Htapodi Me Makaronaki Kofto (Stewed Octopus With Macaroni)

"This is really quite delicious. If you've never tried octopus, I urge you to. It is meaty and rich-tasting, and the macaroni tastes wonderful cooked in the rich juices it produces."
 
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photo by Thorsten photo by Thorsten
photo by Thorsten
photo by Artandkitchen photo by Artandkitchen
photo by Thorsten photo by Thorsten
photo by Thorsten photo by Thorsten
Ready In:
1hr
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Rinse the octopus under cold, running water and place in pot dripping wet (you don't want to dry it off - this is the moisture it will cook in).
  • Add the red wine, garlic, onion, bay leaf and cinnamon and cover the pot.
  • Bring to the boil over low heat.
  • It is tender when pierced easily with a fork (this can vary from octopus to octopus, so time is not a good indicator of doneness in this case).
  • Remove the octopus and let cool until cool enough to handle and cut into bite-size pieces.
  • Meanwhile, in pot you have cooked the octopus in, add tomatoes and olive oil. Boil for 8-10 minutes to bind the sauce.
  • Stir in the cut octopus and nearly-cooked macaroni and simmer for the remaining 3-4 minutes required to cook your macaroni (if mixture appears too dry, add some of the pasta cooking water - you want this quite 'moist' but not soupy).
  • Stir in butter. Remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick.
  • Note: I use digitali pasta for this, but I can't get it into the ingredient list with the new Zaar format.
  • Bon Appetit.

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Reviews

  1. this is delicious. i have made it twice now. the flavors all meld together so nicely and it tastes homey and comforting. i used penne pasta.
     
  2. I've been making this recipe for years out of a Greek cookbook I have. I have made it with large octopus and with baby octopus, which I prefer. I also prefer to use penne pasta rather than macaroni. This is the dish that will make anyone hesitant to try octopus fall in love with it.
     
  3. This is an excellent recipe, so very tasty and lots and lots of rich sauce. I had trouble getting the octopus tender and had to cook it longer than mentioned, maybe it should have been beaten on a rock or something, like they do in Kenya where I first cooked octopus!! A really tasty dish.
     
  4. This is wonderful and you must try it. Don't hesitate to cook a whole octopus, it is really easy - cook it until it is tender. The juices built during cooking are so deelish, that you would like eat out of the pot. But wait until you have added all other ingredients and the pasta. I used ditali pasta, which were a great combo with the octopus. After cooking I have cut the octopus in pices, but left some bigger ones. The cinnamon and the bay leaf add a fantastic flavour and after the pasta were cooked in the sauce with the octopus pieces all flavours were melted to perfection. I love the different textures of the octopus, still firm, but tender and the pasta still al dente. This dish is so easy to make and it can't go wrong. Thanks for sharing. (May 21, 2006) I've made it now three times and love it. This time I didn't use ditali pasta as suggested in the recipe, I use Penne. But this was the only change. It is one recipe which I wouldn't like to change, because "WHY should I make changes in a PERFECT recipe?". (October 23, 2006)
     
  5. I made this tonight and my husband and I both loved it. It was easy to make and, except for the octopus, uses ingredients I always have on hand. I especially love the hint of cinnamon in it. We will definitely have this again!
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<style>body { background: url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3512121819_f2f1aaf050.jpg?v=0"); background-repeat: repeat-y; }</style> OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages! I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure. So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call. What did I do wrong? Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths. I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time. That's all for now.
 
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