BBQ Baby Octopus at home

Grilled Mediterranean style Baby Octopus

Inspired or rather haunted by the memories of the yummy BBQ baby octopus from Capitan Torres last Monday, I made a trip to Sydney Fish Market yesterday to get some fresh baby octopus. Imagine this, 500 grams (approx. 12 pieces) of baby octopus cost me a mere A$5 compared to the 8-10 pieces for A$16 ish at the restaurant.

However, because there is nothing more I hate than cleaning I improvised a few things so that I have minimal dirt in the kitchen. I lined up the pyrex with baking paper so that I don't have to scrub the dried crusty olive oil later as you can see below.

Pre-grilled marinated baby octopus

Here's the recipe. Let's call it Mediterranean style BBQ Baby Octopus.

500 grams of baby octopus (cleaned)

Marinade:

4 cloves of garlic (chopped finely/pressed)

5-6 tablespoon of olive oil

1/2 a lemon

salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

2 small/medium sized tomatoes (not baby tomatoes - if using this you might need 8-9)

1/2 bunch of corriander (chopped)

1 medium spanish onions (sliced finely)

5 tablespoon of apple vinegar

1. Get a small bowl and mix sliced spanish onions with apple vinegar. Make sure that the onions are submerged and leave it be till step

2. Put finely chopped garlic in a small bowl with olive oil and salt. Mixed together and press the garlic so that the olive oil is infused. Add lemon juice, taste and add salt or olive oil or lemon accordingly.

3. Mix the spanish onions some more, then take it out while squeezing out any excess vinegar in it. In other words, take out the vinegar.

4. Get a container and put baby octopus, diced tomatoes, garlic infused olive oil, spanish onions and black pepper all inside and mix thoroughly.

5. Add chopped coriander on top, close the lid and let it marinade in the fridge for 4-5 hours, half a day or even better a night.

6. Heat your oven to 220C.

7. Lined your pyrex with baking paper (or you don't have to if you don't want to), put everything inside and popped the dish in the oven.

8. Let it grill for about 20-30 minutes and check them once in a while.

And now you should have a fresh off the grilled Mediterranean style baby octopus. I love the freshness of the lemon, tomatoes and olive oil.

Remember: always buy fresh seafood and not store them in the fridge for too long. Try to use it within 2-3 days.

Sydney Fish Market

Pyrmont Bridge Rd.

Pyrmont, NSW 2009