IRRESISTIBLE GRILLED OCTOPUS

 It was the aroma, not of sardines but of octopus, that grabbed me. I had already enjoyed  lashings of espetones, sardines and sea bass grilled on skewers at a chiringuito by the sea. Strolling along the beach path after lunch, at the next beach shack, I spotted the octopus, whole ones, speared on sticks stuck in the sand and searing by the fire. The smell was enticing, irresistible. I’ve been dreaming about octopus ever since.

Grilled octopus, skin a little charred, is irresistible.

I occasionally cook octopus (links to several recipes are below). It’s a bit of a process, but pretty straightforward once you conquer any initial queasiness about this slippery cephalopod. But, it was finding packaged cooked octopus at the supermarket that inspired me to prepare grilled octopus at home.

Yes, you have to cook the octopus before grilling. Grilling does not cook the octopus, it provides “value added.” It takes about three minutes and adds the distinctive flavors of seared flesh and smoke. Starting with pre-cooked octopus, it’s quick and easy. So much so that no recipe is needed, just a little orientation.

If you buy fresh, uncooked octopus, it must first be tenderized by freezing it for three days (never mind beating it). Thaw, then cook it in simmering water for 10 to 15 minutes per pound or until tender when tested with a skewer. Discard viscera from inside the head and the mouth beak. Do not remove the skin. (Complete instructions are here.)

Small octopus (1-pound or less) can be grilled whole. Large ones need to be dismembered—cut off each tentacle (it’s actually an “arm” or, in Spanish, a “pata.”) to be grilled separately and cut the head into several strips. Keep the purplish skin with the suckers intact, if possible. The skin helps to keep the octopus juicy.

Cooked, shrink-wrapped octopus tentacles.

The cooked octopus I purchased was already divided into tentacles. They only needed washing and patting dry. 

If you plan to grill the octopus over coals, brush the pieces with oil. If grilling on a plancha or in a skillet, heat the plancha, then brush oil on the grill, not the octopus.  

Heat the grill very hot, so the octopus quickly sears and does not release a lot of juice. Once one side is browned, use tongs to turn it. 

How to serve? Grilled octopus is amazing straight off the grill, with the skin just a little crispy. It can be served as finger food—just pick up a tentacle with fingers—or cut into bite-size pieces. 

In Galicia (northwest Spain), octopus is invariably served with a simple ajada of coarse salt, olive oil and pimentón (paprika). In Andalusia (southern Spain), it is accompanied by aliño, a dressing of chopped garlic, parsley, olive oil and lemon. I made a sauce by combining mayonnaise with both hot and sweet pimentón. 

In Galicia, octopus is usually paired with cachelos, boiled potatoes, dressed with the same oil and pimentón as the octopus. Another version calls for smooth mashed potatoes. I served the octopus with “smashed” potatoes. 

Grilled octopus tentacles accompanied by smashed potatoes and a spicy pimentón mayonnaise. Crisp Albariño wine from Galicia is the perfect match.

Slather the sauce on the octopus and the potatoes.

Cut grilled octopus in bite-sized pieces to serve as tapas.

Toss chopped grilled octopus in a salad with tomatoes, green peppers, onions and potatoes. (Good idea for leftovers.) Add a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice and Dijon mustard.

Grilled Octopus

Pulpo a la Parilla

Serves 4.

1 pound cooked octopus (about 6 tentacles)

Olive oil

Flaky salt

Sauce to serve (recipe follows)

Grilling in cast-iron skillet. 

Heat coals, plancha or skillet very hot. Oil either the octopus or the plancha. Lay the tentacles on the grill. Sear them until lightly browned on one side, about 1 minute. Use tongs to turn the pieces and grill the other side, about 1 minute.

Remove the tentacles with tongs. Sprinkle with flaky salt and drizzle with additional olive oil. Either serve the octopus immediately or allow it to cool, then use kitchen shears to cut into pieces. Serve accompanied by sauce.

