Yesterday's Catch

I feel really lucky to have a husband and son who "would rather be fishing" at any chance they can get.  You never know what will make it home after a impromptu fishing trip down at our neighbourhood dock. Yesterday's catch was every Portuguese person's delicacy...OCTOPUS!

Here's my son holding the octopus before it made it's way inside the kitchen.  Once inside, Mom taught me how to wash the octopus (sorry no pictures as my hands were SO slimy) and how to dissect it and to prepare it for stewing.  It was work! I had to get the cleaver out and use it to chop the tentacles, at one point I had to push the suckers down on the cutting board to help to stabilise the tentacles because they were so slippery. Well, now the pieces are in the freezer tenderising.  My aunt from the Azores says this is the way to tenderise a fresh octopus.  Hopefully we will cook it this week with lots of wine and potatoes!  I'll keep you posted on the final result.