Ben Bayly’s Miso Bbq’d Octopus
Octopus cracker, native fern & potato salad

Serves 4

The shape of the Octopus tentacle resembles the ‘Koru’ loop or coil in Maori; it symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace.

Tips:

Cooking octopus is tricky! The best way to tell if the octopus tentacle is cooked is to squeeze the thicker part of the spirals with two fingers and see if the flesh breaks. Some species will take much longer to cook. You can buy pre tumbled and washed octopus.

One small octopus will serve 4 people; one large octopus will serve 8 people.

If you can’t find fiddleheads (baby fern fronds), you can use asparagus or beans instead.

Ingredients & Methods

Octopus and Octopus Cracker

  • 1 small (approximately 1-1.5kg) octopus
  • Rock salt, for massaging
  • 400g tapioca pearls
  • Canola oil (for deep frying)
  • 2 tbsp Korean dried chilli (shichimi togarashi)

Miso Glaze

  • 500ml olive oil
  • 100g peeled garlic
  • 2 lemons (peeled with no skin or white membrane left)
  • 150g miso paste
  • 2 tsp coarse Korean chilli

Parsley Mayo

  • 200g parsley leaves
  • 800ml grapeseed oil
  • Pinch of salt
  • 4 eggs
  • Chardonnay vinegar (to season)

Salad

  • 75g diced cooked potato (Ben uses agria but can you use any salad potato)
  • 75g diced cooked octopus
  • 10g chopped chives
  • 15g Parsley Mayo
  • 1 lemon (juiced)

Pickled Fern Frond

  • 500g fiddleheads (baby fern fronds) – see Note
  • 150g sugar
  • 150ml chardonnay vinegar
  • 100g water

Octopus Preparation

  1. Wash the octopus in cold water. Massage with rock salt for about 10-12 minutes, then rinse. You will feel the flesh firm up and start to go slightly rubbery.
  2. Detach the tentacles and the beak from the head. Cut tentacles, separating the really large part and end of the tentacle (creating about 8 x 150g portions and reserving the thicker part of the tentacle for a longer period of cooking). Trim the scraggly bits off the top of each tentacle and chop. Reserve to use in your salad (see below).
  3. Shape the 8 octopus tentacles into spirals, then place them all in a vacuum bag and seal. Cook the octopus tentacles in a water bath at 72°C for 30 minutes. Each will cook down to approximately 100g portions.
  4. Place the octopus head in a saucepan and just cover with water. Place pot over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook for around 1 hour (the head will be overcooked at this point). Transfer half of the octopus head and half of the cooking water to a food processor and puree until a smooth, thick and loose sauce. You will need around 120g puree for this recipe.

Miso Glaze

  1. Combine the olive oil and garlic in a small food processor and blitz to form a puree. Cut the lemons into small chunks.
  2. Place the garlic oil, lemon, miso paste and chilli in a bowl on a double boiler (or in a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water) and cook for around 45 minutes to 1 hour until garlic is cooked.
  3. Set aside until cool then transfer to a blender and blitz to form a paste-like consistency.

Octopus Cracker

  1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over medium-high heat. Add tapioca pearls and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the pearls are just translucent. Strain and transfer one-third of the mixture to a blender or Thermomix and blitz until smooth.
  2. Combine the tapioca puree with the octopus head puree you made earlier in a large bowl. Stir in the remaining two-thirds of the tapioca pearls and season.
  3. Preheat the oven to 50°C. Line a tray with baking paper and spread the mixture thinly on the tray (you may need 2 baking trays).
  4. Place in the oven overnight or until crispy (if you have a dehydrator, dehydrate overnight at 60°C). Break the cracker into 10cm pieces.
  5. Fill a medium saucepan with approximately 4cm canola oil and heat until the oil reaches 200°C on a thermometer. Working in batches, deep fry crackers until they puff up like pork crackling.
  6. Sprinkle each cracker with shichimi togarashi.

Parsley Mayo

  1. To blanch the parsley, use tongs to dip sprigs of parsley into a pot of boiling water briefly and swirl around until the color brightens. Remove, drain and transfer to a blender with the grapeseed oil and pinch of salt. Pulse to combine.
  2. Pass through a cheesecloth, muslin or sieve and place immediately in the fridge to set the colour of the parsley oil.
  3. Cook the eggs in boiling water for 4½ minutes, then remove immediately from water and set aside in a bowl of ice to chill until cold.
  4. Once eggs are cold, peel and place in a blender with a pinch of salt. Blitz until smooth, gradually pouring in the parsley oil until the mixture becomes very thick and emulsified.
  5. Season with a tiny bit of chardonnay vinegar.
  6. Place in the fridge to chill and set.

Salad

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside until you’re ready to serve.

Pickled Fern Frond

  1. Bring the sugar, vinegar and water to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Boil until sugar is dissolved then place in the refrigerator to chill until you’re ready to serve.
  2. Blanch the fern fronds for 1 minute in boiling salted water, then refresh in iced water and set aside in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

To Assemble

  1. Fire up the barbecue until it’s nice and hot.
  2. Grill the octopus tentacles over a high heat, brushing with the miso glaze, until the octopus is golden brown and caramelised.
  3. Place the octopus on a serving plate and place dots of the parsley mayo along the tentacle.
  4. Soak the fern in the pickling liquid for 20 seconds before putting it on the plate.
  5. Serve with the salad and octopus crackers.