the best thing i ever made

I have been hinting at some "health" issues lately but, now that this bun is safely out of the oven, I am happy to share that Jonas and I are proud parents of little Esther, who was born 10 days early at the beginning of March.

Given this news, I hope you can forgive my intermittent blogging in recent times, and be patient with my almost certain lack of posts over the coming months.

This blog has always meant a lot to me, but right now I'm busy learning how to be a mother to this darling little girl. Once I get the hang of it, I'll be back!

prawn saganaki (garides saganaki)

Many years ago, when I was an innocent young teenager, my sister Shamu and I travelled to Greece to delight in the wonders of the Mediterranean. We had a wonderful time exploring the ruins in Athens, getting a bit wild with Norwegians on the “Party Island” of the time, Ios, playing at sophistication in Santorini and embarking upon an impromptu road trip with three French girls across Crete from Heraklion to Chania.

In Crete I became incapacitated, throwing my back out from carrying my gigantic backpack, but luckily our travelling companions were trainee physiotherapists who were happy to massage me back to health each evening (merci à Caroline, Julie and Melanie - mes amies française).

It was a fun gaggle of girls posing some interesting language challenges since they didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak French. After living in Italy for the past 7 months I miraculously understood their French and they understood our English, so we each spoke our own languages and somehow we communicated quite efficiently.

It was on this multicultural roadtrip that we stopped off on a deserted beach for lunch. Between two quiet cafés on the beach, we chose the one without any patrons because we could sit under the shade of an umbrella.  The menus were all in Greek so the rest of the crew traipsed into the kitchen where the cook pointed out different ingredients in an attempt to mime meal options. When they came back Shamu confessed she’d ordered me something, but wasn’t quite sure what.

As we waited for our mystery lunch to arrive, our empty café started to fill up with locals and by the time they set the food on the table the place was buzzing and alive with vibrant activity. It was so stereotypical and romantic, it was as if we’d stumbled on the set of Greek film. Absolutely magical.

But even more magical was the food they served us. A tomato sauce filled with plump prawns and scattered with melting feta cheese. It was amazing. Pure perfection in a beautiful setting.

We asked the waiter to tell us the name of the dish and when they spoke I wrote down the sounds, perplexed that the dish sounded more Japanese than Greek: saganaki.

Now that I have much more experience with Greek food I know that saganaki, in its various forms, is one of Greece’s most famous dishes and has been successfully exported worldwide.

The prawn version, known as Garides Saganaki, is surprisingly simple to make, and the perfect lunch or dinner whether it’s summer or winter.

Garides Saganaki / Γαριδες Σαγανακι
Prawn Saganaki

Anna’s recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
400g canned tomatoes
1 roasted red pepper, finely sliced
60ml ouzo
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 dried bay leaf
150g Greek feta
24 large peeled green prawns
Olive oil, for frying
Crusty white bread, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220’C.

2. In a frying pan, heat olive oil in a saucepan then sauté onion and garlic until soft.

3. Add bay leaf, tomato and peppers and simmer for around 5 minutes.

4. Add ouzo, oregano and thyme and simmer for another 5 minutes.

5. Transfer the sauce to a baking dish and crumble over the feta.

6. Bake until feta just starts melting, about 15 minutes.

7. Push the prawns into the tomato sauce and cook for another 5 minutes or until the are opaque and cooked.

8. Serve hot with crusty white bread.

pavlova, an australian favourite

Happy Australia Day!

Today is our national holiday, a time where most Australians throw a BBQ or catch up with friends and family in the summer warmth.

Since it’s Australia Day, the dessert that ends the festivities should be a pavlova, something named after a Russian ballerina but yet typically Australian.

Or is it?

While it’s true that Australia has very successfully exported pavlova around the world (and taken all the glory), what many of us don’t know is that culinary historians have proven the pavlova was actually invented in New Zealand!

The proof seems to be out there in the form of published recipes and articles, of which New Zealand has many earlier cases than Australia (NZ 1926 v AU 1929).

