pan fried octopus served green bean salad

A Tuscan style Italian restaurant near us has made many versions of octopus appetizer dishes that we always love. It was amazing. Since then, I have had octopus more times than I can count. Served with new potatoes and green beans and drizzled with a light citrus glaze. And they prepared it in a similar way as to how I recreate it here. Hank’s is where I had octopus a second time. Our favorite restaurant in Alexandria was Hank’s Oyster Bar. He rented an apartment across the water from Alexandria, so occasionally I would go down to spend a weekend with him rather than him drive home. One of my colleagues ordered the octopus and I asked if I could try it, having always been curious how it tasted.įast forward another year and my husband was stationed on a project down in Maryland Monday through Friday. I actually had just given my notice and, on one of my last days, I went out to lunch with a group of my colleagues to the restaurant in Union Square Park. Also: Always buy dry-packed scallops, which are infinitely sweeter and more flavorful than brined, wet-packed ones.I had octopus for the first time when I was working in NYC. Even when seared, the goal is to brown the exterior well while leaving the rest as rare as possible. Scallops, in the most general sense, are best raw or barely cooked.(Eventually, if you cook it long enough, its ample collagen will soften into gelatin, becoming tender again, but anything in between is rubbery.) It just so happens that squid's quick-cooking sweet spot is similar to shrimp's. Squid, in an application like this, needs to be cooked quickly, just enough to remove it from its raw state, but not so much that its muscle fibers contract and toughen.Marinating them first with baking soda and salt, an old Chinese trick, gives them an impressive juicy snap. Shrimp, as we know from our recipes for shrimp salad and shrimp cocktail, are best poached by starting in cool water and bringing them up to 170☏, which guarantees plump, tender flesh that's not tight or mushy from overcooking.Take a look at our guide to cooking mussels for more info, but the important thing to know here is they cook quickly in an intense cloud of steam, dumping their own flavorful juices into the pot as they do so. I sit at my computer now, fingers paused, pondering whether they share a historic link, or if it's just a case of culinary multiple independent discovery. It's remarkable, actually, just how much they have in common. Italian seafood salad: chunks of seafood, all cooked and tossed in a dressing of lemon juice with olive oil, parsley, and onion, along with a subtle heat from chilies or black pepper.

Peruvian ceviche: chunks of seafood-some raw, like fish, and some cooked, like shrimp-marinated in lime juice with cilantro and onion, along with the heat of fresh chili peppers. It wasn't until very recently that the similarity between Peruvian ceviche and Italian seafood salad struck me. Marinating the shrimp with baking soda and salt improves texture once it's cooked, giving it a snappy bite.Starting the shrimp and squid in room-temperature poaching liquid, then heating it just to 170☏, cooks them through without giving them a rubbery, tough texture.Steamed mussels create a flavorful broth for poaching the rest of the seafood.Marinating the scallops in lemon juice 'cooks' them like a ceviche, maintaining their tender texture and sweet flavor.

Pan fried octopus served green bean salad