This linguine with octopus and green olives in tomato sauce is a fancy yet easy pasta dish that you can make on a weeknight.
The core ingredient – octopus can be cooked, uncooked, ready, etc. For this recipe, I took some supermarket octopus which was cooked and in its juice. If you are using fresh octopus, or frozen – I have also included the details in the end.
The recipe is only divided into two main parts – making the sauce and combining it. The approach for this linguine with octopus is to cut corners and be fast.
Cooking raw octopus
If you happen to get your hands on raw octopus, cooking it is also very simple, but just takes a bit of time. All you have to do is simmer for 40-60 minutes in salty water until you can easily slice through it with a knife. Now remove it from the heat, let it cool in the cooking water. If you want the skin not to get loose, put it in a container, and let it chill in the fridge. I don’t care about this step that much as in the pasta it does not matter.
Using already-cooked octopus
The whole idea of this recipe is to sear the boiled octopus with garlic and anchovies. This will elevate its taste, from somewhat bland, to a whole new level. Important in this step is not burning the garlic so in my view this is the only part that you have to be careful.
Saucy linguine with octopus and green olives
Equipment
- 1 pan
- 1 pot
Ingredients
- 1 Octopus leg cooked, sliced in bite sizes
- 10 green olives chopped
- half cup passata di pomodoro
- 2 cloves garlic sliced thinly
- 1-2 anchiovies chopped
- olive oil
- linguine for two
- salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Put a big pot of salted water to boil. This is for your pasta.
- In a hot pan, on high heat, add some olive oil, garlic and the anciovies
- Then add the octopus. Sear the octopus on both sides. 1-2 minutes each side. Then add the chopped olives
- Add the passata di pomodoro – you can use fresh tomatoes as well, but as the octopus is cooked, i generally dont like to let the sauce cook too much
- Add salt and pepper
- lower the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste it now for seasoning. If you need to add more, now it is the time
- Cook the pasta in the boiling water.
- When the pasta is aldente, transfer to the saucepan. Reserve some cooking water. It is filled with starch which will help everything get together in the end
- Mix everything, top with a bit of pasta water and olive oil. Depending on how you like your pasta
- Done