Knowing this I feel a little cheated, a slight loss of cultural identity, but imagine how the poor Kiwis feel about the fact that Aussies stole their tasty dessert and are unashamedly passing it off as our own!

It's not the first time we've done that, and no doubt it won't be the last.

Regardless of whoever invented it, these days both countries use it as a symbol of cultural identity and since it’s a pavlova there’s plenty to share with everyone.

On the topic of sharing, while I say this recipe serves 10 people (and it does), I have to confess me and three friends managed to polish off the entire thing in 30 minutes.

Prepare yourself for gluttony at its finest.

Pavlova

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 10.

Ingredients:
5 eggwhites, at room temperature
330g (1½ cups) caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 vanilla bean, scraped seeds only (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
300ml thickened cream, whipped
2 passionfruit, pulped
2 bananas, sliced and doused in lemon juice to prevent discolouring
1 punnet strawberries, halved
½ punnet blueberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150’C.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on a high speed until fluffy, about a minute.

3. Reduce speed to slow then gradually add caster sugar until the mixture is thick and glossy with a hard peak.

4. Next beat in the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla.

5. Line a baking tray with baking paper and pour the meringue on. Stack high to get a marshmallow interior and thin for a crusty pavlova. Create a concave/nest in the centre to catch all the cream and fruit.

6. Bake the pavlova for 50 minutes until quite firm, then turn the oven off but leave the pavlova in it to cool completely.

7. Spread the cream over the meringue then decorate with fruit. Serve excess fruit on side platter to be passed separately for those who want extra.

Note: The mixing bowl should be clean with no grease in it, the egg whites at room temperature and there should be absolutely no yolk in the white.

strawberry curd tart

This summer, strawberries have been particularly delicious and thankfully cheap. I have been eating them by the punnet, at least one per week or more if I can get to the store regularly.

I have been adding them to smoothies and slushies, macerating them with lemon and sugar, mixing them into flapjacks in the morning and snacking on them just as they are.

I can’t get over how sweet they are this season. Even the stock standard producers are giving us succulent little beauties that remind me of my mother’s garden.

My mum grew a large patch in our sunny front yard, but it seemed like the skinks always got to them first. Worst of all they were very wasteful skinks because they'd gum a berry then move onto the next one without finishing it. When I’d head outside to pick a few they’d all be squashed and mushed, but still attached to the plant as if it was some hilarious skink practical joke.

I decided to go a little crazy for our New Years Day afternoon tea and with four punnets at my disposal I made this fabulous strawberry tart. The curd tasted amazing, the tart shell was perfectly crisp and the fresh strawberries on top gave a burst of juice to contrast with the creamy filling.

There are three steps to this recipe: the curd, the tart shell and the assembly. If you want, buy a tart shell but don’t cut corners on the wonderful strawberry curd.

Strawberry Curd Tart

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:
250g strawberries (about 1 punnet)
1½ cups strawberry curd (see below)
1 vanilla shortcrust tart shell (see below)

Method:

1. Cut the strawberries in long thin slices.

2. Assemble the decorative pattern on a plate to ensure you have enough slices.

3. Fill the pastry shell with strawberry curd. Chill filled pastry in fridge 20 minutes if it needs to firm up.

4. Place the strawberry slices decoratively on top.

5. Eat with abandon!

Note: you can also fold ½ cup of whipped cream into the curd, spread it into the tart base and then freeze it for two hours or so to make a semifreddo style tart.

Strawberry Curd

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes 1½ cups (375ml).

Ingredients:
250g strawberries (about 1 punnet)
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
4 egg yolks
Juice of ½ lemon
55g (¼ cup) caster sugar
150g salted butter, coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Process strawberries and lemon juice in a food processor to make purée, then pass through a fine strainer to remove seeds. Yields about 200g purée.

2. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, add egg yolks, vanilla, sugar and butter. Whisk to combine.

