First ever 'Win' blog!

Sorry, I just had to share!!!

I just found out that I won the first ever food-related competition I ever entered!

Which is very exciting, and I'm looking forwards to receiving the hamper of Spanish goodies which I will be creating a Spanish-inspired recipe with, and sharing here, of course! (It may involve olive oil...).

You can find the dish in question on my blog, here, if you're a fan of octopus, chorizo and cauliflower.

A huge thank you to all the lovely people - friends, family and strangers - who voted for my dish - it's lovely to get something back after writing recipes for so long!

Andrea x

Octopus, Chorizo and Red Peppers, with Cauliflower Two Ways

Also delightful with scallops, or fresh squid rings...

Finally, I've pulled together the blog for this relatively simple to make, but delicious dish, after three other blogs which were necessary for the components (honest, it is simple and quick once you've cooked the octopus)!

Slow-braised octopus is tossed in a pan with crispy chorizo and red peppers, and served with a silky-smooth, garlicky cauliflower puree, which contrasts with a scattering of sautéed mini-cauliflower florets, cumin and almond crunch.

Serves two as a light lunch, or generous starter, easily doubled.  351 calories per serving.

Octopus - preparation and slow-cooking for use in salads, sautées, on the barbecue and other dishes

Some tips on preparing and cooking octopus:

Firstly, you can use the old fashioned / traditional method of flinging it against a rock to tenderise it, or beating it lightly with a meat mallet (remove insides first!), or (if you've bought it fresh, rather than pre-frozen) you can just clean it up, preferably remove the insides first, then freeze for at least 48 hours up to a week (obviously it will keep in the freezer for much longer than this, until you wish to use it) to tenderise it.

Octopus (or Squid) Sautéed with Garlic, Lemon, Capers and Parsley

A quick and tasty way to cook and serve your favourite cephalopod (or maybe some scallops!)...

...either fresh (raw) squid, or octopus which you've gently braised the night before, or during the day (this takes 1 to 2 hours to simmer, see my method on preparing octopus). This is also extremely good with pan-seared scallops if you're not a fan of octopus or squid (optional garlic and capers with the scallops!).

So, you've cooked your octopus (or have your squid prepared and ready to go), now what?

This serves two people as a starter, 185 calories per portion (see serving suggestions for making this more of a meal) and used half of an octopus (400-500g, weight after preparation).