Pico Island Octopus Stew (Azores)
Nelson spent his teenage years on the small island of Pico in the Azores–one of nine small Portugueses islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, over 1,300 kilometers west of continental Portugal. He looks back at those years fondly. Nelson maintains close ties to the island, the culture of the fishing village where he lived, and the people.
Eating seafood or fish in this village was a pleasure, and a regular occurrance. Many meals were prepared with fish and seafood that was caught on the day–talk about fresh! In addition to family, friends and the sound of the ocean, Nelson says he really misses the quality of foods prepared by his mom and by other local home cooks during festivals around the Island (and there were many).
One of Nelson’s favourite dishes is octopus stew (polvo guisado). He remembers soaking every last drop of the rich sauce from his plate with locally baked bread. This stew is wonderful with crusty bread for dipping the delicious sauce. Common sides are potatoes cooked right in the stew or a simple butter rice.
A few years ago, Nelson’s mom gave him one of his favourite gifts ever–a small notebook with her own recipes of many of his favourite meals. This little hand-written treasure is more special to him than any monatary gift she could have given him–more precious than gold. This notebook and the traditional and memorable meals he makes from it have kept him connected to his roots, his family, and the beautiful volcanic island of Pico. Through this blog, we plan to create and capture pics of many of the recipes from Nelson’s notebook. We hope others will give the recipes a try and discover something special, like we have.
- 3 Lbs large octopus cut in large pieces (it will shrink a lot during cooking)
- 4 Tbs of quality olive oil
- 1 medium cooking onion chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 small can of tomato paste (5.5 fl oz)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1 cup of good white wine
- 1 tsp salt
- 1½ tsp tabasco or other hot sauce (this gives it a small touch of heat, adjust accordingly)
- 3 small sprigs of parsley chopped coarse
- In a large pot, heat up the olive oil. Add the onions, sauté until they start becoming translucent and add the garlic. Sauté for another two minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cup of wine. Stir until the tomato paste is completely dissolved. Now add the salt and tabasco. The sauce will look thick and like it doesn't have enough water. This is expected. Do not add water.
- Add the chopped octopus to the pot and mix well. As soon as the mix starts to bubble, decrease the temperature to medium or a touch lower and let simmer for 1 hour.
- Take the lid off the pot and taste the sauce and octopus. Add additional salt if needed. If the octopus feels a little tough, cover the pot and cook a bit longer until the octopus is tender.
- You can serve the octopus with crusty bread, potatoes or rice. We hope you enjoy this dish as much as Nelson has over the years.
Is the octopus raw when you put it in the pot or did you boil it
Hi Amanda, great question. No, it cooks long enough that it tenderizes without having to boil it first. Try to use a larger octopus. The small ones tend to shrink a lot. Good luck and I hope you enjoy the meal!
Seems like not enough liquid…1 cup of white wine.
Cooks 1+hours’ until octopus is tender?!?!?!?
Hi Mel, thanks for touching base. Yes, I felt the same way when I tried it the first time. I actually called my mom to make sure this wasn’t a mistake. The octopus starts to let out liquid during the cooking process. This is why the wine I mention is enough. The picture you see with the recipe is the result of these quantities. As for the hour cooking time. It was perfect for the size of the octopus we used. If you use a very large octopus, test it at that time and leave it a bet longer if it’s not perfectly tender just yet. Your comment reminded me of the recipe and now I’m craving some… might have to go shopping today 🙂 Take care.
How long if I want to cook in a pressure cooker.and do you think I could add potatoes in with it or after.
I’m not sure about the pressure cooker time. I haven’t tried it myself. I found this article that could help you. They say 15 minutes. http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/06/how-to-cook-tender-octopus-quick-fast-pressure-cooker.html with regards to the potatoes, they may become quite soft in the pressure cooker… which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for this type of meal. If you go that route, let us know how it turns out. Instant Pot recently sent us one of their units, and I’d probably try the octopus recipe using that.
It is not for Pico. I grew up in San Miguel with this stew too. Delicious!
People in Pico do the octopus in the stew without other “sides”.
Other islands add potatoes so it´s almost the same dish but with local variations.
Can´t wait to try with my InstaPot
Thanks so much Joao. I hope it turns out delicious. All the best.
My vovó (grandmother) and vovô (grandfather) are from Pico and Faial. We had this every year for Christmas Eve. Now the only difference I see is that you didn’t add potatoes. We always have potatoes in ours. Thank you for this recipe I’ve asked her and this is basically the same. Thank you.
Hi Amanda, thanks for connecting. If you try our version, let us know what you think. It’s one of my favourite dishes and one of my favourite sauces to dip bread into 🙂 Yes, I’ve seen the dish served with both potatoes and rice. Very often, ingredients and cooking styles change a little from town to town or island to island. I lived in Faial for 4 years while going to high school and I remember eating it with potatoes. I could go for a plate of this now 🙂 Take care.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! It is just what I am looking for. I haven’t cooked octopus before but ate some that was super delicious when we visited the Azores. My question is, for a fresh, out of the ocean octopus, after taking out the guts and eyes, do you cook the head also? Do you leave the skin on or take it off? My daughter is commercial fishing out of Dutch Harbor, has pulled up some octopus in the king crab pots and I told her she has to try this recipe.
Hi Theresa, thanks so much for the questions. I’ll start be apologizing for my delay in answering back. Unfortunately your comment slipped through the cracks. I’ve only made the recipe twice with fresh octopus. I usually buy fresh and frozen from our local fish monger. I followed this tutorial for cleaning. I can try to explain, but she does such a greta job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaMaer9I8m0. I hope it helps. Take care.
My dad is from Sao Miguel, and my mom is from the Continente. She makes polvo guisado with potatoes, and it looks just like this; I believe she uses all your ingredients, minus the cinnamon stick. My tias from Acores also make this exactly the same way. It has always been one of my favorite dishes. I like to mash the potatoes with my fork and allow them to soak up the gravy. Mmmmm I’m actually having this dish tonight at Clube Acores in Newark, NJ. If anyone lives in the area, come check out our organization, whether you’re Acoriano or not. All are welcome!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. I think I have to make more soon! I can almost smell it now . You’re so right about soaking up the sauce… potatoes or bread… so good! Take care and thanks for visiting.
Hi, trying this recipe for the first time. My husband is from San Miguel and can’t wait. I have made it before but this seems like the most flavorful thus far. We’ve been married for 35 years and he says I cook better than his momma ( shhhh) lol. I will let you know how it comes out. Thank you,
Gail from Massachusetts
That’s so wonderful to hear! I hope it turned out delicious. The comment about his mom… we won’t tell