J'mo & I walking through the grocery store trying to decide what to get in the meat department for dinner, we had already raided the produce section. We picked up some shrimp and, on an adventuristic (its a word!) whim, some octopus. Yea, I know, OCTOPUS?! I thought it would be fun to weird the kids out when they found the creature in the fridge, (of course I got video!) and I DO love to experiment in the kitchen.
As soon as we got home we jumped on the internet because neither one of us had a clue as to how to prepare this tentacled creature. Found out how to start, you have to boil it before you can really do anything with it, at least that is what I got from all the stuff I read.
On to the recipe!
The ink sac and other "stuff" had already been removed, only the eyes and beak remained. Turn what I am guessing is the head inside out, like a sock, and rinse with cold water, careful, Jason and I got squirted with something liquidy when I turned it inside out. Turn it back right side out and remove the eyes and beak... I accidentally popped one of the eyes... EWWW!
Fill a pot with enough water to cover the octopus and add some salt... Now this is where I kind of went with what seemed like the best idea out of all the stuff I found. I cut the octopus into 3 pieces so I could take out the parts that got done as soon as they were done with out having to overcook other parts of it. It is done when you can put a knife or fork into it without resistance.
Now the water will be a pretty pinkish- purple color, I let the octopus cool in the water for about 15 minutes and then removed it to cut it up. At this point it is cooked, so if you want you can taste it, go ahead, we did. J'mo said the flavor reminded him of lobster.
After it was all cut up I added some of the stock, some white wine, (in this case Riesling) and some garlic. This I let sit in the fridge overnight.
In the crock pot I added the rest of the stock and a pound of bacon, didn't even bother cutting it up, and let it cook on low overnight.
About noon I made my roux from bacon grease that I had saved from the last time I cooked a pound of bacon. You can use any base, but make sure the roux ends up a nice rich red-brown color. Cool the roux before adding it to the crock pot unless you like the idea of being burned, add it slowly and mix it in well.
I cheated a bit on the spices, I just bought a box of Zatarain's gumbo seasoning, the kind that you only really need to add meat to, add it after you get the roux all mixed in.
At this point I put the rice in the rice cooker and and drained the octopus out of the marinade. If the liquid is too thick add a bit of the marinade to it to thin it out. Then I peeled the raw shrimp and soaked it in a garlic lemon mixture for about five minutes and then poured all of that into a skillet of hot butter to cook it up a bit.
Strain all the liquid from the shrimp then add shrimp to the crock pot.
By the time the rice was ready, the gumbo was good to go.
The Riesling added a little twist to the octopus and the lemon gave the shrimp something extra as well. J'mo said the bacon added an extra dimension to the whole thing.
Serve over rice. It was YUM! I admit I was a little scared... I made J'mo try it first.
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