Octopus Linguine Recipe - Great Italian Chefs

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1 hour 30 minutes

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This stunning octopus linguine recipe by Emilio Giagnoni was a finalist at the Barilla Pasta World Championships 2017. Linguine is partially cooked before finishing in an inky octopus cooking liquid for a dramatic yet flavourful finish.

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Food has the power to jog our memories. This modern twist of a traditional Sardinian recipe embodies both the treasure of my cultural inheritance and my projection towards the ongoing and future challenges of my culinary career.

Ingredients

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Linguine
160g of linguine
salt
Octopus
2 octopus, each weighing 500–550g
250ml of white wine, Emilio uses Vermentino di Sardegna
1 garlic clove, sliced
50g of cuttlefish ink, in case there isn't enough ink in the octopus ink sacs
Tomatoes
1 tomato, weighing approximately 200g (Emilio uses Ramato variety tomatoes)
10g of thyme
10g of cane sugar
1 garlic clove, crushed
extra virgin olive oil
table salt
Red sauce
500g of red pepper
2 red chillies
extra virgin olive oil
table salt
Green sauce
400g of basil leaves
extra virgin olive oil
To finish cooking the octopus
1 sprig of thyme, leaves picked
1 garlic clove, sliced
olive oil
To serve
chopped chives

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Pipettes (2)

Method

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To begin, clean each octopus and remove the innards, beak and eyes. Keep the ink sacs to one side. Place the octopus in a large casserole dish and add the wine and garlic

Cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for approximately 25–30 minutes. Set aside

Pass the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and stir the ink into the liquid

Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3

To prepare the tomatoes, wash the tomatoes and dry thoroughly. Cut each tomato lengthways into quarters and remove the seeds

Lay on a tray and season with garlic, thyme, table salt, extra virgin olive oil and cane sugar

Bake the tomatoes until lightly dried and concentrated in flavour, then cut into strips. Set aside

To make the red sauce, peel the red pepper and chillies and season with table salt. Add a dash of oil to a small pan, add the chillies and peppers and sweat until tender. Blitz to a smooth purée and store in a pipette at room temperature until ready to serve

To make the green sauce, blanch the basil leaves in salted water then immediately transfer to iced water to halt the cooking process

Drain well, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and blitz to a smooth purée. Store in a pipette at room temperature until ready to serve

To cook the pasta, bring a large pan of water to the boil then add the salt. Place the ink cooking liquid in a separate pan and keep warm

Add the linguine to the boiling water and cook for 4–5 minutes. Drain well then transfer the pasta to the inky liquid to finish cooking the pasta

Remove from the heat and carry on stirring until creamy by drizzling in some extra virgin olive oil. Stir in the tomatoes

To finish the octopus tentacles, preheat a pan until hot and add a dash of oil. Add the tentacles, garlic and thyme, pressing down during cooking to achieve a nice crispy exterior

To serve, neatly plate the linguine and garnish with the two sauces dotted around the plate. Add the octopus tentacles and some finely chopped chives and serve

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