The Luciana-style octopus is a seafood dish that is part of the Neapolitan poor cuisine. The origins of this recipe come from a fishing village in Naples, the village of Santa Lucia where fishermen were called ‘luciani’. The characteristic of this simple dish is the very slow cooking to make the octopus become very tender. Like many traditional recipes, there are many variations, with or without capers, with or without tomato, olives with pits or pitted. I cook the Luciana-style octopus like this, it becomes very tender, and I use the sauce to dress pasta.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2People
- Cooking methods: Slow cooking, Stove, Low heat
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Campania
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 409.49 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 18.13 (g) of which sugars 18.83 (g)
- Proteins 26.02 (g)
- Fat 26.28 (g) of which saturated 3.20 (g)of which unsaturated 3.25 (g)
- Fibers 4.42 (g)
- Sodium 1,071.07 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 375 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 octopuses (small and fresh)
- 9 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup tomato sauce (cherry)
- 8 Gaeta olives
- 1 tbsp salted capers (desalted)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 sprigs parsley
Tools
- Kitchen scale
- Pan
Steps
If your fishmonger cleans the octopus for you, great; otherwise, do it yourself by putting the octopus under running water. Turn the head inside out and remove the sac and beak, and rinse the suckers well in case there is sand.
Prepare a sauté with oil, chopped garlic, parsley stems, cherry tomatoes cut in half and let them color for 1 minute. Add the olives (I used pitted black ones as I couldn’t find Gaeta olives), desalted capers, and parsley stems, let it infuse further, then add the sauce.
As soon as it starts to boil, immerse the octopuses and continue cooking over low heat for 50 minutes, keeping the lid on and gently turning it occasionally. You probably won’t need to add salt, but check. Once cooking is finished, add chopped parsley and serve.
