Octo Pussy Galore

[suttonscurse]

Out on Botany Bay at 6am Sunday - Absolutely gorgeous morning . Headed up the the Oil refinery wharf and anchored up the prescribed 100 metre away ( The Police boat came around a couple of times and asked boats that were within 100 metres to move! )

Fished with peeled prawns and yabbies and to our surprise kept on getting baited without feeling any bites. Eventually ended up with 8 octopus (Note to myself, is the plural for octopus ; Octopuses or Octopusies?) ranging from a 20 cm model all the way up to something that looked like it had escaped from a Jules Verne movie - Caught it on a live bait mean't for a Kingie - lucky I had 15KG braid and 25KG leader on my TLD25 . It hung onto the bottom for quite a while for a very exciting tug of war ( also had a hell of a time persuading it to hop into my 100 litre esky , never will get used to a 80 centimetre cranky occy crawling up my leg :: whilst trying to unhook it) - thankfully Octopus don't adapt to climate change too well and the ice in the esky quickly euthanised the bugger .

Apart from the octopus only caught a couple of small snapper. Still a great day on the water and tonight am having Grilled Octopus on the BBQ - probably with a nice lemon chili sauce - yum yum , accompanied by a couple of cold wines.

Might try Port Hacking next weekend (Whiting on yet ?) as the Bay has been decidedly quiet,

Regards Bill

Edited November 18, 2007 by Suttons Curse

[mrmoshe]

You are in for a very tasty feed there Bill.

remember to tenderise the occy before cooking or you will

be eating GoodYear rubber.

i found this recipe on a wine site recently and meant to whack

it in the Recipe section.

Looks very tasty on paper.

Cheers,

Pete.

Grilled Octopus requires some preparation, but the final cooking is fairly quick.

Stephanie Alexander, in her Cook’s Companion recommends tenderising octopus with a meat mallet until the flesh looses its bounciness.

Cut the tentacles away from the body of the octopus. If the head is not too large, say more than 20cm in diameter you can use it as well. Turn it inside out and remove the beak and internal organs. Remove the suckers from the tentacles and skin them under running water. If you are using the head score it well or cut into strips similar in size to the tentacles.

Marinate the octopus for a few hours or preferably overnight in olive oil along with some garlic, dried oregano and bay leaves.

To cook, drain off the olive oil and grill for a few minutes on a hot barbecue or under your kitchen grill. Don’t bother about a dipping sauce, just serve with lemon or lime wedges.

Grilled octopus can be served as a tapas dish (just add toothpicks), as part of a seafood platter, or as a dish in its own right.

A crisp aromatic white wine can be served with octopus. Why not try Marsanne from Rewine?

[suttonscurse]

Thanks Pete.

The recipe looks great. I was taught by the Greek Bloke next door (my usual fishing Partner and deckie) to tenderise ocky by basing on the rocks next to the boat ramp . (He has a lot of fun doing this)

I must admit the big ocky was pretty tender by the time we cajoled (wrestled) it into the esky .

regards Bill

[arpie]

Hi Bill

I saw a bloke 'tenderising his occies on the rock' and he reckoned the trick was to literally throw it onto rocks as hard as you can & when the occie goes all 'foamy' (after 20-30 tosses) it is tender enough!

I then tried the rest of the recipe he tried (pouring in a bit of red wine & letting it stew in it's own juices) and it was repulsive!! Next time I'll try the grill method, or better still, get someone else to cook it!!

Roberta

If I am grilling it, I may even try using a sausage grill thing (holds them all in the one thing so you can turn them over in one hit) so I don't overcook them by turning them over slowly!!

Edited November 18, 2007 by Roberta

[robeebee]

(Note to myself, is the plural for octopus ; Octopuses or Octopusies?)

Terminology

There are three forms of the plural of octopus; namely, octopuses, octopi, and octopodes. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objected to.[10]

The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update[11]) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that octōpūs is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is (Latinized) Greek, from oktṓpous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktṓpodes (ὀκτώποδες). If the word were native to Latin, it would be octōpēs ('eight-foot') and the plural octōpedes, analogous to centipedes and mīllipedes, as the plural form of pēs ('foot') is pedes. In modern, informal Greek, it is called khtapódi (χταπόδι), gender neuter, with plural form khtapódia (χταπόδια).

[Davemmm]

Thats hard work Robbee. Why dont we just change their name to sticky fish.

