Summertime barbecuing doesn’t get simpler than this

Once on the grill the intense heat transforms the flesh, cooking it swiftly, maintaining its tenderness, while ­imbuing it with a smoky char.

Lennox Hastie’s delicious barbecued octopus. Photo: Nikki To / TWAM

Summer is the season of barbecue: the days are long and the air carries a heat that demands simplicity. It’s not the time for fuss or the cumbersome weight of complicated dishes, so I always like to fire up the grill for something quick and easy.

There is a certain rhythm to summer grilling in Australia, beginning in the late afternoon when the intense midday heat begins to subside. While I love a good steak as much as the next person, there is something about the smell of grilled seafood that takes me back to the Basque country.

Grilled octopus and chickpeas with sobrasada are flavours that remind me of my time in Spain. I first encountered sobrasada in its purest form, spread thickly over a slice of rustic bread, while visiting the island of Mallorca. This paprika-rich sausage is soft, spreadable, and unapologetically rich. Warm it gently and it becomes the soul of a dish, its unctuousness binding flavours together.

Some people are challenged by cooking octopus. Its muscularity, spread through eight arms, can make it a tough and chewy proposition. Like squid, its fellow cephalopod, the trick lies in the timing – you want to cook it with either a brief, fierce kiss of heat or a slow, patient simmer.

Traditionally, Greek and Portuguese fishermen beat their ­octopus against the rocks to ­soften its flesh, and most of the octopus available nowadays is “tumbled” in the food equivalent of a cement mixer. And once on the grill the intense heat transforms the flesh, cooking it swiftly, maintaining its tenderness, whilst ­imbuing it with a smoky char.

The grill needs to be ferociously hot, signalled by the glowing of white embers. The tentacles curl and char on contact with the heat, deepening into a rich crimson matched only by the earthy intensity of the sobrasada as it melts into the chickpeas.

Have this with my couscous salad.

Grilled occtopus and couscous salad. Photos: Nikki To

The tentacles should be crispy and charred for good flavour.

Grilled octopus

Ingredients

• 450g-500g baby octopus tentacles
• 10g pimenton (sweet smoked paprika)
• Zest and juice of ½ lemon
• 200g cooked chickpeas
• 80ml olive oil
• 30g preserved lemon, finely diced
• 200g cherry or baby plum tomatoes
• 100g sobrasada, broken into pieces
• ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. If using whole octopus, remove the head of the octopus by cutting it off above the eyes. Turn the head inside out and pull away anything that is inside. Remove the tentacles by cutting just below the eyes and discarding the eye section. Trace the tentacles to the middle point where you will locate a beak (mouth). Remove the beak by using tweezers to pull it out. Discard it. Rinse the octopus head and tentacles and dry thoroughly.
2. In a small bowl, combine 30ml of olive oil, pimenton and lemon zest and juice, and marinade the octopus for at least an hour.
3. Drain the chickpeas, reserving the liquid. Place the chickpea liquid in a small pan, place on the heat and warm gently. Add the sobrasada, returning to the heat for 1 minute to allow it to soften and meld with the liquid.
4. Over hot embers, or on a high heat, or alternatively in a very hot pan, grill the octopus for 2-3 minutes on each side, until caramelised and slightly charred at the edges.
5. Remove the octopus from the heat and allow to rest for 2 minutes, before cutting into quarters. Heat a medium frying pan, add 20ml of olive oil and the cherry tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes until they are just on the verge of bursting.
6. Add the chickpeas and the sobrasada mix, followed by the preserved lemon, octopus, and chopped parsley.
7. Arrange in a serving dish with a drizzle of olive oil to finish.

Serves 3-4