Grilled octopus with asparagus, broad beans & blackened lemon
Make the most of them having eight legs, and try this delicious grilled octopus recipe.
Servings
4
Ingredients
- 1 small leek, halved
- 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 carrot, roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 whole octopus, weighing 1.5–1.7kg
- extra-virgin olive oil, for griddling
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the asparagus and beans:
- 500g asparagus
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lemons, halved
- 225g podded broad (fava) beans
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- handful of fresh oregano, mint and parsley leaves, chopped
Method
- Place the vegetables and garlic in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, use tongs to quickly plunge the octopus into the water three times; this helps to keep the tentacles from touching each other. Once plunged, lower the octopus into the water and cook gently for 30 minutes, until tender. Remove the octopus from the water, allow to cool, then cut the tentacles from the body.
- Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Rub the asparagus with olive oil and season well. When the griddle pan starts to smoke, add the lemon halves and asparagus and griddle for two to three minutes, turning occasionally, until they blacken.
- Add the broad beans with the three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar. Cook for two minutes then remove from the heat. Drain away the oil and vinegar, then mix the beans and asparagus with the chopped herbs in a shallow serving bowl or plate.
- Brush the octopus tentacles in oil and sear on the griddle for four to five minutes. Remove from the pan and slice. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt. Add the octopus to the asparagus and broad beans. Squeeze over the juice from the blackened lemons, splash over more extra-virgin olive oil, season well and serve.