Grilled Sun dried octopus & a glass of boozey gaspacho
Cuisine: Greek, CretanDifficulty: SimpleServings
4
servingsPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
40
minutesTotal time
1
hour10
minutesIngredients
- Boozy gazpacho
500g red ripe tomatoes
Half small red onion, peeled and quartered
1 small red horn pepper, deseeded and chopped roughly
1 red chili, deseeded
50ml olive oil
2-3tbsp aged red wine vinegar (rich and sweet, I use one from Santorini by Maltby & Greek)
60ml Ouzo or another aniseed liqueur (or as much as you like!)
sea salt
Directions
- Grilled Sun dried octopus
- All you need is a charcoal grill, an octopus weighing approximately 1kg or more and lemons.
- Prepare the octopus for hanging. First, you slit the hood open so it is flat, then you make another slit from the base of the hood to the mouth (beak), remove it and then in-between the two legs, just under the slit you have made, so that the whole octopus is flat. Each octopus needs 4 pegs. Two for the hood, and two for the first two legs on either side of the hood. Hang it on the washing line when the sun is hot for a few hours until it feels dry when touched.
- When the charcoal is lit and the coals are red hot, but without flames, place the octopus on a ‘skara’ (grilling basket) and grill it for about 20 minutes, turning it every so often so it doesn’t burn. When cooked, simply serve it with a quarter of a lemon and a chilled glass of boozy tomato juice!
- Boozy gazpacho
- Blitz all the ingredients until completely smooth and pass through a sieve. Put the juice in the fridge until needed. I like to serve this with a few crispy capers on top (I fry them in oil until golden and put them on paper to absorb excess oil).