3. Stir continuously over a saucepan of simmering water until thickened to custard consistency (around 15 minutes).

4. Set aside to cool, then cover and refrigerate until firm (2-3 hrs).

Vanilla Shortcrust Tart Shell

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes a 22cm circular shell.

Ingredients:
175g chilled butter, chopped into small pieces
1 cup plain flour
¾ cup wholemeal flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 egg

Method:

1. In a small bowl, beat egg with vanilla bean paste.

2. Pulse the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until combined (you will still see flecks of butter).

3. Turn out flour onto a clean working station and make a well.

4. Add egg knead, with hands, until only just combined.

5. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180’C and grease 20cm tart tin.

7. Between two sheets of baking paper, roll out pastry to fit tin.

8. Place gently into tin, pressing to fit edges and fixing cracks. Use rolling pin to trim edges making sure not to cut them too close as the pastry will shrink during cooking.

9. Fill the tart tin with baking paper and pie weights (or you can freeze the pastry in the tin for at least 30 minutes and not use pie weights).

10. Bake in oven for 20 minutes then remove baking paper and pie weights and bake another 20 minutes until golden. It’s important the pastry is gold as that’s what imparts the flavour.

11. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from tin.

pasta alla norma

Pasta alla Norma is one of those soul-satisfying dishes, filling you up, tingling your taste buds and warming your heart. Whoever Norma was, she’s a genius.

The eggplant caramelises into sweet, soft morsels that soak up the richness of the garlicky tomato sauce.

Before serving, the flavours are lifted with fresh basil and crumbled ricotta salata, a beautiful salted, pressed, dried and aged version of the fresh farm cheese. Its crumbly texture makes it more akin to s condiment, adding a slight salty bite the way parmigiano does in other pasta dishes.

Pasta alla Norma

Based on a recipe from Saveur. Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:
1 eggplant/aubergine
1 brown onion, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large red chilli, finely minced
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
400g canned tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon shredded fresh basil
Fresh basil, to serve
Ricotta salata, to serve
Pasta
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180’C.

2. Chop eggplant into bite-sized cubes and place in a baking dish. Toss with salt, pepper and olive oil.

3. Bake eggplant for around 30 minutes, or until soft.

4. In a saucepan, fry onion in a little olive oil until translucent.

5. Add garlic, fresh chilli and dry chilli and fry until fragrant and softened.

6. Add tomato paste and fry until slightly thickened.

7. Add tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and add 1 tablespoon shredded
basil and cooked eggplant. Season to taste.

8. Cook pasta until al dente, drain and add to sauce, tossing to combine.

9. Serve with torn basil and grated ricotta salata.

shaved zucchini, mint, chilli & feta salad

Jamie Oliver is responsible for showing me that zucchini can be eaten raw. I can’t believe I never realised it before, but I was watching his one of his 30 minute meals episodes and he started shaving raw zucchini into a salad.

Genius!

How had I never figured this out before?

So I combined his raw zucchini idea with another salad he made with grilled zucchini, mint and chilli. Sheer brilliance. So simple and yet friggin’ fresh and delicious.

Jamie, you are amazing. Really.

Shaved Zucchini, Mint, Chilli & Feta Salad

Ingredients:

2 smallish zucchini
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
100g feta, crumbled
Salt & pepper, to taste
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Small mint leaves for garnish

Method:

1.    Using a peeler or a mandolin, shave the zucchini into super thin slices.

2.    Add mint and chilli, then season with salt and pepper.

3.    Dress with lemon juice and olive oil then toss to coat well.

4.    Gently stir through half the feta.

5.    Pile onto serving plate then scatter with remaining feta and top with small mint leaves.

2013 food challenges

My attempts at 2012's food challenges was beyond dismal, and while I have some decent excuses, instead of starting from scratch I think I'm just going to bring most of 2012's challenges into 2013.

One or two items will be switched out for various reasons. For instance, it's going to be quite impossible to make a week of Wings when it turns out the husband doesn't like chicken wings. Strange, but true. I'll just switch that week to Chicken and hopefully I can cover off some similar recipes using drumsticks instead.

