Recipes made in Italy by Italians in Italian. Translated for You with Love
2 shallots
1 (35 oz) cleaned octopus ( 1 kg )
1 fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
1 cup white wine
1 untreated lemon
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig wild fennel
extra virgin olive oil ( to taste )
salt ( to taste )
Cook the octopus
Cook the octopus in a pressure cooker with half a gallon of water, for about 30 minutes from the hissing noise. Strain the broth, let cool, and keep it aside. Clean the octopus removing the peel from the head and from the tentacles, but not from the suction cups.
Stew the rice
Stew the rice in salted boiling water for 20 minutes, then drain it. Peel and thinly chop the shallots, fry them in a casserole pot with 2 tablespoons of oil, add half of the cut in pieces octopus, and then add the white wine.
Create the sauce
Add to the casserole pot the black rice and cook it for 15 minutes, as the rice dries, gradually pour the cooking water of the octopus. Meanwhile, peel and grate the ginger and the garlic; mix them in a little bowl with 3 tablespoons of oil, salt, and add one teaspoon of lemon zest. Divide the remaining octopus into large pieces, and roast them in a hot pan, with some oil.
Complete your risotto
Mix the rice with 2/3 of the ginger sauce. Add to the remaining sauce the juice of half a lemon, 2 tablespoons of oil, and some parsley and chopped wild fennel leaves. Pour this sauce on the octopus in the pan. Serve the risotto with the roast octopus, its sauce, and some chopped fresh herbs.
