Guava Glazed Octopus with Garlic Labneh & Cactus Ezme

Hey everyone, I hope all is well with you!

Octopus, or "seacat" in my country, wasn't always accessible to us. I didn't eat a lot of it as a kid, but you better believe if I have an opportunity in any restaurant now to have it, I will.

I tend to appreciate the perfect-looking dishes on social media and on TV, but I much prefer a cleaner, simpler plate. I plated this differently the day before and didn't like it. There was too much sauce and too much going on; it got lost in the picture that I took, and I just wasn't loving it.

 

I'm slowly but surely finding a way to make awesome dishes using Caribbean ingredients and incorporating my Middle Eastern experience. This dish is a clear example of that. Let’s get to this recipe

Octopus

  • 1 Lb Octopus

  • 1/2 Bunch Lemon Thyme

  • Salt

  • Pepper

  • Olive Oil

Garlic Labneh

  • 40 g Toum

  • 250 g Labneh

Guava Glaze

  • 355 g Guava Paste

  • 20 g Soy Sauce

  • 160g Cane Vinegar

Cactus Ezme

  • 3 large tomatoes firm and fresh

  • 1 medium white onion

  • 1 Jar Drained Grilled Cactus

  • 2 cloves garlic minced

  • ½ cup fresh parsley finely chopped

  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste

  • 1 lemon juice of

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin

  • 1 tsp kosher salt

  • ½ tsp black pepper

  • ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper

  • 1 tsp sumac

  • 1 tsp Urfa Biber Chili

Garnish

  • Olive Oil

  • Flowers

Salt scrub the octopus to help remove the slime then rinse and drain. Season with salt all ingredients and vacuum seal. Sous vide at 76.6C for 5 1/2 hours (I woke up at 3 a.m. out of my sleep to take it out because the chef was adamant about doing this in the night to take pictures).

Labneh is a Middle Eastern-hung yoghurt that thickens as all of the whey drains. The thickened texture is like cream cheese and is called a type of cheese by the region. The labneh I purchased was already made and i mixed it with garlic toum.

Garlic toum is an emulsion made from garlic, oil, lemon juice, and salt. I used to find it very hard to make, especially if you don't get the water-to-oil ratio right. The recipe is above in the hyper link. Reserve in the fridge

To Make the guava Glze cut up the paste into cubes and add all ingredients into a blender and puree on high speed until smooth, if you find it too sweet, add more cane vinegar.

The guava glaze is made from guava cheese," as we call it back home, which is just a thick block of guava paste, very similar to membrillo. I'm pretty sure it's one of the many European influences we have; I have to double-check. It was let loose with cane vinegar and soy sauce, so it has a sweet and sour taste, which was perfect.






The ezme is also Turkish, and the grilled cactus is Caribbean; yes, we have cactus in Antigua and the Caribbean; it's not just a Latin American ingredient.

Flowers have to be on there because, why not? Those of you who worked with me know I love flower petals.Hope you enjoyed the read everyone. bless

Giovanni MeyerComment