GRILLED OCTOPUS WITH POTATOES, CELERY, AND LEMON

Grilled Octopus with Potatoes, Celery, and Lemon image

I order octopus every time I go to Babbo and have done so since long before I partnered with Mario and Joe, so when Mozza came about I knew I wanted to include an octopus dish on the Osteria menu. Most people's experience of octopus is eating it raw at sushi bars, and we all know how chewy it can be, but, like Mario's version at Babbo that I love so much, ours is tender and not at all rubbery. That tenderness doesn't come without considerable effort, but as much effort as it is, the finished dish is certainly worth it. It's our most popular non-mozzarella antipasto. In Italy people do all kinds of things to tenderize fresh octopus. They pound it with a meat pounder, they hit it with hammers, they throw it against rocks. Matt's solution is to start with frozen octopus; freezing helps break down the octopus's flesh the same way that pounding it does. He then sears the octopus, poaches it in olive oil, marinates it, and, lastly, chars it in a wood-fired grill. The wine cork in the recipe is something we do on Mario's orders. He claims that in Italy they say the wine cork tenderizes the octopus. I think it must be an old wives' tale, but it doesn't hurt to throw it in there, so we do. Note: This recipe requires a huge sacrifice of oil. You can keep the oil and reuse it once to make the octopus again within a week.

Yield serves 4

Number Of Ingredients 19

Ingredients

8 cups plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
1 2-pound frozen octopus, thawed and rinsed
10 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 wine cork
1 cup whole Italian parsley leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup garlic cloves
1 heaping teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 pound fingerling potatoes or other small potatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the blanching water and to taste
1 medium leek, washed and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (white and light green parts only)
2 scallions, thinly sliced on an extreme bias starting at the green ends and moving toward the root ends
3 celery ribs, peeled and thinly sliced on an extreme bias
1/4 cup whole fresh pale green celery leaves (from the hearts)
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Lemon Vinaigrette (page 29), plus more to taste
1 lemon, halved
1/2 cup 3-inch-long chive batonettes (about 20)

Steps:

To poach the octopus, adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 300°F.
In a braising pot just big enough to hold the octopus, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat until it is almost smoking and slides easily in the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the octopus and sear it for 8 to 10 minutes, turning to cook all sides evenly, until the octopus is burgundy all over and browned in places. Remove the octopus to a plate and wipe out the pot. In the pot you seared the octopus in, heat the garlic cloves with 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil and sauté the garlic over medium-high heat, stirring often, until it is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Remove and discard the garlic cloves and return the octopus to the pot. Add the red pepper flakes, wine cork, and enough olive oil to cover the octopus. Put the lid on the pot and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the octopus is very tender; it will puncture and tear easily with a fork. Remove the pot from the oven, and set it aside to allow the octopus to cool to room temperature in the oil. Remove the octopus from the oil, reserving the oil to poach another octopus within a week, and place the octopus on a baking sheet. (If you are going to reuse the oil, strain it and refrigerate it until you are ready to use it.) Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate the octopus overnight or for at least several hours.
Lay the octopus on a cutting board and spread out the tentacles like the petals of a flower. Use a large knife to cut the octopus in half through the body, keeping the tentacles intact. Working from the body outward as if you were cutting off the petals of the flower, cut each tentacle to remove it from the head. Turn the head inside out, scrape out and discard any guck left inside the head, and cut the head into quarters. Cut the body into 2-inch segments, leaving the ends of each tentacle long for their dramatic effect on the plate, and place all of the octopus pieces in a medium bowl or a large, nonreactive baking dish.
To make the marinade, combine the parsley, olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the bowl of a miniature food processor fitted with a metal blade or the jar of a blender and purée. Drizzle the marinade over the octopus and toss to coat it with the marinade. Cover the bowl or dish tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the octopus until you are ready to grill it or for up to three days.
To make the salad, steam the potatoes until they are tender when pierced with a small sharp knife, about 20 minutes. Remove the potatoes to a plate until they are cool enough to touch. Use a small, sharp knife to remove the peel from the potatoes and discard the peels. Slice the potatoes into 1/2-inch-thick rounds, place them in a small bowl, and set aside.
While the potatoes are cooking, fill a large saucepan with water, bring the water to a boil over high heat, and salt it to taste like the ocean, adding approximately 1 tablespoon of salt to each quart of water. Fill a bowl with ice water. Place the leek in a fine-mesh strainer and plunge into the boiling water to blanch it for 1 minute. Lift the strainer out of the water and immediately plunge the strainer into the ice water for about 1 minute to cool the leek. Remove the strainer from the water and turn the leek out onto paper towels to drain.
Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill or preheat a grill pan.
Season the potatoes with the 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and toss to distribute the salt evenly over the potato slices. Add the leek, scallions, sliced celery, and celery leaves to the bowl with the potatoes. Season the salad with salt and pepper, drizzle with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and toss to coat with the seasonings. Taste for seasoning and add more vinaigrette, salt, and pepper, if desired. Pile the salad in the center of four plates, dividing it equally and reserving any vinaigrette left in the bottom of the bowl.
Have the bowl with the reserved vinaigrette nearby and grill the octopus pieces until they are charred on all sides, about 3 minutes total. Remove the octopus pieces from the grill as they are done and place them in the bowl with the vinaigrette you tossed the salad with. Drizzle with another 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette and toss to coat the octopus with the vinaigrette. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if desired.
Stack the octopus pieces on top of the salads, dividing them evenly and reserving the long dramatic tentacles for the tops of the salads. Squeeze a few drops of lemon over each serving of octopus. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette over and around each salad. Scatter a few chive batonettes over the top of each plate, and serve.
Verdicchio Dei Castelli di Jesi (The Marches)