Romesco sauce:
500g red peppers
50mL extra virgin olive oil
200g almonds, roasted, skinned and pounded in a mortar and pestle
50mL Forvm Cabernet vinegar
Octopus:
1kg octopus
2L extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
5g fresh thyme
2g fresh oregano
5g fresh chilli, sliced and deseeded
2g orange zest
Potatoes:
1kg baby potatoes, cut into discs
80mL extra virgin olive oil
1g Spanish saffron
1 punnet micro coriander to dress
Other ingredients:
240g Morcilla sausage, or black pudding, cut into 5mm thick slices (remember to remove the skin from the sausage)
40mL lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil
10g sweet smoked paprika
1 lemon, cut into wedges and deseeded
Romesco sauce:
Roast peppers on a BBQ, preferably wood-fired over peach or applewood to give a lightly smoked aroma. Cool in a bowl covered in cling wrap. Peel and deseed.
Blend peppers with EVOO until emulsified.
Fold in almond meal and add vinegar. Season to taste.
Octopus:
Add blanched octopus to a deep oven-proof dish. Add aromatics.
Cover with EVOO until fully submerged.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 120 C for 2-2.5 hours until very tender.
Cool in oil to infuse flavours.
Separate tentacle when cold.
To reheat, brush with some of the remaining confit oil and season well.
Cook over a charcoal grill, over peach or applewood, until lightly blackened and smoky.
Potatoes:
Peel potatoes and cut into rounds about 40mm in diameter and 5mm thick. Three per serving.
Cover in olive oil with saffron and seasoning.
Cook on low heat on the stovetop until tender.
Allow to cool in oil. Alternatively, you can vacuum seal everything and cook in the cryovac at 75 C until tender, then cool in the bag.
To plate:
Re-heat potatoes in the EVOO they were cooked in. Set aside and keep warm.
Grill or pan fry Morcilla in EVOO until hot and crispy.
BBQ octopus over a charcoal grill, cut into three pieces per tentacle.
Pipe three dots of Romesco onto the plate in an offset pattern.
Place potatoes on a plate and top each one with a piece of Morcilla.
Add octopus to plate in an offset pattern between potatoes and Morcilla.
Dust with smoked paprika. Drizzle with lemon oil and finish with snipped micro coriander tufts.
Recipe provided by The Darwin Club
