Octopus in Lemon & Oil

Click to Enlarge	Octopus in Lemon & Oil Italy - Naples / Campagna
	Serves Effort: Sched: DoAhead:	4 ap ** 2 hr Yes		This popular appetizer can be served warm or room temperature and takes rewarming well. The photo shows a medley of tiny octopi, small tentacles, large tentacle pieces and large tentacle pieces with the skin and sucker disks wiped off.

3-1/2
7
4
2
3
1/4
tt

#
T
T
cl

t

Octopus (1)
Olive Oil ExtV
Lemon Juice
Garlic
Parsley sprig
Pepper
Salt

Rinse OCTOPUS and drain. Bring a deep pot of water to a boil and put in it 1/2 an Onion and a couple wine corks (see my article Cooking Large Octopus for explanation and cooking details).
Drop in the octopus and bring back to a boil. Your 3-1/2 pound octopus will curl up, stiffen and shrink to about 1-1/2 pound within a couple of minutes. Bring back to a boil, cover and simmer over medium heat until tender. This will take 1-1/2 to 2 hours depending on octopus size and whether you want to rub off the skin and sucker disks or not. If you used two smaller octopi check at 1-1/4 hours. Octopus is done when a thin skewer goes through the thickest part of a tentacle without encountering rubbery resistance.
Make the dressing (see Note-2). Chop GARLIC and PARSLEY very fine. Mix with OLIVE OIL, LEMON JUICE, PEPPER and SALT.
When Octopus is done, cut the tentacles into pieces the size you want, generally 1/2" long at the big end and increasing as the tentacle gets narrower. mix thoroughly with the dressing while still warm.

NOTES:

Octopus: weight is for a single cleaned octopus. You could use a couple smaller octopi cooking a little less, or a bunch of much smaller octopi (see my article Cooking Small Octopi for instructions. Don't try to cook several sizes together.
Dressing: The amount listed is sufficient for a 3-1/2 pound octopus with skin and sucker disks on. If you cook it longer and rub off the skin and sucker disks cut the amounts by 1/3.

U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch