Octopus Stew in Red Wine

I would think our 'portion control' exercise has been quite successful. We definitely have comparatively smaller appetites than the usual Kiwis. We struggle to finish our main course in restaurants (well, the servings at restaurants are huge here), get full by sharing between two of us, a main course and a starter dish.

Back at home, we hardly eat outside mealtimes. We seldom have space for the traditional French course of cheese (that is served before dessert).

For dinner, we have moderate servings. Like sharing a tuna steak or a lamb shank (it's also so that we can enjoy a bigger proportion of vegetable to meat). Last night, dinner was octopus stew. To be more precise, we shared a tentacle of an octopus. Hmmm...this is making us look like Scrooge. Well, a smaller main course serving allows us to have a hearty salad for starter, and space for a sinful dessert.

The stew was done entirely by Rémi, who wanted to reminisce the octopus stew he used to have during his Corsican summer holiday. Recipe comes from our Ultimate Fish cookbook. Original cooking time was supposed to be more than two hours, but we halved it and the meat was just as tender as we could have wished for.

Octopus Stew in Red Wine
Serves two

Prepared octopus (up to you to choose how many tentacles is enough to feed you)
2 onions, sliced
1 bay leaf
2 ripe tomatoes (or use canned whole peeled tomatoes)
olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves
sprinkle of castor sugar
sprinkle of rosemary or oregano
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
70ml red wine
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
chopped fresh herbs, eg basil for garnish

Begin by tenderising the octopus meat, after cleaning and skinning it. Place the meat in a plastic bag, and beat well with the back of a knife or rolling pin.

Put the octopus in a large pan of gently simmering water with one quarter of the sliced onions and bay leaves. Cook gently for 1 hour (we halved the cooking time here).

Peel skin off tomatoes by first putting them into boiling water for 30 seconds and running under cold water. Chopped up the fresh.

Drain the octopus and cut into bitesize pieces.

Heat oil in pan, and fry the octopus, remaining onions, crushed garlic and cook over low heat. Stir occasionally for 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, sugar, rosemary or oregano, parsley, red wine and vinegar. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thickened.

Cover and cook over low heat for about 1.5 hours (we did it for about half an hour only), until the sauce is thickened and the octopus is tender.

Garnish with fresh herbs and serve with couscous or rice or warm bread.