Grilled octopus with peas' cream, caramelized tomatoes and pane guttiau

• 10 minutes to prepare • 90 minutes to cook  • Serves 4

Carta di musica

There is an ancient Sardinian peasant proverb ‘Chie hat pane, mai no morit‘ which means ‘with bread you will never die.’ Not surprising that various breads are a staple of the Sardinian diet.

The most popular is an unleavened (yeast-free) flatbread called Pane Guttiau or “Carta di Musica” (Music card) for its paper thin appearance. It is most often eaten with Pecorino cheese and Sardinian wine.
Pane Guttiau is very similar to another Sardinian flatbread Pane Carasau which contains yeast. Remains of the bread were found in archaeological excavations of Nuraghes (ancient Sardinian stone buildings) so this bread was consumed on the Sardinian island prior to 1000 BC.

In today's recipe we will use it together with some grilled octopus (never too much, if you ask me), caramelized cherry tomatoes and peas'cream. Buon appetito!

Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe:

1 kg octopus
500 g peas, frozen
300 g cherry tomatoes
1 shallot
1 carrot
1 clove
1 branch celery

1 branch basil

200 ml white wine
1 tablespoon sugar

EVO oil

salt and pepper
4 sheets pane guttiau

1. Cook the octopus:drop it in a large pan, together with white wine, peeled carrot, celery, the clove. When the wine starts to boil, make it cook for about 60 minutes, covering the pan with a lid and lowering the heat to the minimum. Cooking time depends on the size of the octopus, 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. Chop the shallots. Then, pour two tablespoons of EVO oil in a pan and, when it is hot, braise them
4. Add peas. Go on with the cooking for 20 minutes
5. When the 20-minutes time has passed, check that the peas are cooked. If so, add a pinch of salt, basil leaves, and blend everything until you obtain a creamy soup. Keep warm
6. Heat a non-stick pan over high heat for a few minutes. Cut tomatoes by half and distribute them - with the cut side down - over the pan. Drizzle 1 tablespoons of EVO oil, add a pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar
7. Cook over medium heat until the sugar begins to caramelize. Press the tomatoes with the back of a spoon and cook until the juice released by tomatoes evaporates, then let them cool down
8. 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, then cut them into pieces
9. 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
10. Wash the basil leaves and place them in a blender. Pour EVO oil and blend until smooth
11. Finally, we just need to arrange our serving plates: spread the peas cream in 4 plates and lay in the middle octopus. Grind some more pepper on top, garnish with caramelized tomatoes, and pane guttiau and then bring it to the table

Nutrition Facts are listed for this recipe in the table below. Data is provided per serving.