Mayonnaise-Spicy Pimentón Sauce

Mojo Picón con Mayonesa

This sauce is a blend of mojo picón, a spicy chile sauce, and mayonnaise. Use regular sweet pimentón (paprika), not smoked, plus one or two spoonfuls of smoked spicy-hot pimentón. If pimentón picante is not available, use fresh red chile or cayenne to taste. The mojo picón is usually thinned with water. In this version, bottled mayonnaise gives it a smooth, creamy texture. It’s delicious with potatoes and other vegetables as well as the octopus.

4 cloves garlic

1 small shallot, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons sweet pimentón (not smoked)

2 teaspoons hot smoked pimentón (picante)

½ teaspoon cumin

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons wine vinegar

½ cup mayonnaise

Salt to taste

In a mini food processor, mince the garlic and shallot. Add the two kinds of pimentón, cumin, oil and vinegar and process until smooth. Add the mayonnaise and process again to mix well. Add salt to taste (about ½ teaspoon). 

If not using immediately, store the sauce, covered, in the refrigerator.

More recipes with octopus:

Octopus with Tomato Sauce.

Galician Octopus and Potatoes.

Octopus Salad.

Garlic-Parsley Sauce for Grilled Foods (Aliño)

A chiringuito beach lunch.

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS—

 Make ice cream.  Ice cream beats lemonade. It’s smooth, sweet, tart, icy-cold. Please tell Beyoncé.
In my case, the lemons are literal. At the end of their season, the skins thicken and the fruit begins to fall off the tree, bruising the tomatoes that grow beneath it. Using a squeeze here and a squeeze there, I can’t possibly consume so many lemons.

So, it’s ice cream. I recall many years ago in my pueblo, ice cream was a seasonal phenomenon. Corpus Christi day in early June marked the first day for eating ice cream as well as bathing in the sea. A truck delivered an ice cream kiosco to town, where it was installed in the plaza.  A vendor dispensed cortes, ice cream sandwiches, hand-cut from a block of ice cream in one of three flavors—nata (cream), vanilla or chocolate—and sandwiched between cookie slabs and polos, sweetened ices on a stick, akin to Popsicles. Those of us with a fridge with freezer could buy a whole brick of ice cream to enjoy at home, dipped into bowls. On trips to the city, at old fashioned ice cream parlors, we enjoyed hand-made flavors, including intensely lemony ice cream frozen inside a lemon shell. What a treat!

Lemon ice cream frozen in hollowed-out lemon shells. What a treat!

You don´t need an ice cream churn to make pretty good ice cream at home. If you do have one, use it for this recipe. Otherwise, partially freeze the cream, then use an immersion blender to beat it smooth, breaking up ice crystals and whipping in some air. 

This version is not really a “cream.” It’s made with evaporated milk that is cooked with eggs to make a custard base. Scald the milk with a strip of lemon zest and, if desired, a sprig of herbs (I used lemon thyme).

Ice cream frozen in lemon shells makes a pretty presentation. For this you need six medium lemons, hollowed out. Squeeze the flesh and membranes for juice. Scrape the shells clean.

I had more juice than needed for the ice cream, so I followed up with lemony ice cubes, perfect for a gin-tonic or fizzy lemonade.

These diminutive ice cubes are flavored with lemon juice, tonic water and botanicals. 

A custard base gives the ice cream a smooth texture--no ice cream machine needed.

Hollow out the lemon shells to serve as molds for the ice cream.

So good, it will briefly make you forget your woes.

Lemon Ice Cream

Helado de Limón

Serves 6.

6 lemons
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
½ cup fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
2 cups evaporated milk or light cream
½ cup sugar
Sprig of herbs (optional)

Remove a strip of zest from one of the lemons and reserve it. Cut a sliver off the bottom of the lemons so they will stand upright. Cut off the tops (stem end). Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and juice from the lemons. Reserve it in a sieve set over a bowl. Use a thin knife or serrated grapefruit spoon to ream out the shells, scraping away all membrane. Drain the shells and reserve them.

Scrape out lemon shell.

