Octopus rice

Neuza Costa is a Portuguese food blogger. She has the most irritating voice but she is an expert on traditional Portuguese cuisine. When my Portuguese cookbooks don't offer me a good enough recipe, Neuza always delivers. Her website: www.saborintenso.com.

My favourite recipes are all made with rice. I know, I am very partial! This is just one of them.

It's very difficult to find good octopus in the UK. I have tried fresh Cornish octopus and frozen Filipino octopus. Although the texture is right, the taste isn't good enough. I am afraid that the best I have tried is frozen Portuguese octopus. It can be found in very few fishmongers and, of course, in Portuguese shops. It's not cheap but it's the real deal.

Serves: 5 persons.

Ingredients:

• 1100g octopus (it will shrink to 400g once cooked)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 150ml white wine
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (400g)
• 400g short grain rice (Carolino - if you can find the Portuguese rice variety)
• 1 red bell pepper, halved and sliced
• bunch of parsley, chopped
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Add enough water to cover the octopus and pressure cook. In my Instant Pot, that's 15min.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Reserve the water of the cooking of the octopus. Chop the octopus.
   
   
   
3. Fry the onion, garlic and bay leaf in olive oil until the onion is soft.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add the wine and let it cook for 2 min.
5. Add the tomatoes and let it heat up. Season with salt & pepper.
   
   
   
6. Add the rice and ladle the water of the cooking of the octopus one ladle at a time until the rice is cooked. I also added a bit more water as it wasn't enough.
   
   
   
7. When the rice is half way cooked, add the pepper.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. When the rice is cooked through but still wet, add the octopus and parsley. Let it warm up. Serve immediately.