Musky octopus stew
( Moscardini in guazzetto)

Musky octopus stew recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Clean musky octopus.
  I try to leave them intact as much as possible. Generally, I overturn their mantle, thus exposing their innards that I remove. Then I cut their eyes, remove their beak protruding between tentacles, peel their mantle and, as far as I can, even their tentacles. I wash them thoroughly under running water to remove traces of sand from their suckers and thoroughly clean the inside of their mantle.
• - Cook musky octopus.
  Put olive oil and garlic in an earthenware pot or in a thick-bottomed saucepan.
  Let garlic fry slightly and then add musky octopus too, stirring frequently on high heat.
  Meanwhile prepare fish broth.
  Musky octopus will curl and then form a little liquid.
  Reduce heat.
  Pour in fish broth, a ladle at a time, and continue cooking until tender. Nevertheless leave a lot of cooking liquid.
  It's difficult to say how much time you need. All depends on musky octopus size.
  Control cooking with a fork.
  Season to taste with salt, if necessary.

Just before serving

• - Serve musky octopus stew, still hot, sprinkled with cooking liquid and chopped parsley, if liked.

Note

Tips

• - My husband and I prefer not to use garlic and replace it with chopped onion. We let it fry slightly, about 5 minutes, before adding musky octopus.
  I know garlic lovers that use garlic-flavored olive oil to cook musky octopus.
  If you don't know the taste of guests, I suggest you not to use garlic. Now more and more people are intolerant or do not love it.
• - Cooking technique "in guazzetto" also includes tomato puree. It is a personal choice. We prefer to cook musky octopus in white without adding any tomato.
• - Another tip. If you can prepare shrimp scampi or prawn broth you'll have a fantastic dish.
• - As you can see, I serve musky octopus stew accompanied by polenta, according to Venice style.

Menu planning

• - Musky octopus stew can be a fantastic one-plate meal served with polenta (it serves 2) or a main dish accompanied by a side dish with peas or potatoes. In any case an idea for your family menu.
• - But you can also think of this dish made with baby musky octopus as appetizer. In this case serve them in individual little cups.

Useful link for this recipe

• - You could be interested in shrimp scampi spaghetti too. In fact I explain scampi or shrimp broth How-To.

Healthy eating

• - Calories and other nutritional value of musky octopus stewed refer only to shellfish. I have not calculated polenta. This is a separate discussion.
• - No fiber in this dish.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Musky octopus stew "?

My husband and I are used to match Curtefranca (white wine from Lumbardy) to musky octopus stew.