Gate to Greece > Greek Food > Seafood > Octopus pasta

Octopus Pasta

Greeks eat lots of octopus on religious fasting days and this is one of the most popular way to eat it.

Ingredients for 4 portions

• 1 raw octopus about 800-1000g
• Short tube shaped pasta 400g
• 2 middle size onions
• 4 table spoons of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tinned tomato about 400g
• Wine vinegar
• Salt
• Sugar
• 1 or 2 leaves of laurel
• Dry oregano or basil
• 4 or 5 stalks of flatleaf parsley (if you don't find fresh parsley, just omit: dried parsley adds little to the dish)
• Chili (optional)
• 4 wedges of lemon

Method

1. Remove the skin from onions and dice them into very small pieces. Thinly slice 2 cloves of garlic; you may use more if you wish
2. Heat a large pan on the hob and add olive oil. Add garlic, onion, 1 teaspoonful of salt and 1 teaspoonful of sugar. Add some dried chili if you wish. Sweat them until translucent and slightly brown
3. While cooking the onion, wash octopus well and cut it in morsel-size pieces (not too small, as octopus shrinks considerably when heated)
4. When onion base is ready, add octopus and laurel. Cook 3 min stirring occasionally
5. Cut tin tomatoes into cubes and add to the pan. Add also 2 teaspoonful of vinegar
6. Cook on low heat about 45 min to 1 hour until the octopus is soft. Add water if necessary
7. Boil 4 liters of water in another pan and add pasta to the boiling water. Cook for about half the cooking time indicated on the package. Then add the half-done pasta into the octopus stew. (You may add the dry pasta directly into the stewed octopus, but in this case the stew tends to become thick and it takes more time to cook the pasta through)
8. Add a teaspoonful of oregano or basil, or both if you like
9. Cook until the pasta is perfectly tender (add some more water if the pasta starts to stick before cooked through) and adjust the seasoning. Remove laurel
10. Add chopped parsley just before turn the fire off and mix well
11. Serve with a wedge of lemon each. You may add some fresh parsley on top as decoration

Tips

• Greeks usually use the pasta called 'koftó' or 'kritharaki' (equivalent to Italian orzo or risoni pasta), but you can use any shape you want
• Larger the octopus, steeper the price. If you cook for 8 people, buy 2 octopuses than 1 large octopus. End result will be the same
• The ratio of octopus against pasta is flexible. You can use more octopus and less pasta if you wish

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