Cooking instructions

Master stock:

1. Put all the ingredients in to a stockpot along with 6 liters of water.  
2. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer for 40 mins.

Braising the octopus:

1. You will see some sinew parts underneath the tentacles on the octopus. With a sharp knife, cut this off and discard.
2. Dip the octopus in the boiling water for 5 seconds, then take out and place into ice water. Repeat this two times. We do this to firm up the outer skin so that it doesn't fall off during cooking and you don't lose all the texture of the tentacles.
3. Place the octopus in the master stock and cover with tin foil, making sure the tentacles are submerged in the stock. Leave on a gentle simmer 2 hours.
4. Check with a knife after this time. The meat should feel firm but also the knife should glide through with ease.
5. Allow to cool in the stock.

Green Harissa paste:

1. Either place everything in a food processor and blitz until smooth or finely chop everything by hand and mix together. After, season with salt to taste.

To assemble:

1. You can re-heat the octopus a number of ways. Either warm back up in the master stock, place into a hot heavy based frying pan, add oil and butter and fry until golden brown or, our personal favorite, season with salt and rub some of the harissa dressing over the tentacles and chargrill over hot embers until ends are brown and crispy and golden brown all over.
2. Slice into 1cm pieces and place a heap of harissa dressing on the side.