Serves 6
bay leaves 2 onion 1, halved lemon 1, halved celery 1 stalk, cut in half octopus 1 (about 2kg), cleaned olive oil garlic 2 cloves whole fresh green chilli 1, finely chopped globe artichokes 6 small, prepared and halved sea salt and freshly ground black pepper white wine ½ a glass (35ml) new potatoes 10, peeled and halved tomato purée 1 tablespoon fresh fl at-leaf parsley a small bunch extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon
1 Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. 2 Add the bay leaves and one of the halves of onion, together with one half of the lemon and the celery. 3 Put in the octopus, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer for 40 minutes – one hour. 4 Remove the octopus from the cooking water (but reserve this). 5 Chop the tentacles into two pieces and the head crossways into four, throwing away the eye section. 6 Finely chop one of the cloves of garlic and chop the remaining onion half. 7 Heat a little olive oil in a pan, add the onion, garlic and chilli and cook gently for about 2 minutes. 8 Add the prepared pieces of artichoke, season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, add the white wine together with 2 ladlefuls of the reserved cooking water from the octopus. 9 Put in the pieces of octopus, the potatoes and tomato purée and cook gently for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. 10 Just before serving, put the remaining clove of garlic on a chopping board and crush it into a paste with the back of a large knife. 11 Put the parsley on top and chop fi nely, so that the garlic and parsley combine and release their fl avours into each other. 12 Transfer the stew to a warmed serving dish, squeeze the remaining half of lemon over the top, scatter in the parsley and garlic mixture and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil.
