Author: Jana Dziak
Easy Greek grilled octopus is a traditional Mediterranean octopus recipe. Make this delicious and impressive but deceptively simple meal yourself. It requires few ingredients and mostly hands-off time to transform octopus into something tender and unexpected.
Ingredients
- 1 4 lbs whole octopus 4-5 lbs
- 1 table spoon Olive Oil
- 1 Lemon cut into wedges
- 2 cups Aromatics roughly chopped Onions, Celery, Carrots, Bay Leaves, parsley
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
Directions
- If frozen, allow to defrost completely in the fridge
- Preheat the oven to 300°F
- Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Submerge the octopus for 1 minute. Remove and rinse under cold running water.
- Prepare the bed of aromatics in a dish large enough to hold the octopus. Roughly chop everything you will be using and place the octopus on top.
- If your octopus is around 2 lbs, allow it to braise for about 2-hours. If it is closer to 4 lbs, you may need 3 or more hours.
- Pierce the flesh with a knife or fork to determine tenderness. It should go through easily.
- To finish, preheat your grill to High (or get out your blow-torch) and grill the octopus until the edges are slightly charred and the ends of the tentacles blackened.
- Rub down the meat with high-quality olive oil, preferably one of the more bitter Mediterranean styles and serve with a dish of flaky sea salt on the side and lemon wedges.