Roast octopus with red wine and potatoes

We love this dish so much that I'm shamefully known as octopus girl at the fish counter. This is a recipe from the amazing Piri Piri Starfish by Tessa Kiros which showcases Portuguese food beautifully and brilliantly.

Spanish food has seen something of a surge in popularity in recent years whilst Portuguese food remains as enigmatic as ever. And yet it's tasty, less greasy than the food of its larger neighbour and arguably more interesting with the use of piri piri chillies and other spices inherited from its colonial past in Africa and beyond. Then again, I know lots of fantastic Portuguese people so I am a little bit biased...

I'd still rate this as an outstanding dish and with octopus at only £5 a kilo it's well worth trying if you see it in the market.

serves 4 (or 2 of us!)

600g octopus cleaned and cut into thick chunks
5 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 or 3 garlic cloves chopped
2 or 3 heaped tbsp parsley
tin of chopped tomatoes
pinch of piri piri or dired chilli flakes
600g potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
185ml red wine
lots and lots of good bread to mop up the sauce

Preheat the oven to 200°/gas mark 6. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Saute the onion until sticky, add the garlic and cook until you can smell it. Add the parsley, saute for a moment and add the tomato. Season well, add the piri piri and let it bubble up. Simmer for a couple of minutes, squashing down the tomato, then remove from the heat.

Put the octopus and potatoes in an 11 x 7 inch oven dish that will fit everything in one compact layer. Scrape the tomato mixture over the it. Pour in the wine and shuffle everything about. Season well. Cover with foil (very important!) and cook for nearly an hour until the octopus and potatoes are tender when poked with a fork.

Remove the foil (also very important!) and turn the oven down to 180°/gas mark 4. Cook for 30 minutes or more until the top is deep roasty-looking and there is an abundance of jammy-looking sauce. The last half hour of cooking is vital - the octopus needs to soften in the oven first and then roast until it is a bit crusty. Lots and lots of good bread is essential.