Grilled Lemon Pasta With Smokey Octopus

Jun 19

An elegant and tasty pasta dish with a creamy grilled lemon - avocado sauce and smoky octopus. Light and with a greek holiday feeling … Give it a try …

The recipe

The grilled lemon

Preheat a cast iron grill or skillet over medium - high heat

Grill the lemon on all sides until lightly charred

Cut into quarters. Zest or peel two quarters and place the zest in a blender with the squeezed juice from one or two quarters.

Cook the pasta

Peel the garlic.

Boil the pasta together with the peeled garlic following package instructions.

Reserve about 150 ml of the pasta water, then drain the pasta.

Set the pasta in a large bowl.

Remove the garlic from the remaining water and reserve it for the sauce.

Grill the octopus

While the pasta cooks, grill the octopus about 4-5 minutes on each side until charred and heated through. When ready let it give it a nice drizzle of olive oil and let it rest about 2-3 minutes. (I used precooked refrigerated octopus but if you use raw octopus consider that is needs to be simmered 45-60 minutes before grilling)

Make the sauce

In the blender you have the grilled lemon peel, add: the avocado, parmesan, olive oil, the reserved garlic cloves, a pinch of salt and about 100 ml of pasta water.

Blend at medium-low speed about a minute until smooth and creamy.

Assemble and finish the dish

Pour the sauce over the warm pasta, and gently toss until the pasta is evenly coated. If needed you can add a splash of pasta water to loosen the sauce. Transfer the pasta into the serving plates and top with grilled octopus. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice.

Enjoy !

INGREDIENTS - for two portions

Organic or “Best you can get” !