Baked octopus and potatoes

A long time ago, and I do mean a loooong time ago, octopuses had only one leg. In fact, they were called monopuses. Also, they lived on land and were furry, had whiskers and purred like cats. Many believe that they were actually the true ancestors of the feline race, and proof has survived in the suffix of their name. Be that as it may, monopuses were quite clumsy. They had difficulty reaching higher, thus safer grounds; their mouths were too round to bite another animal; and their eyes were weirdly enough placed at the sides of their heads so that they constantly bumped into stones and rose bushes whenever they managed to gather enough strength to lift their one suction-cup-studded leg off the ground and hop away. Also, the lack of skeleton didn't help. However, because they so often bumped their mono-heads one stone and lost stone flip-flops on the beach, they developed a fierce intelligence. And so it was that the first Monopus-Council was called. Naturally, it was attended by monopuses of several generations later, since the journey was a long one and monopuses didn't have a long life expectancy (mainly due to their inaptitude at life).
One day, however, every monopus in the world had gathered on a beach. And this is in summary what they said: "Evolution hath made a mistake. It hath been most unfair. We therefore must compound a letter and sent it onto her, for thus our lives may not continue.  Godammit."
And so it was that Evolution, that old prankster, got the letter, read it, and decided to act upon it. A few days later, the monopuses woke up with eight legs instead of one and no fur. Yet their mouths were still wrong and their eyes weird. Their superior intelligence however told them that their new habitat was to be the sea, and so they set out towards the water, hoping in a better future and a more dignified life. Most of them drowned (they hadn't taken into account their lack of a breathing apparatus). And those who didn't were picked up by primitive men, thrown on primitive stone tablets along with primitive potatoes and shoved into primitive ovens that still burned with primitive volcano fire.
This particular recipe was found on a primitive stone tablet, and is believed by not that many scientists, actually, to be the first ever recipe. In fact, it is a prehistoric recipe, since before this story, it didn't even exist. Enjoy.



Baked octopus with potatoes  Recipe adapted from Vefa's Kitchen

- one octopus, medium-large size
- 6-7 potatoes, medium-small (more or less same quantity of octopus and potatoes)
- 10 date tomatoes
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- oregano
- 1/4 glass of white wine
- salt

Clean and cut the octopus in 4-5 cm long pieces. Peel the potatoes and cut them in wedges (8 wedges per potato). Cut the tomatoes in slices. Heat some oil in a pan, add the halved garlic cloves and let them fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes and quickly cook for 4-5 minutes, season and add the oregano. Set aside. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
Arrange the octopus and potatoes in a baking tray, and pour the wine and the tomatoes with their juices on top. Add also a little water to keep the octopus moist. Bake it for 45min-1hour, until the octopus and the potatoes are soft and the liquids reduced.

Note: While baking, check the octopus from time to time and, if necessary, add some water to keep it moist. When the octopus is almost ready, do not add other liquids and let the juices reduce.


Polipo e patate al forno Ricetta adattata da Vefa's Kitchen

- un polipo medio grande
- 6-7 patate medio piccole (ok, si sara' capito che per questo tipo di ricette io non peso gli ingredienti, comunque visivamente tante patate quanto polipo)
- una decina di pomodorini datterini
- olio evo
- 2 spicchi d'aglio
- origano
- un quarto di bicchiere di vino bianco
- sale

Pulire il polipo e tagliarlo a pezzi lunghi 4-5 cm. Pelare le patate e tagliarle a spicchi (8 spicchi per patata). Tagliare i pomodorini a fettine. A parte scaldare un po' di olio in un pentolino, aggiungere gli spicchi d'aglio sbucciati e tagliati a meta' e quando l'olio si sara' insaporito aggiungere i pomodorini. Lasciar insaporire per 3/4 minuti, salare e aggiungere l'origano. Scaldare il forno a 180 C.
In una teglia, disporre il polipo e le patate, salare, dare un giro d'olio e mescolare bene. Versare i pomodorini appassiti con il loro sughetto sopra. Aggiungere il vino e un fondo d'acqua. Infornare e cuocere per 45min/ 1ora, finche' sia il polipo che le patate saranno morbidi e i liquidi asciugati.

Note: Controllare durante la cottura che il polipo sia sempre bagnato, altrimenti secchera', mescolare di tanto in tanto e aggiungere un po' d'acqua se necessario. Quando il polipo e' quasi cotto, non aggiungere piu' liquidi in modo da far restringere il sughetto.

