FOR THE OCTOPUS
2 kg octopus, whole
50g olive oil
5 bay leaves
5 star anise pieces
5g salt
2g dried tarragon
500 g vegetable stock
30 g apple cider vinegar
FOR THE STEW
100g olive oil
1 kg shallots
100g sugar
1 kg vegetable stock
300g dry red wine
150g tomato paste
400g crushed tomatoes
15g salt
1g pepper
2 cinnamon sticks
12 allspice berries
12 cloves
FOR THE ORZO
100g olive oil
100g onion, finely chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
500g vegetable stock
5g salt
500g thick orzo
TO GARNISH
100g dry mizithra cheese, grated
FOR THE FINISHING TOUCH
5g lemon zest
5g parsley, finely chopped
PREPARE THE OCTOPUS
Remove the head and separate the tentacles. Place the vegetable stock, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, star anise, salt, tarragon, bay leaves and tentacles in an oven dish and combine. Cook at 200 degrees for about an hour. Pass the liquids through a strainer and set aside.
PREPARE THE STEW
Heat the olive oil in a cooking pan and sauté the onions until tender. Stir together the tomato paste and some of the vegetable stock until the tomato is dissolved, and transfer the rest of the stock to another pan. Douse with the wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate. Add the sugar and stir until caramelized, then add the tomato paste you have dissolved into the vegetable stock, the crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and cinnamon sticks. Wrap the allspice and cloves in a cheesecloth and add to the pan, boiling for 15-20 minutes. Remove the cheesecloth with the spices as well as the cinnamon sticks.
PREPARE THE ORZO
Heat the olive oil in a shallow cooking pan and sauté the onion until tender. Add the orzo and sauté to release its liquids. Add the thyme and continue cooking. Then add the vegetable stock and reduce heat to medium, stirring constantly. Turn the heat back up; add salt and boil until slightly reduced. Remove from heat and transfer to a large oven dish. Remove the thyme sprigs.
PREPARE THE GARNISH
Preheat a nonstick pan, add the mizithra cheese and stir constantly until it has cooked through (it will turn a golden yellow). Remove pan from heat.
PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES
Cut the octopus into obliques. Serve the onions in individual clay bowls (yiouvetsia), adding the orzo and octopus slices. Pour over some of the octopus juices and add some stew. Place the bowls in the oven and cook for a few minutes at 180-200 degrees. Remove the bowls from the oven, sprinkle with some of the cooked mizithra and add some lemon zest and chopped parsley. Serve.
Wine pairing – Master sommelier Konstantinos Lazarakis
All the ingredients in this dish, from the octopus and the orzo to the onion, hint at delightful aromas, leaving a sweet aftertaste. The dish is rich both in character and in body. To tie all the sweet elements together, the selected wine could very well be a sweet wine, as for example, a sweet Muscat or a blend of white varieties from the Peloponnese, or even a sweet red Mavrodaphne.
