Rather than a nice dinner out, our Valentine's Day tradition is to stay in. And more than just cooking up a nice, easy meal for two, we set out to try something new and unusual. This always involves an intensive day of planning, trekking around wherever we are living at the moment, to find the right ingredients - which more often than not are alive. In the past, we have challenged our culinary acumen by boiling live lobsters, shucking oysters and cooking some killer homemade pasta. This year, we chose an octopus.
We found him on ice at a local fishmonger, who did all the dirty work for us cutting out the ink sack as well as other unsightly bits. At first, we were squeamish about touching the slippery sea creature but memories of our last meal of 'pulpo' in Santiago de Compostella, Spain, kept us hungry. The octopus served at O Dezaseis was smothered in smoked paprika with the tentacles grilled until crispy. It is as far from rubbery, bland calamari as can be.
After fifteen minutes on the bbq, our octopus was perfectly cooked and accompanied with a salad and champagne. I sadly can't say the same thing about the chocolate covered strawberries I made. Octopus isn't exactly something you would pack up and bring to work the next day. I can only imagine the looks I would get after throwing it in the office microwave, but it was comical and tasty for a once-off evening. Any recommendations for next year?
No comments:
Post a Comment