Arroz de polvo (octopus rice)

4 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 pounds Octopus
1 cup Red wine
¾ cup Olive oil
1 Onion; chopped
2 Garlic clove; finely chopped
3 Tomato; skinned & chopped
1 large Bell pepper, green; chopped
Salt; to taste
Pepper; to taste
Chilli powder; to taste
1 pounds Rice, short grain

Directions

Precook octopus in red wine with a little water. The octopus will exude liquid so that you are likely to end up with more cooking liquid at the end. Retain this and add water to make it up to 2-½ cups. Cut the drained octopus into small pieces.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan; add a chopped onion and cook gently, stirring, for 2 or 3 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, and pepper. Season with salt, pepper and chilli powder to taste. Cook for a few minutes longer.

Add the cooking liquid from the octopus and bring it to the boil. Add rice (preferably a short-grain risotto rice like arborio) and bring back to the boil, then turn the heat very low and put the lid on the saucepan. After 15 minutes, stir to ensure the rice is not catching on the bottom of the saucepan. In 5 minutes more, taste a grain or two to make sure it is soft. The rice should still be quite damp.

Serve.

From Meryl Constance' column in the Sydney Morning Herald, Recipe courtesy of Mark Herron

Fidonet COOKING echo

Related recipes