Dave

[peter bisaro]

Hi all

Another secret to cooking occy (well this is what I do to baby occy from the seafood shop) is to clean it, boil it for 20 minutes in water, let it cool in the water for a couple of hours, then marinate it overnight in oil, garlic, soy, chilli maybe some lemon and white wine, then hot bbq grill for a few minutes till crispy on the edges.

mmmmmmmmmmmm

Pedro

[suttonscurse]

Hi Robeebee

Thanks for the clarification. These days I tend to rely on the Microsoft spell checker which makes for some interesting corrections - I have a Maltese mate whose surname is Portelli - Spellchecker always recommends that the word should be changed to Portaloo . I will let you guess what his nickname is these days.

regards Bill

[gretsch]

You have to smack it o the rocks like the Greeks do.

[kosta_b]

Hi all,

Long time reader, 1st time poster.... I only joined today so I thought I could offer you a little tip for tender Octopus and Squid.

Yes I am Greek but one of my closest friends is also a 5 star chef and Im not too bad of a cook myself.

Smashing it on the rocks is a great way to get some exercise and tenderise your occy.... in addition a little secret is to soak it in milk for approx 30 minutes (covered) after you have cleaned it. Then drain it cut it and most importantly cook it quickly on high heat. If you cook it slowly it stews and thats what makes it tough. Marinate it in Olive Oil, Lemon Juice and dried Oregano, basting it while it cooks.

You wont get a better occy meal trust me...... the milk "soaking" works even better with Calamari... and it does not alter the taste in the slightest.

Kali Orexi.. (bon apetit)

[Tom Tom]

Hi all

Another secret to cooking occy (well this is what I do to baby occy from the seafood shop) is to clean it, boil it for 20 minutes in water, let it cool in the water for a couple of hours, then marinate it overnight in oil, garlic, soy, chilli maybe some lemon and white wine, then hot bbq grill for a few minutes till crispy on the edges.

mmmmmmmmmmmm

Pedro

pgb sounds great but my favourite is a Occy Summer Salad !!

Clean it, boil it for 20 minutes in water, let it cool in the water for a couple of hours. Chop it up into bit size pices, boiled potates, add olive oil, red wine vinger, garlic, chopped onions, salt and Pepper.

Wow!!!

Edited November 20, 2007 by Tom Tom

[jewgaffer]

Struth Suttons Curse eight occopothya as the Greeks call them ! It's no wonder everything else scarpered out of there

You must have struck a large migration of occies and they must have been highly active. Octopus are one of the sea's biggest predators. They'll even grab hold of a shark and cut off it's breathing works.

My Dad always used to up anchor and clear off to another spot if he caught an occie and I still do the same today. They hang in together, build octopus gardens and spend most of their time peeping thru a crack to determine what's going on and good fish activity governs their raids and they come out grab fish one at a time, kill them and line the gardens with their frames to lure other fish and crabs around and to maintain the garden !!!

In my opinion they are one of the best eating fish from the sea without doubt.

And thanks Mallacuta Pete for finally setting fire to those carp and kingfish recipes and replacing them with the fabulous octopus overnight marinating method Pete mark my words one day we'll see carp sitting in the fertilizer section as a weed killer

King-Kosta Kali maira a big welcome to the site and that looks like a good recipe for occies too !! There's a lot of Greek fishermen on this site. You'll enjoy being a member.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[kosta_b]

Thanks Jewgaffer.... excited to start being a part of it and contributing wherever I can....

[suttonscurse]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the recipes and advice . Only been a member of Fishraider for a couple of weeks and have quickly come to realise what a great bunch of people are part of the group.

Cheers Bill

[mrmoshe]

Bill...Glad to have you aboard.

Yes...there's always helpful advice only minutes away

on Fishraider...all you gotta do is ask.

You have to tell us how you eventually cooked the occy

and how it went down...even a pic of the finished product eh?

I'll bet it will taste sensational whichever way you prepare it.

Cheers and enjoy,

Pete.

[james1990]

I bloody hate octopus...s how every it's spelt......the feel...look of them freaks me out...domza can vouch for this.....i hate em.

cheers james

[Bigfoot]

I bloody hate octopus...s how every it's spelt......the feel...look of them freaks me out...domza can vouch for this.....i hate em.

cheers james

Hey james,

Come for a dive with me and we'll get a few and keep them safe tucked into

our wetsuits whilst we get a few more, after that i reckon you'll be fine.

Come on mate they don't even have a spine!!!!

No need to be a octo-Pussy!!!

Catch ya

Bigfoot

[bastik]

Ahhhhhh takes me back to my childhood years.

When my father and the uncle would take us boys down to kurnell and we spend the day diving for octopus and blue swimmers. We used to have a ball. We, and every other greek used to place clay pipes down and line them up with the oil refinery and the houses back at land. There was even a couple of telegraph poles down there. These made perfect homes for our friendly octopus.

Give me a feed of octopus on the BBQ over any fish any day.

YUM!

cheers

b