There are some other switches, and a few replacements for the measly four items I managed to complete in 2012, but otherwise most have moved over into 2013.

Wish me luck!

A week of recipes based on
Chicken
Muffins
Popsicles
Non-alcoholic drinks

Recreate a food memory
Hartsyard’s truffled cheese fondue
Lindt & Sprüngli's chocolate covered ganache apricots
Ash Street Cellar’s chorizo, artichoke & lemon tapa
Marque's roquefort, beetroot, raspberry & guava dessert

Attempt a coveted dish
Cha Traop Dot (smoky Cambodian eggplant & pork)
Monkey Bread (American cinnamon cake)
Francesinha (Portuguese sandwich)
Fried Green Tomatoes
Pastel de Tres Leches (Mexican three milk cake)
Karfiolleves (Hungarian paprika & cauliflower soup)

Create my own version of
Sausages
Pecan shortbread
Adaptation of a Noma recipe
Honeydew melon recipe
Rosemary lemonade
Blondies

Cook a recipe from this book
Momofuku by David Chang & Peter Meehan
My Abuela's Table by Danielle Germaine
The Silver Spoon by Domus
Simple Pleasures by Annabel Langbein

Purchase
Candy thermometer
Miracle fruit tablets
Photography soft light cube
Deep fryer (I know I really shouldn't, but I wants it!)


What do you hope to attempt in 2013?

2012 in review

I admit that 2012 was an extremely slow blogging year. With only 40 posts in the year, it was by far the least I’ve written since I started the blog back in 2006. But I have some fairly decent excuses.

For starters, back in January I took on a new job turning a government policy into a practical plan and have been leading a global team to make it happen. It’s been challenging and amazingly rewarding. It’s also meant I've spent a fair bit of time on the road, domestically across Australia and also in Singapore and China. While I’ve experienced some amazing new foods, I just haven’t had the time to write about it.

And then later this year I had some health hiccups which left me quite lethargic. The good news is that I’ve overcome my fear of needles. I was so terrified of needles I’ve managed to avoid all blood tests and injections since 1994. That’s 18 years without a needle folks!

Well, since I’ve had about a zillion tests and injections in the past few months, I’m completely cured of this phobia and can now get all the vaccines I should have gotten before I headed off to Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam . . . . you get the picture.

And I’m feeling much, much better. The moral of the story being, get the damn blood test rather than spending four years getting sicker and sicker. Not clever.

On the positive side, I was pleased to discover my rapid weight gain over the last few years wasn't 100% due to my gluttonous disposition, and once the meds kicked in I managed to lose some weight. That's always a nice outcome, right?

So the personal front definitely overwhelmed my blogging, and unfortunately Morsels & Musings was the big loser of 2012, but here is my traditional year in review rundown nonetheless

Losers

• Alcohol – at first it was the big winner (lots of travel and networking) but with the health issues I ended up refraining to conserve some strength. I predict I will be happily reunited with my old friends bourbon, gin and tequila in 2013!

• Chilli – with a huge range of digestive issues at play, my best buddy chilli was no longer welcome at our dinner table. Jonas went through litres of sriracha, but my bottles of Louisiana hot sauce looked forlornly at me as I tried to ignore them.

• Thai food – I am a huge Thai fan, my favourite dishes being larb (spicy minced meat salad), khao mok gai (chicken poached in turmeric), som tum (green papaya salad) and the mysteriously named “boat soup” (a rich dark broth of chicken blood and spices). Thai food is super spicy, so for the same reasons I refrained from chilli, Thai was off the menu.

Winners

• Salsa verde – despite the chilli ban, I managed to sneak in some salsa verde loving. Being able to make it ourselves meant I could control the amount of chilli I used.

• Pickles – sour things have made a comeback for me this year. Boquerones, pickled octopus, pickled herring, gherkins, pickled cherries . . . you name it, I want it.

