Tag Archives: octopus

Spiders From Mars

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Just  a light dinner tonight with one of my favorite ingredients – Octopus.
In the seventies I spent a lot of time in the  Mediterranean  and some of my  fondest memories take me back to  Turkey,  Spain  and  Greece and their great seafood.. Almost all memories I possess of that time are connected to food. Parties, dates, travel, good times and bad times, all somehow  lead to (mostly) great meals. Most involved seafood of one way or another. While there were too many outstanding meals to count, the ones I remember the most were the many octopus dishes I had, and of those, the ones I had in  Mykonos. To this day I can picture exactly in my head walking along the very small area in town, right on the water, where the fishermen had hung up their freshly caught little monsters on racks in the fresh air. We used to pick the ones which appealed to us the most, took a chair at one of the tiny restaurants right there on the other side of the walk way and just pointed the waiter to our catch, which he then took to the cook who added nothing more than salt, garlic,  olive oil  and lemon juice and grilled it to perfection. Memories……….
I am fond of octopus of any size and any preparation, so today on my way home from work when I saw some nice baby octopus at my neighborhood Asian store, there was only one option for dinner tonight : ” Baby Octopus Salad ” .
( Once I looked at the finished dish,   ” Spiders From Mars “   just came to my mind and stuck there   :-)
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Click to hear  ”Spiders From Mars“
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Real Food, Real Opinions &  ”  REAL MUSIC  “
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When it comes to baby octopus, folk’s have different opinions and preferences. Some people eat the head, others remove it (me). Some grill or saute them straight, others simmer them first until tender (me), then continue to grill or saute. Some like them in complicated sauces, others just simply grilled or sauted (me). Baby octopus curry anyone? Good stuff   :-)  So if you love seafood but have not yet tried these little creatures, it is high time to get a bit adventurous and put them on the menu.

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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Three Minute “Gourmet” Meal

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I got home today totally exhausted,
deprived of sleep last night and just too bummed out
to be enthusiastic about being in the kitchen and on
my feet any more time then absolutely necessary.
The solution: My favorite three minute gourmet meal  :-)

” Octopus, mussels and romaine salad “
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The key to the success of this dish is to use the best
ingredients available. Please note that while there are a lot of
crappy canned and frozen food‘s out there, there are also some
pretty amazing items available which make it a snap to produce
a wonderful, high quality meal on the fly when, for whatever reason,
time restraints and / or other restrictions prevent you from using the
ideal fresh product.

Ingredient‘s :

Romaine lettuce,          sliced
Octopus,                         canned, drained
Mussels,                         canned, drained
Grape tomatoes,           halved
Radishes,                       sliced
Onions,                          sliced
Basil,                               freeze dried  (Litehouse)
Oregano                         freeze dried  (Litehouse)
Fuji apple dressing      bottled  (Litehouse)
Sangria dressing          bottled  (Litehouse)
Salt                                   to taste
Cayenne pepper            to taste
Granulated garlic         to taste

Method :

Mix all ingredients carefully so as not to break up the delicate mussels.
Serve with jalapeno / cheese sour dough bread.

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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” Seafood Salad ”

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“CANNED”  seafood  you ask ? 

If it is not fresh it doesn’t hit my plate you say ?

Of course I agree that fresh seafood is heaven on earth
when properly prepared, But sometimes in the real world
you come home late and want something tasty and don’t
feel like cooking. Here is what I did last night :
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The result ?
A great salad done in 10 minutes ( Hard boiled egg‘s take their time )


Ingredients:

Fresh / canned seafood of your liking  (What’s in your cupboard)
Cucumber, salted for 5 minutes, rinsed
Hard boiled egg’s, diced
Radish, julienned
Bell peppers, julienned
Chilies, julienned
Garlic, paste
Parsley, chopped

Dressing:

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Raspberry vingar
Kosher Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Maggi Seasoning

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !         :-)  

Related articles

” Seafood Salad “

For a light lunch, try this :
Lettuce, red cabbage, octopus, shrimp,
anchovies,onion, parsley, eggs, dijon dressing.

Life is Good ! Bon Appetit !