Savoury cake with cherry tomatoes and feta

Episode 1
It was a big day. Perhaps the biggest day of them all. It was a long and large and heavy and important day. It was one of those days that will remain engraved in the collective memory of those present for the rest of their lives. It was the day the Celestial Dragon ascended to the higher spheres of heaven, there to be appointed rightful ruler of the four classes of Small Beings. Needless to say, the Celestial Dragon was very proud that day. The denizens of the higher spheres had even decided that a special ceremony was to be performed. A large number of creatures were summoned, and most them answered the call and announced their presence at the ceremony. This was to be one of those very big days. Divine Cherry, however, although very happy for the Celestial Dragon, was at a loss as to what to offer in sacrifice to the other creatures attending the ceremony. For it so happened that it fell upon Divine Cherry to feed everyone. So she set out on an culinary journey to find the perfect sacrifices. This is her story, and this is the first episode in which she discovers the delicious savouriness of the feta and cherry tomatoes cake.
Divine Cherry was grumpy. She had been rummaging in her grimoires for ages, and she still hadn't chanced upon something she deemed worthy of being a ceremonial sacrifice. She had tried everything from the book that contains raw sacrifices to the book that shows you how to combine various sacrifices in order to create a new, bigger and better sacrifice. Divine Cherry wasn't satisfied with any of the millions and millions of combination she was able to scan through in a second (you don't need forever to read a book when you are a Divine Cherry). Then, however, she fell upon this particular concoction. And this is how the sacred scrolls tell us she did it:
First of all, she cut 200g of cherry tomatoes into small pieces and put them in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, a whole clove of garlic and fresh basil. She also threw a pinch of salt on the tomatoes and put the bowl to rest, covered in cellophane, while she went on to prepare the rest. With the aid of her trusty electric whisks, Divine Cherry mixed together three medium-sized eggs, 50ml of (extra virgin) olive oil and half a glass of milk. When they had emerged of the electric whirlpool of madness as a well-mixed liquid, she added 150g of flour, a tsp of baking powder, salt and pepper and mixed it all again until it became a homogeneous whole. At this point Divine Cherry cut 150g of feta in cubes and threw them in the mix together with a handful of black kalamata olives as well as the previously-prepared cherry tomatoes (minus the garlic, of course. She didn't want any of the creatures attending the ceremony to smell like a garlic clove for the rest of their lives. Some of them ruled over worlds in which lived a fair number of vampires. Surely you can understand that this would've been a major diplomatic faux-pas.) Once Divine Cherry had added everything (again, minus the garlic), she delicately mixed it all. She then poured it in a rectangular cake mould (not unlike the one used for plum cakes) and cooked it for one hour in the oven at 180°C. The sacred scrolls that record this creation however tell us that alternatively, Divine Cherry could've known that the cake was ready once it had become golden. Be that as it may, it remains vitally important not to open the oven during the first 45mins, for that will mean that the cake will not raise and therefore deflate, consequently ruining the sacrifice. But that Divine Cherry did know. Indeed, once the cake was ready and she had put it on a plate and served it to the creatures attending the Celestial Dragon's ceremony, she received many a compliment for her sacrifice. Everyone was pleased, and Divine Cherry's cheek flushed red when the Celestial Dragon gave her a kiss that reverberated across all the spheres of heaven.


Again:
-150g of flour
-1 tsp of baking poweder
-3 medium-sized eggs
-150g of feta
-50ml of olive oil (extra virgin)
-half a glass of milk
-200g of cherry tomatoes
-a handful of kalamata olives
-plenty of fresh basil
-1 clove of garlic
-salt and pepper

Cut the cherry tomatoes in small pieces, put them in a bowl and add olive oil, the clove of garlic and the basil. Add some salt and let it rest while you prepare the cake.
Mix together the eggs, the milk and 50ml of olive oil with electric whisks. Add then the flour, the baking powder and salt and pepper until you get a homogeneous whole. Add now the feta (cut in cubes), the olives and the cherry tomatoes (including their oil but excluding the garlic clove). Mix delicately. Pour the mix in a rectangular cake mould and put it for 60mins in the oven at 180°C until it is cooked. Alternatively, until the outside turns golden. Be careful not to open the oven during the first 45mins as to do so will prevent the cake from raising. Serve cold garnished with some rocket.


RICETTA IN ITALIANO:

CAKE SALATO FETA E POMODORINI
-150 g farina
-un cucchiaino di lievito in polvere
-3 uova medie
-50 ml olio evo
-mezzo bicchiere di latte
-150 g feta
-200 g pomodorini
-una manciata di olive nere kalamata
-abbondante basilico
-uno spicchio d'aglio
-sale e pepe q.b.

Tagliare i pomodorini a pezzetti, metterli in una ciotola con una girata di olio d'oliva, uno spicchio d'aglio intero e basilico. Salare e lasciare insaporire mentre si prepara l'impasto del cake.
Sbattere con la frusta elettrica le uova, i 50 ml di olio e il latte. Aggiungere la farina con il lievito, sale e pepe e mescolare fino ad ottenere un composto omogeneo. A questo punto aggiungere la feta tagliata a cubetti, le olive tagliuzzate e i pomodorini con tutto il loro olio e basilico (togliere l'aglio...) e mescolare il tutto delicatamente. Versare l'impasto in uno stampo rettangolare (tipo da plumcake appunto) e cuocere per un'ora a 180° o fino a quando risulta dorato fuori. Attenzione a non aprire il forno nei primi 45 minuti altrimenti il cake sgonfia e non lievita più... :)
PS: Questa ricetta non e' mia, e' ripresa e adattata da una trovata in rete tempo fa. Sinceramente non ricordo la fonte: se qualcuno la riconosce, saro' felice di indicare l'origine!


Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess