My grandmother introduced me to octopus at a very early age. I was extremely young and have zero recollection of how she had prepared it. The only image that resonates with me, were those legs dangling just before she submerged it into boiling water. I was in total awe. I’m not sure how she acquired this octopus, but my intuition tells me that it came from the fisherman who lived two doors down from our house in Jamaica.
Fast Forward:
I’m now an adult; a food enthusiast; a culinary extraordinaire who’s willing to try most foods at least once. Not all foods but most foods. Just so you know, grilled octopus drizzled with an herbaceous oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice tantalizes my palate. It took only but a moment for me to figure out what I would do with this octopus: I would grill it, then toss it into a mouth watering rice pilaf. Stupendous!
Mood: Feeling like a proud puppy!
I’m actually enjoying octopus and becoming more inspired to merge them into my culinary repertoire. Let it be known, that this here rice pilaf with grilled octopus, chicken breast and ground beef is a bad ass. I did it again. I sho did. And I’m about to tell you how it’s done. Now I don’t have exact measurement, so you’re just gonna have to figure it out. I cook by sight and only document recipes when I’m writing a cookbook or whenever I have some spare time on my hands.
I cut up chicken breast, seasoned it with herbs, pink himalayan salt and spices; sauteed chopped onions in dutch pot, added ground beef and sauteed until cooked through. Then I added jasmine rice and toasted it in the pot before adding some of the liquid from the highly seasoned octopus stock. Once liquid has evaporated, cover and reduce heat, then cooked until rice is tender. (I grilled the octopus after it was cooked). Toss octopus with rice, garnish with chopped parsley and serve.
It was divine!
PS: To achieve evenly cooked rice. I covered the pot with foil paper and placed it into the oven for approximately thirty minutes until cooked.
Are you going to try this?