• Bread – we got a KitchenAid Stand Mixer and Jonas started making his own bread. I’ve never been a bread lover, but damn if his olive oil loaves aren’t delicious.

Some previous year’s winners also managed to stay high on the winners list, with caramel, pecans, capsicum and maple syrup being the most triumphant.

My favourite recipes of 2012:

Chocolate Prune Brownies

Cactus & Pineapple Salsa

Southern Peach Cobbler

Smoked Trout & Potato Salad w Horseradish-Crème Fraîche Dressing

Pollo en Salsa Verde (chicken in tomatillo sauce)

  

Smoky Chipotle Chicken Nachos

Daikon Braised in Mirin & Miso

Passionfruit Slice

Korean-Style Sticky Pork Spare Ribs

Smoked Apple & Chestnut Ravioli w Cinnamon Apple Butter

Brown Sugar Meringue w Verjuice Figs & Honey-Cinnamon Yoghurt

 

Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta & Lemon Pasta

Shopsin's Pumpkin Pancakes

Sockerkaka (Swedish sponge cake)

Fennel, Radish & Apple Salad

Tomorrow I will post my 2013 food challenges, in the meantime enjoy your New Year’s Eve celebrations!

jamie oliver’s “new” mince pies

Merry Christmas!!!

Today Jonas was up early cooking a variety of Swedish delicacies for our Julbord (Christmas table):

• vörtbröd (wort or beer bread)
• smoked sausages
• smoked mackerel
• sillsallad (pickled herring with mayo, egg, herbs & potato)
• meatballs with lingon jam
• beetroot salad
• bourbon-maple-mustard glazed ham
• Janssons frestelse (potato & anchovy gratin)

My only contribution was these mince pies.

I know have slowed down my blogging lately, but I promise I have a really good excuse.

I’m not quite ready to share the reason just yet but suffice to say, if all goes according to plan, I will let you in on the secret in March. Until then, please be patient and I promise I won’t disappear completely.

I saw Jamie make these pies on a Christmas TV special and thought they looked a lot simpler and easier to make than traditional mince pies. I fancied mine up quite a bit with dried sour cherries, blueberries and dates, but you could use any dried fruits you have on hand.

They are quite sweet and intensely flavoured, so I recommend serving with sweetened crème fraîche, ice cream, custard or cream to balance it out a little.

Jamie Oliver’s “New” Mince Pies

My adaptation of Jamie Oliver's recipe. Makes 12.

Ingredients:
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup dried sour cherries
¼ cup dried dates, chopped
2 tablespoons dried blueberries
½ cup brandy
400g jar high quality fruit mince
30g glace orange rind, finely chopped
100g peeled, roasted chestnuts
2 sheets puff pastry
6 sheets of filo pastry
50g butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup flaked almonds
Icing sugar, to dust

Method:

1. The day before, combine the dried cranberries, sour cherries, dates, blueberries and brandy in a plastic container. Mix and seal overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Butter a muffin tray (for 12 muffins).

3. Spread the mincemeat over the two puff pastry sheets. Sprinkle over dried fruit mixture, glace rind and then crumble over chestnuts.

4. Tightly roll up the pastry, lengthways, like a Swiss roll, place it on a floured tray, and pop in the fridge to firm up.

5. Combine the melted butter and cinnamon.

6. On a flat surface, butter one layer of filo pastry. Top with another sheet and butter. Fold them in half to create a long thin strip then place over four holes of the muffin tray. Repeat two more times, covering all the muffin holes. Brush all with butter.

7. Take the puff pastry rolls out of the fridge and, with a sharp knife, cut each into 6 slices. Place each slice into a filo-lined hole, flat-side down so the spiral of fruit is displayed.

8. Brush with the egg and sprinkle a few flaked almonds on top of each little pie, then pop both trays in the oven for about 25 minutes, until cooked and golden brown.

