"Poseidon's Feast" Croatia Travelogue by KristaB

Octopus Salad

A great starter or a refreshing meal.

Take 1,5 kg = 2 octopus that were cleaned and frozen - freezing for at least 2 days makes cooking easier, tenderizes octopus meat.
Almost defrosted, place in a pressure cooker with some water, and cook for about 30 minutes - depends how large octopus you have. Leave it to cool a bit in that water.

Now chop one large red onion and put it in a serving bowl, sprinkle with salt to make it "sweat" - this makes onions more pleasant to eat.
Add 1 chopped green pepper and 2 chopped tomatoes (seeds removed).

Cut off tentacles and remove the skin and suckers - if the octopus is properly cooked, it comes off easily, just wipe it off with your fingers.

Cut into small chunks, add to the serving bowl, plus
2 spoons of capers preserved in vinegar, some chopped or whole olives, olive oil, juice of 2 lemons, grounded black pepper.

Stir and refrigerate for at least one hour, serve with bread.

Dentex sinking in salt

The God of the seas deserves only the best, fresh and opulent meals.

One such delicacy with pure true taste of the sea is large white fish baked in a casket of sea-salt, which acts like an envelope that preserves moisture and taste, but doesn't make the fish too salty, since the husks and the skin are removed upon serving.

You can use large Dentex or Grouper, maybe some other high quality white fish over 1 kg, cleaned from intestines but with husks. Use only fresh, not frozen fish.

Mix 2 kg of coarse sea salt with 3 egg-whites, spread a stripe size of the fish on the tray, lay the fish and cover it completely with the rest of that salt.

Bake in pre-heated oven on 190'C for about 1 hour - this Dentex was over 1,5 kg, so I baked it for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Bring the whole fish in salt casket to the table, and break the crust with a mallet, remove chunks of salt, skin with husks and some large bones - serve pure white meat steaming with deep sea scent.

Serve with some high quality Extra Vergine olive oil and few drops of lemon, just to add some background to marvelous deep sea aroma of this dish.
Serve with baked or boiled potatoes with mangold leaves or zucchini, mixed with some olive oil, sprinkled with chopped parsley and some garlic.