Crush the lemon flesh in the sieve to release the juice. Press the juice through the sieve and discard the seeds and membrane. (Six lemons makes approximately 1 1/3 cups juice. You need only ½ cup juice for this recipe.)

Beat the eggs with an immersion blender. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water and stir until smooth. Blend it into the eggs with the lemon juice and salt.

In a saucepan, heat the evaporated milk with the sugar, strip of reserved lemon zest and herbs, if using, until it just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and skim out and discard the zest and herbs. With the motor running, ladle about 1 cup of the hot milk into the eggs and lemon juice in the blender. Blend until smooth.

Whisk the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan. Cook on moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the egg-milk custard thickens, about 4 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil or the eggs will curdle.

Cool the custard, then freeze it in an ice cream maker or in a bowl. If freezing in a bowl, take it out when partially frozen and beat it again with the immersion blender in order to break up ice crystals and whip in some air.

Set the lemon shells in a muffin tin and spoon ice cream into them. Freeze to harden. 

Set the reserved lemon shells in cups or in a muffin tin so they stand upright. Spoon the ice cream into the shells, mounding it as much as possible. Place the shells in the freezer to harden. Once they are frozen, wrap them individually in plastic wrap. 

Remove the lemon shells from the freezer to soften 15 minutes before serving. 

Lemon-Tonic Ice

Hielo de Limón con Tonica

Gin-tonic with lemon-flavored ice cubes.

This ice can be frozen in ice cube trays or in a flat pan to be scraped or crushed for granizado (granita) or slushies. The lemon-tonic cubes are perfect with gin. Or fill a tall glass with the cubes and add fizzy water to make (non-alcoholic) lemonade. Tonic water, with sugar or non-caloric “diet” soda, provides the sweetening for the ice. You may like additional sugar to balance the lemon and slight bitterness of the botanicals. The tonic water can be bubbly or flat. Besides quinine, tonic is flavored with various botanicals. As is gin, though the main ingredient is juniper berries. This ice adds emphasis to those flavors.

Fills 3 small (9 X 4 ½ -inch) ice cube trays.

Botanical flavorings.

1 ½ cups water

½ teaspoon juniper berries

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

3 cardamom pods

1-inch piece of fresh ginger

1 bay leaf

1 strip lemon zest

1 strip orange zest

3 tablespoons sugar (optional)

½ cup fresh lemon juice

2 cups tonic water (2 cans)

Place the water in a saucepan with the juniper, coriander, cardamom, ginger, bay, lemon and orange zest and sugar, if using. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cover the pan. Allow to steep until the infusion is cool.

Pour the infusion into a bowl or pitcher. Add the lemon juice and tonic water. Ladle or pour the mixture into ice cube trays or metal cake pans. Place in the freezer until solid. 

Use the ice cubes as needed in drinks. The solid-freeze in pans can be scraped or crushed for granizado (granita) or slushies.

More recipes for when life gives you lemons:

Herbal Lemonade.

Sherry-Lemon Cocktail.

Lemon Sangría with Botanicals.

Lemon Salad.

Lemon-Roasted Chicken.

EGGPLANT, HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

 Let me count the ways—fried, grilled, roasted, steamed, stewed. With cheese. With ground meat stuffing. With seafood. With molasses. As a tapa, a side or a main dish. Spanish cooking has dozens of ways for preparing this versatile summer vegetable. 

This recipe for eggplant croquettes is one more reason for love. Crispy on the outside, meltingly creamy on the inside, the croquettes don't require bechamel sauce. They make a great aperitif to pass around with drinks or, served with rice and a sauce, a vegetarian main course.

Serve these croquettes as an aperitif with drinks.

Eggplant croquettes are crispy on the outside, creamy inside.

Serve croquettes with a dipping sauce. We like alioli, garlic mayonnaise.

Serve the croquettes on rice with sauce for a main course.

A delightful vegetarian main dish.

Eggplant Croquettes

Croquetas de Berenjena

The eggplant needs to be cooked until soft enough to mash. You can roast it on a grill or in the oven or, easiest in hot weather, steam it in a microwave. A food processor is helpful for grinding fresh breadcrumbs, chopping parsley and garlic, and mixing the eggplant.

