Name: Polpi Affogati (Stewed octopus)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 red chilli, finely chopped; 500 g polpa di pomodoro or chunky passata; bunch of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped; 8 tbsp olive oil; 8 fresh baby octopus, about 120–150 g each, cleaned; salt and pepper

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Antonio Carluccio's Italia

By Antonio Carluccio

Published 2005

About

For this excellent dish, octopus is cooked in its own juices with tomatoes. You need young octopus, weighing no more than 150 g, and they must also be verace - the right kind - identified by the double row of suckers on the tentacles. For me, these are one of the best fish to eat!

Ingredients

8 tbsp olive oil
8 fresh baby octopus, about 120–150 g each, cleaned

Method

Heat the olive oil in an earthenware pot or casserole (one with a tight-fitting lid). Add the octopus and fry, stirring, for a minute or so. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for a few seconds, then add the tomato pulp.

Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer very gently for 20–30 minutes. The octopus will be cooked by now. Open the lid, scatter in the chopped parsley and season with