After a two year hiatus - we present to you...

So, after a very looooooooooong break from blogging, we've recently gotten a break for ourselves from life, work and exams! Thought we would share this dish as it was delicious. We first had Octopus in Carlisle as the Morrison's there seasonally sold it. Luckily, I found it in Newcastle!

Anyways, the above was inspired by James Martin's braised octopus sans red wine. Ingredients and how we cooked it as below.

Octopus:
1/2 kg of Octopus cut into 3-5cm pieces
4 shallots finely sliced
4 cloves garlic crushed and finely chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
a handful of cherry tomatoes (halved)
400g of tinned tomatoes
rind and juice of one whole lemon
!tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Tabbouleh salad:
100g Tabbouleh
1 red onion diced
1/2 pomegranate
a sprig of parsley and mint
salt and pepper

So, I toasted some black pepper in a hot pan with the garlic and cherry tomatoes (gave out some really good aroma!) then I added in the olive oil. Just have to be careful not to burn these and make sure the tomatoes are nicely charred and dehydrated to release its sugars. Then add in the lemon rind, thyme and bay leaves. Finally add in the shallots. When the shallots have softened, add in the octopus and cook for a few seconds before adding in the tinned tomatoes and use the same can to measure out water and add that in. Add in the juiced lemon and brown sugar. Bring the mix to a boil and then turn the heat right down and leave it for 1 hour or so.

To make the tabbouleh, we used enough boiled water added into the tabbouleh and let it rise for half an hour. This is then drained and mines with the diced red onions, pomegranate, chopped parsley and mint with salt and pepper to taste.

We dished out the layers as above. The Tabbouleh, topped with the octopus and finished with some parsley. It was a very nice harmony of flavours!