While many Spanish octopus recipes call for fresh octopus, this variation using canned octopus is quick, simple, and delicious.
Total Time (preparation and cooking): 10-15 minutes
Ingredients
1 tin (4 ounces) - octopus in olive oil
1/4 tsp - piment d'Espelette (substitute smoked paprika or other spice of your choosing)
Directions
1. Empty the tin of octopus, oil and all, into a small frying pan.
2. Cook over a low heat; if you're bold, look for some sizzle and foaming, but beware of splattering. If things start to get messy, cover the pan and turn off the heat.
3. Stirring occasionally, heat for about 10-15 minutes, until the octopus looks so good you just have to eat it right then.
4. Near the end, add the piment d'Espelette or other spice.
5. Serve.
This is a variation of a recipe found at cookography.com
From Susan Taylor, for the Chicago Tribune:
Buy saffron as threads, because powdered saffron is easy to adulterate with turmeric or other cheaper spices. And, if the color looks very red and it was not very expensive, chances are it's a cheap substitute dyed red.
Read the rest of the article at chicagotribune.com for tips on avoiding other commonly doctored foods.
This video by Foods from Spain is a thorough description of the traditional, labor-intensive process of bringing saffron to the kitchen.
In an article from last spring, the popularity of fried anchovies at Smorgasburg, the Brooklyn Food Flea Market, is highlighted. As chef Seamus Mullen explains in the article, his teenage revulsion toward the fish was reversed when he was an exchange student in Spain and his host family introduced him anchovies nothing like he'd had before.
Read the full article at nytimes.com.
From Fine Dining Lovers, Anchovies from A to Z: 26 Things About Anchovies, an alphabetized collection of facts and figures in regards to the salt-water forage fish, including:
Oily fish
The anchovy, together with its colleague the sardine and other varieties like mackerel belong to the group of oily fish that are rich in vitamins A and D, as well as Omega 3 fatty acids.
Queen olives
The famous Spanish olives, often stoned and filled with chilli pepper, are wrapped with an anchovy in oil to make a tasty accompaniment to an aperitif.
Umami
Anchovies are naturally one of the foodstuffs most richly endowed with the so-called fifth taste, umami, which enhances the flavour of the other ingredients in certain recipes.
You can read more from Eva Perasso on Fine Dining Lovers.
