Gen likes to buy new and exciting ingredients and then leave me to figure out what to do with them. Unlike the mussel situation of a month ago (delicious mussel situation, don’t get me wrong), Gen did not buy an incredible amount of squid and octopus, so I wasn’t pressured to cook an insane amount all in one shot. We invited our wonderful friends over for food and some gaming and I went to work marinating, chopping (including my finger again, sigh), and grilling. The wild thing is, seafood is super easy to prepare, no need to be intimidated by these ‘exotic’ creatures, a little marinade and some heat go a long way. I used two different marinades and I loved the combination, the squid was slightly spicy (sorry Tobias!) and the octopus was just touched with a little citrus. I whipped up a lemon-olive oil dressing that I used to top the salads to tie the flavours together and give the cabbage a little brightness. You can easily serve the seafood on top of rice or pasta, but I’ve included my salad recipe below, once again it is all about cabbage and full of colour!

Citrus Baby Octopus

From Mark’s Daily Apple

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds baby octopus (Go to Mark’s Daily Apple for instructions on how to prepare your octopus, if you have more than legs)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 10 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Pour into a large ziploc bag and set aside.
2. In a medium pot over high heat, bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Turn the heat off and dump the octopuses into the pot.
3. Let the octopus sit in the pot for 1 minute and then drain immediately. Rinse well with cold water.
4. Add the octopus to the marinade bag, tossing to coat. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
5. Turn your grill to high (we have a countertop grill, only one setting, HIGH).
6. Grill for about 6 minutes, turning halfway. Remove from heat and serve warm over salad, or allow to cool to serve.

Grilled Spicy Squid

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb squid tubes, fresh or frozen (mine were clean and frozen from Superstore, if you can only find full squid there are many sites out there with cleaning tips)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 red chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic, minced

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse your squid tubes, slice down one side to open, and lay out on a clean dish towel or layered paper towels, pat until quite dry.
2. Cut the squid into 1/2 inch strips and toss in a large bowl.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the spices.
4. Drizzle the olive oil over the squid and toss to coat.
5. Sprinkle the spices over the oiled squid and toss until every piece is spiced. Cover and allow to sit in the fridge until you are ready to grill.
6. Turn the grill on high, lay pieces of squid on the grill and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Some of your pieces may curl up while cooking, that’s alright!
7. Serve over salad!

Lemon Dressing to serve over seafood

INGREDIENTS

• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (*optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl, drizzle over seafood, salad, anything!

Cabbage Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 head of purple cabbage, thinly sliced
• 3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2lb green beans, quartered

DIRECTIONS

1. Toss together all ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with preferred dressing and enjoy a crunchy, awesome salad!

Beautiful little octopus legs.

Bright, fresh ingredients.

Sliced squid tubes.

Par boiled and ready to be grilled.

Squid strips.

Grilling away, my tester batch.