Baby Octopuses with Peas

Baby octopuses with peas is a traditional dish of Italian cuisine, simple to prepare and very tasty. Here is the recipe to make this delicious dish.

Ingredients

• 500 g of baby octopuses (already cleaned)
• 400 g of fresh or frozen peas
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 200 ml of tomato passata
• 1 glass of white wine
• Chopped fresh parsley to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil to taste
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Start by cleaning the baby octopuses if they have not already been purchased clean. This involves removing the eyes and beak, as well as possibly emptying the inside and removing the outer film.
2. Finely chop the onion and garlic and let them soften in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
3. Add the baby octopuses to the pan and brown them briefly before deglazing everything with a glass of white wine.
4. Once the alcohol has evaporated, add the tomato passata, peas, salt, and pepper to taste.
5. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 30-40 minutes, or until the baby octopuses are tender. If necessary, add a bit of water during cooking.
6. At the end of cooking, adjust salt and pepper if necessary and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley.

Serve the baby octopuses with peas hot, perhaps accompanied by crispy bread or, to stay true to Italian tradition, with some good polenta.

Curiosity

Baby octopuses are small cephalopods that, thanks to their tenderness, are particularly appreciated in Mediterranean cuisine. In those 30-40 minutes of slow cooking, the baby octopuses become incredibly soft and their flavor marries perfectly with the sweetness of the peas.