog ..Bubble and squeak =-.
I agree, halloumi is good but you can’t beat a barbecued sausage!