Grilled octopus with Pecorino cheese cream

• 15 minutes to prepare • 45 minutes to cook • Serves 4

   

 

À la Giorgio Nocciolini

Octopus is a genuine and tasty ingredient which is used in many traditional Italian recipes, mainly native of coastal areas. 

Octopus is caught with trawls and hooks using light sources as lure. Its is a low-fat and low-calories mollusc (100 g of edible serving provide about 70 kcal) but be careful: once cooked, octopus halves his weight with the result that calories are doubled. Fortunately, octopus is very satiating because of the connective tissue of its meat. 

In this recipe, octopus is combined with Pecorino cheese.
Giorgio Nocciolini, a great chef from Livorno (in Tuscany), gave us this amazing combination.
Pecorino comes in a variety of flavours determined by their age. Here we use aged Pecorino (referred to as stagionato) because of its firm, nutty taste....trust the cook, its creamy piquancy will seduce your palate. 

Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe:
 
1 kg octopus
80 g well-seasoned Pecorino cheese
80 g cream
EVO oil
salt and pepper

 

1. Start by cooking the octopus:drop it in boiling water with nothing else, not even salt, and make it cook for about 30 minutes, covering the pan with a lid and lowering the heat to the minimum. Cooking time depends on the size of the octopus and on whether it is fresh or frozen, so consider this time as indicative. The best way to see if the octopus is ready is to skewer it with a fork, in the point where its tentacles are connected to the head: if the fork enters it easily, the octopus is al dente
2. When the octopus is cooked, turn off the heat and let it cool in its cooking water 
3. Meanwhile, we can prepare the Pecorino cheese cream:  grate the cheese and melt it into the milk cream over low heat. Add freshly ground pepper according to your taste
4. Remove the octopus from the water, and put it on a cutting board. Remove excess skin and cut the tentacles just below their junction to the body. We want to obtain pieces similar to ones depicted above...with a nice curl at the end of the tentacle!
5. Take a grill pan grid, the one you normally use for steaks, preferably non-stick. Grease it lightly with EVO oil and put it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, place the octopus on it, add a pinch of salt, and cook it for about 10 minutes, turning it so that the heat reaches it uniformly
6. So far so good, we just need to properly serve it! Place octopus pieces on a body of Pecorino cheese cream. Grind some more pepper on top, garnish as you like and then bring it to the table 

Nutrition Facts of this dish are right below. Data is provided per serving.

Definitely a surprise day for you today:  an exceptional new post...with a recipe not to feel guilty for!