Octopus with egg noodles (hilopites), salted pork and grated talagani cheese

Recipe by Chef Lefteris Lazarou, Messinian Gastronomy Seminars 2014

Octopus preparation

Cut octopus tentacles into pieces. Sauté octopus pieces in olive oil and strain. In a saucepan, pour some olive oil and sauté onions, garlic, star anise, and bay leaves. Add sautéed octopus and blanched tomatoes, cut into quarters. Add wine and bisque. Cover with parchment paper. Gently braise over low heat until octopus is tender. Remove from heat. Put octopus pieces and sauce in two separate Gastronorm containers. Use a chinois to strain sauce.

Egg noodles (hilopites) preparation

Using a small saucepan sauté the salted pork. Add the preboiled hilopites, tomato, cut into squares, and the onion. Then add the octopus stock, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and add chives, julienne-cut basil, marjoram, olives, cut into squares, and talagani cheese.