Tapas Style Galician Octopus
Once the octopus is thawed, dip it repeatedly into boiling water until the tentacles start to curl.
(The previous step is not absolutely necessary but is said to make the pus more tender.)
Boil the octopus along with a chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, and 2 cloves of garlic
for about 40 minutes in just enough water to cover it.
Slice 4-5 potatoes and add them to the pot after about 30 minutes.
Remove the octopus when done and slice into 1/8" thick pieces.
Remove the potatoes when done and toss them in olive oil.
Sprinkle the octopus and potatoes with paprika and coarse salt before serving.

Additionally, a sauce can be made by browning some garlic in olive oil,
adding a cup of the octopus water and a shot of white wine,
and reducing the mixture to thicken it.
Pour this over the octopus and spuds and then add the paprika and salt.

Baccalà ala Marina
(reprinted without permission)
Get a good sized piece of baccala with some thick portions and NO BONES.
Soak at least 3-4 days before cooking:
Put bacala at room temp in a large pan and cover with cold tap water.
Change water in the morning and in the evening.
On cooking day, put about 1/4 inch of olive oil into a large stew pan.
Braise fish on both sides and remove from the oil.
Add a boat load of onions (to your liking about 1 huge or
2 large Spanish or yellow) and cook until transparent.
Add 2 large cans of Italian style tomatoes cut up (no juice) and 4-5 large potatoes cubed.
Cook until potatoes are ready and tomatoes are a sauce.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Add back the bacala and simmer to get the delicious flavors into and out of the fish!

Anchovy Pesto Pasta Salad
4 bags of basil from the Vietnamese grocery (about 8oz or 1 cup when pureed)
1 can of anchovies not from the Vietnamese grocery
(the Asian ones always have sugar in them)
handful of grated Romano cheese
1/3 cup of ricotta cheese
1 shallot
black pepper
1 large clove of garlic
olive oil
white wine

Puree the basil and shallot in a food processor adding olive oil and maybe a dash of white wine to adjust consistency
Add anchovies and cheese to the slurry
Add black pepper to taste, capers can’t hurt either
Toss with a pound of pasta, serve hot or cold

Smelts – the French-fry of the sea!
Add some lemon juice and/or white wine to the bag of smelts a
few hours before cooking.
Mix some cayenne pepper, salt, and garlic powder into some flour.
Dredge the smelts in the seasoned flour and deep fry in hot oil for about 5 minutes.
Serve to the people on the dance floor.

Shrimp and Grits (a down home heart attack in a bucket!)
2lb of peeled shrimp
1/4lb bacon (or Tasso ham if you are south of the MD line)
1 onion
1 bunch of scallions
1/4 lb of butter
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 pint heavy cream
2 cups of dry grits

1) chop the onion, fry up the bacon, and sauté the onion in the bacon fat
2) remove the bacon and chop/crumble it into small pieces
3) add the grits and 8 cups of water to the pot and simmer until done
4) in another pot cook the shrimp in the butter and when the shrimp is done,
mix everything together adjusting the amount of cream for consistency
5) add salt and pepper to taste
6) call your cardiologist

Piri Piri Portuguese Pork and Clams

First step - make some piri piri sauce:
fill a one quart jar 1/3 full of tiny dry hot peppers
add 3/4 cup of whiskey and fill to the top with olive oil
let sit for at least a month shaking occasionally
my piri piri is over two years old now and it only gets better with time

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup white wine
2 shots of cheap cooking whiskey (3 if you want one too)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
4 teaspoons paprika
2 pounds boneless pork, cubed
1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, sliced
1-2 tablespoons piri piri to taste
3-4 lb small live clams or 20oz of canned clams
1 jar of Brazilian/Portuguese pickled vegetables or Giardiniera

Directions
1) Combine the wine, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, whiskey, bay leaves,
and piri piri in a nonporous dish or bowl. Mix together. Add pork and toss
to coat. Cover dish or bowl and refrigerate to marinate for 2 to 12 hours.
2) drain the meat well and save the marinade
3) in a frying pan brown the pork in 1/4 cup olive oil and any trimmed pork fat
4) put the meat and oil in a pot, add the marinade and paprika
5) simmer uncovered to reduce the sauce about 45 min
6) skim the fat and discard the bay leaves
7) in another pan sauté the onions in the remaining olive oil
8) add the clams, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper
9) cook over high heat for 5 minutes or until clams open
10) add the clam mixture to the pork mixture and heat through
11) if you have them, add a jar of Brazilian/Portuguese pickled vegetables to the stew.

Serve over fried cubed potatoes and add piri piri to taste.

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Chris Vecchio
Christopher Vecchio