In Greek, htapodi is octopus and makaronaki kofto is a small pasta, like ditali. It is cooked in a tomato sauce and then in the sauce we cook the pasta. It is a Lenten recipe, so during Lent no cheese is added on top.
It’s one of the most favourite and filling dishes during Lent.
Htapodi me Makaronaki kofto (Octopus in tomato sauce with pasta)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Serves: 5 – 6
Ingredients:
- Small octopuses or a bigger one (about 1 kilo) fresh or frozen
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 3-4 ripe fresh tomatoes or 1 can (500 grams) of tomatoes with juice
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- Salt (optional) and freshly ground blackpepper
- 1 cup of red dry wine
- 1 cup water
- 2 bay leaves
- 850 ml (31/2 cups) water
- 1 packet of ditali pasta (500 grams)
Directions:
- See how to clean octopus an octopus here.
- The octopus must be very carefully washed and dried, and the beak removed. Cut into pieces about 3 or 4 cm. long.
- Put the saucepan on the heat until it is hot and add the octopus. Mix until it sweats out a pinkish liquid. Keep an eye on it mixing every now and then, until that liquid has evaporated.
- Add oil to the pan as well as the onion and garlic and saute until translucent.
- Add wine and stir until alcohol evaporates.
- Blend tomatoes in a food processor together with the tomato paste and add to the octopus, as well as pepper and bay leaves and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves after ten minutes of cooking.
- When the octopus is cooked, add water and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta in the sauce stirring from time to time, taste and add salt, if necessary. (I do not add any salt).
- Serve with Greek feta cheese.
- Second way to cook it is after the cooking procedure, preheat oven at 180 degrees C, transfer octopus with sauce into a Pyrex or baking pan and add 2 glasses of hot water and cook pasta in the oven.
- Grate myzithra cheese on top. For a Lenten dish, do not add the cheese.
Bon appetit
Tags: ditali, htapodi, lenten, Lenten Recipes, Nistisimo, Octopus, Pasta, Sarakostiana, Seafood
Ivy, a good winter dish for Octopus. I saw some some octopi at the market, perfect for a dish like this.
[...] Ktapodi me makaronaki Kofto (Octopus with pasta) [...]
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