9. Leave to cool, then crack the individual pies out of the trays. Dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

Note: You can freeze the cooked, cooled mince pies in their trays (just wrap the lot in cling film). Just reheat them in a hot oven straight from the freezer.

fennel, radish & apple salad

Yesterday was one huge Thanksgiving dinner, cooked by moi.

My sister Shamu and her man, Tombolina, came over and I spent the entire day preparing for the feast.

It was one of those cooking days where everything just fell into place. I cooked recipes simultaneously based on time and need, and managed to balance pie pastry with turkey brining, yam basting with dressing prep, cocktail making with vegetable slicing.

I even managed to completely clean the kitchen before Jonas got home and my guests arrived (Jonas was particularly pleased he dodged that bullet).

To be honest, it was the first time in my life when I managed to be so zen and organised when cooking a huge meal. I was very, very proud of myself.

Gold star please!

A “Spiced Scrumpy” cocktail kicked the evening off, then the menu combined Americana favourites, modern twists and some Thanksgiving classics:

Pear & Scallop Squash Soup
Texan BBQ Turkey Shanks
Sausage & Sage Dressing
Fennel, Apple & Radish Salad
Maple, Bourbon & Sesame Candied Yams
Greens Simmered in Chicken Stock w Onions & Garlic
Chocolate Pecan Pie & Vanilla Ice Cream

Every recipe was new – untried, untested – and every single one was a great success. I was so pleased with the way the food turned out.

Today I’m going to share with you one of the recipes: this autumnal salad of pretty pinkish hues and fresh, tangy flavours.

The original recipe used Jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes), but I was unable to source them in the Sydney spring weather. Nonetheless, the salad added a perfect refreshing balance to some of the other heavier dishes.

Fennel, Radish & Apple Salad

Based on a recipe from The Flexitarian Table by Peter Berley. Serves 4-6 as part of a buffet.

Ingredients:
4 radishes, trimmed
2 gala apples, peeled and cored
2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon chopped fennel fronds
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar and lemon juice to make a smooth vinaigrette. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper to taste.

2. With a super sharp peeler or mandolin, shave radishes, apples and fennel into wafer thin slices.

3. Toss vegetables in vinaigrette then cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day, to allow the flavours to come together.

4. Just before serving, add in chives and fennel fronds. Taste, then season with salt and pepper as required.

oktapodi toursi (greek-style pickled octopus)

I adore pickles, and pickled seafood is high on my list. I like the sweet Lithuanian-style pickled fish but I adore boquerones (white anchovies) and any kind of pickled octopus.

When I think of octopus, I do think of Greek cuisine. They have a lot of interesting and flavoursome octopus recipes, whether it’s braised in red wine or barbecued after hours of marinating in lemon juice and garlic.

When I decided to make pickled octopus, I took the Greek herbs and spices for inspiration and flavoured my pickling liquor with oregano, bay and chilli.

The results are divine: soft, sour tentacles that satisfy my current cravings.

Oktapodi Toursi (Greek-Style Pickled Octopus)

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes one mezze to serve 2.

Ingredients:

500g cleaned baby octopus
2 teaspoons peppercorns
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 dried bay leaves
½ teaspoon fresh parsley, very finely chopped
1 cup (250ml) white wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil, to finish
600ml sterilised preserve jar

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup (125ml) cold water and the baby octopus to the boil. Reduce to simmer and braise for 20 minutes or until octopus is tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. When cool, arrange octopus in the preserving jar. It’s easier to fit it all in if you place the tentacles against the glass with the heads gathered together in the centre of the jar. Sprinkle in fresh parsley.

3. In another saucepan, bring all other ingredients (peppercorns, chilli flakes, smoked paprika, dried oregano, sliced garlic cloves, dried bay leaves and white wine vinegar) to the boil.

4. Pour boiling vinegar over octopus then immediately top with olive oil to ensure no octopus parts stick out above the liquid.

5. Seal jar immediately, cool to room temperature then refrigerate for 1 week before eating.

6. Bring to room temperature again before opening jar and serving.