Makes 20 croquettes

2 medium eggplant

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

¼ cup parsley

¼ teaspoon cumin

Pinch hot pimentón (paprika) or cayenne

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup grated cheese (3 ounces)

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs, preferably whole wheat

To fry the croquettes.

Flour for dredging

1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons of water

Fine dry breadcrumbs for dredging

Olive oil for frying

To microwave, wrap in plastic film.

  

 Place the eggplant in a microwave-safe dish. Wrap the dish in a double thickness of plastic film wrap. Microwave the eggplant on High for 5 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before unwrapping. (The eggplant should feel soft to the touch.) 

Split eggplant and scoop out flesh.

When cool enough to handle them, slit the eggplant open and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. There should be approximately 2 cups pulp. Place in a bowl and drizzle with lemon juice.

Mince the garlic and parsley in a food processor. Add the eggplant pulp and pulse to chop the eggplant finely. Don’t puree it. Blend in the cumin, pimentón and salt. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the grated cheese. Add the breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly.

Chill the croquette mixture at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Place the flour, beaten egg and fine breadcrumbs in bowls. 

Roll the eggplant mixture into walnut-sized balls and shape them into cylinders. Dredge them first in flour, then coat in beaten egg, then roll them in fine crumbs. Sprinkle a spoonful of the crumbs on a sheet pan and place the croquettes on it as they are shaped.

Dredge in flour.

Dip in egg, then roll in crumbs.

After breading, spread the croquettes on a tray to dry.

Allow the croquettes to dry at room temperature for 1 hour.

Place oil to a depth of 1 inch in a deep pan. Heat the oil until shimmering, but not smoking. Fry the croquettes, a few at a time, turning them as they brown. Remove when golden-brown and drain them on paper towels.

Drain excess oil on paper towels.

Serve the croquettes hot or room temperature. They can be reheated in a hot oven.

More recipes for eggplant love:

Fried Eggplant with Molasses.

Eggplant and Shrimp Rollups.

Moroccan Eggplant Salad (Zeilouk).

Roasted Eggplant with Cheese.

Pickled Eggplant, Almagro Style.

Eggplant Tortilla.

Meat-Stuffed Eggplant.

Eggplant Timbale.

Grilled Eggplant and Peppers (Escalivada).

Microwave Baba Ghanoush.

HOLY MACKEREL!

 They’re cheap, they’re healthful, they’re delicious. Mackerel, a fish in no danger of over-fishing, is a summertime treat. 

If mackerel has any drawback, it’s that the oil-rich flesh deteriorates rapidly. Eat them fresh, fried, baked or grilled. For longer keeping, put them in escabeche, a vinegar marinade. 

Fillets of mackerel in escabeche center a salad platter, a perfect summer lunch.

Escabeche is an ancient way of preserving foods in a marinade. (The word derives, via Arabic, from the Persian sikbâg.) Typically, escabeche is made with vinegar, olive oil and salt, often with aromatics such as garlic and herbs. Vinegar is a potent preservative. Olive oil in the marinade rises to the top as the food cools and creates a protective seal, allowing the escabeche foods to be kept for periods of time without refrigeration.  

Mackerel in escabeche is particularly popular in Cádiz, Málaga and Huelva (Andalusia) where this fish is common. In Galicia, simple escabeche, with vinegar, garlic and pimentón (paprika) is used for sardines, shad and lamprey as well as mussels and oysters. In inland regions such as La Mancha, escabeche is a traditional way of preserving fresh-water fish such as trout, pike and tench. If you haven’t got mackerel, sardines or trout, try this with farmed catfish. 

Traditionally, the fish is gutted, floured and fried until thoroughly cooked. Then boiling hot escabeche marinade is poured over the pieces of fish. Easier, skip the frying and cook the fish right in the marinade.

You can make this dish with whole (gutted) fish or fillets. Even when the spine has been removed, mackerel has fine bones that are much easier to pull out after the fish is cooked. 

