Delicious, spicy, fragrant and fasting… Ingredients
1 octopus, 1½-2 kg, cleaned, separated in its tentacles (the hood cut in two)
2 medium onions, passed through a coarse grater
3 cloves garlic, melted (or as much garlic as we want)
1 tsp. pulp soup
2 laurel leaves
the leaves of 3-4 sprigs of thyme, finely chopped (in selected grocery stores and now in large supermarkets) or 1 cut kout. tablespoon dried thyme, well grated
120 gr. olive oil
5 grains of allspice
150 ml white dry wine
100 ml of white sweet wine
Salt Pepper
Servings 4 - 6
Preparation 20΄ Cooking about 1 hour
Procedure
In a saucepan sauté in oil, over medium heat, onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add the tentacles and the octopus hood and sauté them all together for another 2-3 minutes. Quench with the two types of wine and add the rest of the ingredients, except the thyme. We are not salting from now on.
Cut a sheet of oil glue to the diameter of the pot and cover the food with it. The oil paste will touch the food. Cover with the lid of the pot. We do this to seal the pot tightly and let the delicious water vapor stay inside. So we will not need to add any water, since anyway the octopus will produce its own delicious liquids and will be cooked in them. Let the octopus boil on a very low heat for about 50 minutes - 1 hour (depending on its size).
Check and, if it has softened, increase the heat and cook (with a uncooked pot and without the oil paste) until the sauce sets (if necessary). If there is a lot of juice, we can, before tying the sauce, take out some of them with a ladle and use them one more time to make a delicious pilaf. Once the sauce has set, remove the tentacles and the octopus hood and cut them into smaller pieces that we put back in the pot. Sprinkle the food with thyme, try if you need salt and serve with toasted bread.
On the table we will have other fasting delicacies, such as taramosalata, olives of our choice, pickles, legumes (eg giants), lagana and halva. Have a good appetite!
Accompany with a red wine for this rich dish from an island variety Mandilaria or the famous Santorini Mavrotragano.