Name: Grilled Octopus with Braised Black-Eyed Peas
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 dried guajillo chiles; 1 lb [910 g] fresh or dried black-eyed peas; 2 lb [910 g] octopus tentacles, cleaned; Kosher salt; 4 Roma tomatoes, quartered; 2 Tbsp dried oregano, preferably Sicilian; 3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 4 garlic cloves; 1 yellow onion, quartered; 1 bay leaf; 4 garlic cloves, sliced; 2 fresh thyme sprigs; One 750-ml bottle dry white wine; 1 yellow onion, finely chopped; Olive oil for drizzling; ½ cup [120 ml] olive oil; 1 cup [30 g] chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; ¼ cup [7 g] chopped fresh huacatay leaves, or a mix of mint and cilantro; ¼ cup [65 g] Tomato Confit; 2 cups [480 ml] water; 3 Tbsp honey; ¼ cup [60 ml] red wine vinegar; 3 garlic cloves, sliced; Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Gjelina

By Travis Lett

Published 2015

About

Octopus simmered just until tender and then charred on a very hot grill is, in my opinion, the best way to handle this creature. I love the charred skin with the tender, but still firm, meat, which becomes almost steaklike. The marinade, which we end up brushing on as the octopus cooks, is a purée of dried chiles and tomato sweetened with honey and spiked with vinegar. To round out the Latin American theme, we serve this with an herb called huacatay, which tastes like a marriage of m