For presentation, try to keep the fillets intact—but save any chunks that break up, as they are terrific mashed up with hard-cooked egg and mayonnaise for “tuna” salad sandwich.

How to serve escabeche? As a cold dish garnished with leafy greens and tomatoes, it makes a good starter or luncheon entrée. Those crunchy pickled carrots in the marinade are delicious, by the way.

Serve mackerel in escabeche as a starter, garnished with pickled carrots, potatoes, eggs and greens.

Serve mackerel fillet on toasts and garnish with strips of red pepper from the marinade.

Mash the mackerel up with chopped carrots, red peppers, hard-cooked egg and a little mayo. Use it as a sandwich spread or topping for toasts.

Salad with mackerel and vegetables makes a main course dish.

Mackerel in Escabeche Marinade

Caballa en Escabeche

Serves 6.

Mackerel.

3-4 whole mackerel, 2 ½-3 pounds

Salt

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, julienne sliced

2 carrots, sliced

½ cup julienned red bell pepper

6 cloves garlic, slivered

Red pepper flakes (optional)

2 bay leaves

Sprig of lemon thyme (optional)

Strip of orange or lemon zest

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

¼ teaspoon coriander seed

Pinch of ground cloves

½ cup white wine

¾ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup water

Cooked potato, sliced, to serve (optional)

Leafy greens, to serve (optional)

Hard-cooked eggs, to serve (optional)

Flaky salt

Use paper towels to wipe out any remaining blood in the cavity of the fish. Wash the mackerel well and pat them dry. Sprinkle them inside and out with salt.

Heat ½ cup of the oil in a pan large enough to hold the fish. Add the onion, carrots, red pepper and garlic. Poach them in the oil until somewhat softened, 5 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes, if using; the bay leaves; thyme, if using; lemon zest; peppercorns; coriander; cloves; wine; vinegar; water, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover the pan and cook the vegetables 10 minutes.

Carefully place the fish in the pan. Raise the heat so the liquid bubbles gently. Cover the pan and cook the fish 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mackerel to finish cooking in the residual heat, 15 minutes. (The fish is cooked if it easily separates from the bone.)

Lift out spines.

  Use a slotted spatula to remove the mackerel to a platter. While     they are still warm, use a table knife to scrape off the skin. Split a fish open along the spine and lay it flat. Lift out and discard the spine. Cut each half into two fillets, carefully removing any bones. (Fingers work best for finding the bones.)

  Place the fillets in a non-reactive container (glass or ceramic). Ladle     escabeche over each layer. If fillets fall apart, layer the pieces along with the whole fillets. Pour all the remaining escabeche liquid over the mackerel. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of remaining olive oil over the top.

Layer mackerel with marinade.

Cover tightly with a lid or a triple layer of plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to 36 hours. 

To serve, lift fillets of mackerel out of the marinade and place them on plates with leafy greens. Garnish with strips of red pepper and sliced carrots from the escabeche plus sliced potatoes and eggs, if using. Spoon escabeche marinade over the mackerel and potatoes. Sprinkle with flaky salt and drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Escabeche plated.

More escabeche recipes:

Quail Lollipops in Escabeche.

Chicken Wings in Escabeche.

Anchovies in Bitter Orange Escabeche.

Pickled Mushrooms.

Quinoa Salad with Partridge in Escabeche.

Marinated Bonito with Olives.

More recipes with mackerel:

Mackerel with Pisto Vegetables.

Horse Mackerel Biscay Style.

50 WAYS TO USE YOUR TOMATOES

Tomato season is peaking! Big ones or little ones, from the garden or from the farmers’ market, heirloom varieties or not, ripe tomatoes are what you want. Eat one right off the vine or cut it up in a salad. Chop a few and sauté them in olive oil. Roast them on the grill or slice them into a sheet pan. Nothing says summertime quite like tomatoes.

