Pasta with Spicy Baby Octopus (Htapothi Makaronatha)

Pasta with Spicy baby Octopus  (Htapothi Makaronatha)

I celebrated my birthday with a lovely dinner with my husband at a restaurant new to us.  Our first course was a baby octopus dish cooked with garlic and tomatoes.  I could not get enough of it and came home to be lucky to find in my freezer baby cleaned Octopus. ( I know my house is like a gourmet store!)

So with my yummy thoughts and memory of the dinner I just had, I made a spicy rendition of a Greek Octopus and pasta dish was to be tried.

All tomatoes, parsley and the hot pepper were from my garden!  Reap the harvest!

This will serve 4 persons very well, especially if a salad is added and can be doubled easily. I also think it is a very elegant first course for 6-8 persons.

1 lb baby octopus, sliced into rings

4 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

¼ cup chopped onions

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon chile flakes

1 small jalopena pepper minced (optional)

1 bay leaf

2 Teaspoons. capers (optional)

Salt and fresh ground pepper

½ pound ditalini pasta

Make sure the Octopus is cleaned (washed and the plastic-like inners pulled out)  These are pre-cleaned and jut adorable baby Octopus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                             Then slice in small pieces: 

 

Saute in the olive oil the octopus, onion and

garlic for 3-4 minutes

 

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Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes on low.  Add the remaining ingredients (all but the pasta) and simmer on low for about 30-35 minutes until the octopus is just about tender.

Add the pasta and keep simmering until the pasta is cooked and not over done (8-9 minutes on the average for small pasta)

 

 

Remember to stir (not to have anything stick) and add more water if it becomes too dry.  The ideal consistency would have all liquid, but a bit, is absorbed into the pasta.

TIPS:

·        Note I am using elbow macaroni instead of the typically used ditalini

·        If I had a fish broth or clam juice I might have used that instead of white wine.

·        Asian markets sell pre-cleaned and baby octopus, which I believe is the best

·        You could make this as a sauce and place over pasta of choice.

·        Often this dish is cooked in a clay dish and baked.

·        Don’t forget to remove the bay leaf.  Also, note I am using my smaller tomatoes from my garden and I cut them and placed them in the sauce.  They will have their skins come off into the sauce.  Blanching (placing the vegetable into boiling water for just a bit and then into ice bath) will make skinning them easy.  If I use Big tomatoes I do this, but I was lazy here. If you are entertaining with this--DO IT.

As always be your own Creative Dump Cook and change this recipe to what YOU have on hand!