The Golfo di Gaeta teems with octopus, and Nonna Lisa can buy them fresh all year round to make this delicious tiella filling. With rare exceptions, however, octopus sold in the United States has been frozen (and usually cleaned) before coming to market. And while I almost always prefer fresh seafood, properly frozen octopus is easy to handle and tastes excellent—some claim that freezing helps to tenderize the flesh. Buy octopus still frozen (not thawed) from a reliable fishmonger or online merchant.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 4 cups of filling, for a 12-inch tiella

　　4 pounds frozen, cleaned octopus (tentacles about 1/2 inch wide at thickest part)

　　2 bay leaves

　　1 pound ripe plum tomatoes (4 tomatoes)

　　4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

　　1 1/2 tablespoons sliced garlic

　　2/3 cup Gaeta olives, pitted and cut in half

　　1/4 teaspoon peperoncino flakes

　　1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt

　　2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

　　

Recommended Equipment

A large pot for cooking the octopus

　　A heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, 12-inch diameter or larger

　　

Step 1

Defrost the octopus, and put it in a big pot with several inches of water to cover. Add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, and cook at a bubbling simmer for about 35 minutes, or until the octopus is tender but al dente. You should be able to pierce the flesh with a big meat-fork but still feel a bit of resistance when you withdraw it. The skin of the octopus should still be largely intact—not broken and peeling off, which indicates overcooking. Let it cool in the cooking water, then drain well and cut it up into 3/4-inch pieces. Rinse, core, and seed the plum tomatoes, and cut into 1/3-inch dice.

　　

Step 2

Pour the olive oil into the big skillet, set it over medium heat, and stir in the garlic. Cook for a minute, until sizzling, then add the octopus pieces and toss them in the oil. Scatter the olives in the pan, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring and tossing; sprinkle in the peperoncino. When the octopus is sizzling, toss in the diced tomatoes, and season with the salt.

　　

Step 3

Cook at the simmer, stirring frequently, for another 10 minutes or so, until the filling is dense and glistening, with no liquid left in the pan. Toss in the parsley, and cool the filling before assembling the tiella.

　　From Lidia's Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich. Copyright (c) 2007 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich. Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York.