Tomatoes weren’t always big and red and at home on the Mediterranean. The originals, discovered in Peru and Mexico by Spanish explorers and conquistadores early in the 1500s, were yellow and not much bigger than peas. The pre-Columbian Peruvians didn’t cultivate them, but gathered them wild in season. Like many other botanical curiosities from the New World, tomatoes were brought back to Spain and cultivated in monastery gardens.

Perhaps because they were unknown or maybe because they belong to the same family as deadly nightshade, tomatoes were believed to be toxic if eaten. They were grown as a handsome ornamental.

If the Spaniards couldn’t see gazpacho in their future, the Italians must have had an empty place just waiting for tomato sauce to put on their spaghetti. After the kingdom of Naples came under Spanish rule in 1522, tomatoes were introduced there and slowly gained culinary ground. The Italians are credited with breeding red varieties.

To celebrate the tomato in Spanish cooking, here’s a listing of recipes that have appeared on this blog with tomatoes as a star ingredient. Maybe not quite fifty, but close enough. Enjoy!

Salads and Cold Dishes

Pipirrana is a chopped salad with tomatoes and peppers often served as a tapa.

Fresh Tomato-Pepper Salad (Pipirrana).           Tomato-Pepper Relish.

Moroccan Chopped Tomato Salad.                   Tomato-Cucumber Relish (Piriñaca).

Salpicón, seafood cocktail with tomatoes and avocado.

Shellfish Cocktail with Tomatoes.

Tomatoes and Peppers with Tuna (Titaina Valenciana)

Layered Gazpacho Salad.

Cobblestone Salad with Chickpeas.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice Salad.

Tomato-Tuna-Olive Dunking Salad.

Sliced tomatoes with anchovy dressing.

               
                  Beefsteak Tomatoes with Anchovy Dressing.

                  Spanish Mixed Salad with Tomatoes.

Bread and Pastries with Tomatoes

Pan con tomate, classic toasts with tomato, olive oil and ham.

A summery quiche with tomatoes.

Catalan Toasts.

Tomato Quiche.

Gazpacho and Soup

Gazpacho and its variations are emblematic of summer in Spain.

Andalusian Gazpacho.                                      Classic Gazpacho.

Country Gazpacho.                                           Gazpacho Cream (Salmorejo).

No-Bread Gazpacho.                                        Mango-Tomato Gazpacho Cream (Porra)

Gazpacho Bloody Mary.                                   Gazpacho Granita.

Gazpacho with Shrimp.                                    Gazpacho with Macaroni.

Hot Gazpacho with Figs.                                  Tomato Soup with Bacon.

Sofrito for Seafood Soup.                                 Monkfish Soup.

How to serve gazpacho? Clockwise from the left, in plastic cups for a picnic, in a tall glass, in mugs, in a fancy coupe, in bowls and, as shooters for passing at a gathering, in shot glasses.  Garnishes are optional; good when served in bowls.

   

Vegetables with Tomatoes

An all-vegetable stew (alboronía)

.

Sauté of Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes.

Pumpkin Stew with Tomatoes and Peppers.

Vegetable Medley with Tomatoes and Zucchini.

Tomato Sauces

Smooth or chunky, fresh tomato sauce goes with many foods.

Sofrito (Basic Tomato Sauce).

Tomato Sauce with Chorizo and Pasta.

Tomato-Sherry Sauce with Fish.

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Stuffed Peppers.

Chicken, Meat, Fish, Eggs with Tomatoes

A summertime stew with pork and vegetables cooked in tomato sauce (pisto con magro de cerdo) .

Pork and Vegetable Summer Stew.                               Pork with Tomato Sauce.

Chicken with Tomato.                                                   Chicken Braised with Wine and Tomatoes.

Stuffed Peppers with Chunky Tomato Sauce.               Lamb Stew with Roasted Tomatoes.

Paella with Sofrito.                                                        Fish Baked with Potatoes and Tomatoes.

Baked Eggs with Tomato (Flamenco Eggs).                 Eggs Poached in Tomato with Cheese.

Tomato-Vegetable Stew with Chicken.

Paella always begins with sofrito,  crushed tomatoes fried in olive oil.