Chargrilled octopus with maple chilli dressing & pistachios
Octopus always reminds me of holidays in Spain or Greece. It’s incredibly easy to cook - just expect 30%–40% shrinkage.
Author: Sabrina Ghayour
Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients
- sea salt flakes
- 2kg octopus
- 3 heaped tsp rose harissa
- 5tbsp maple syrup
- olive oil for drizzling
- 50g pistachio slivers/75g chopped pistachios (skin on is fine)
Method
- Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil, add the octopus, reduce heat to medium-low immediately and simmer for 2 hours or, if using a whole octopus, for 3 hours. Drain and plunge the octopus into cold water.
- In a small saucepan, combine the harissa and maple syrup and heat gently. As soon as the mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and set aside.
- Heat a griddle pan or a heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Dry the octopus pieces using kitchen paper (don’t worry if the skin begins to rub away) and cut into lengths that will easily fit into your griddle pan. Rub the octopus pieces with olive oil to coat them well. Cooking in batches, sear the octopus on the hot griddle for 1-2 mins (depending on size of pieces) or until char marks appear. Transfer to a plate. Slice octopus according to your preference and arrange on a serving plate. Drizzle sauce liberally, drizzle with olive oil and scatter over pistachios to finish.
