Tentacles & Tea: Octopus Marinade and Terrine Recipe

Instructions

Ika Soba

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flours until evenly combined. Mix squid ink with water with a whisk until thoroughly mixed and pour water over the flours. Using your fingers, toss and rub the flours with the water until crumbly, like muddy sand.
2. Scrape the dough onto a work surface and press and knead until smooth, about 6 minutes. Press the dough into a disk, then rotate the disk clockwise as you pinch portions of the dough on top of the disk and fold them over in a counterclockwise motion to form pleats.
3. Arrange the dough pleated-side-down and mold into a cone. Flatten the dough around its perimeter until it is 1/2-inch thick, keeping a slight bump in the center of the disk. Transfer the dough to a work surface dusted lightly with tapioca starch and lightly dust the dough with starch.
4. Using a thin rolling pin or wooden dowel dusted with more starch, roll the dough using back-and-forth strokes, rotating it as needed. (You can also use a pasta machine for this task by cutting the disk into quarters and feeding each through the machine on its thinnest setting.)
5. Once the dough is flattened to 1⁄18-inch thick (you can roll the dough around the rolling pin to check for even thickness), dust the flattened dough generously with starch and fold in half. Dust the sheet with more starch and fold it again in the same direction to make 4 layers.
6. Using a sharp slicing knife, slice the dough into 1⁄16-inch-thick noodles and toss in the starch to ensure they don't stick together. Use the cut soba noodles immediately, or transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
7. To cook the noodles, add to simmering pot of water with 1 tbsp. sesame oil and 1 tbsp. kombu soy sauce and cook for 5-7 minutes until just cooked through.
8. Strain and shock in ice water and drain well. Toss with remaining octopus glaze reduced from the marinade and chill until needed for plating.

Octopus Marinade

9. Add all the items from red onion to cilantro in a stainless steel bowl andcombine well.
10. Cook the octopus for 40 minutes in just percolating water and remove once cooked. Allow the octopus to cool completely.
11. When cooled completely, slice the tentacles at the base of the webbing and add to a Ziploc bag. Remove the head and clean well by rinsing in water, then slice into 5 cm. rings and add to the Ziploc bag.
12. Using a smoking gun, load the port with floral jasmine green tea leaves and place the smoking hose into the Ziploc bag. Turn on the gun, light the leaves and fill the bag with smoke, trying to let as little as possible escape. Do this two times! Make sure the bag is sealed well and smoke for 6 hours in the fridge.
13. In a separate stainless steel bowl mix all the ingredients from the momijioroshi to the chile oil and whisk well until thoroughly combined.
14. Slowly drizzle in the sesame and canola oil while shaking the bag, and then add the salt. Set in the fridge until needed.
15. After 6 hours, remove the Ziploc bag from the fridge, pour the liquid assembly into the bag through a funnel and close the bag. Allow to marinate in the fridge overnight.
16. The next day, remove the Ziploc from the fridge and allow to reach room temperature.
17. While letting the Ziploc come to room temperature, prepare your coals until amber stage.
18. Remove the octopus from the bag and pat dry on a paper towel, reserving all the ingredients in the bag.
19. Strain all the liquids from the solids that were in the bag and add them to a small sauce-pot. Reduce on medium heat until a slight glaze forms, remove from the heat once this is achieved.
20. Place the tentacles on the grill and cook the octopus for about 5 minutes per side, until a nice brown char is achieved, then brush the octopus with the glaze during the last minute of cooking. When done, remove from the heat but keep warm.

Green Sea Fans

21. Add the water to a stainless steel bowl, whisk in the flour and then the food colouring until thoroughly incorporated.
22. Place a non-stick pan on medium heat and add coconut oil. When the oil is hot, ladle in the water/flour mixture (stand back as it will splatter).
23. Cook until the bubbles subside and the edges are slightly raised (about 20-30 seconds).
24. When the pan has stopped bubbling, carefully lift the sea fan from the pan with a wide spatula and blot on paper towels.
25. Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi and salt. Use within 1 day.

Braised Daikon

26. Take the daikon and peel all skin away. Using a melon baller, go up and down the daikon scooping out perfect rounds as closely together as possible.
27. Place the dashi, sugar and ginger slices in a sauce pot and simmer on low for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the daikon can be easily pierced with a toothpick.
28. Remove from the heat, cool in the pot and strain until needed for plating.

Shiso Wakame Purée

29. Put the onions in a pan with the salt and cover with stock. Cook, covered, until the onions have wilted and are very soft. Continue to cook until the pan is nearly dry, but don’t allow the onions to take on any color. Reserve the onions.
30. Blanch and shock the shiso in ice water.
31. Bring a 1-2 quarts of water to a boil in a small sauce pan, season the water lightly to taste with salt and then add the wakame. Cook for 1 minute. Remove the wakame, drain and place in the bowl of a blender with dashi, shiso, xanthan gum and onions.
32. Puree the mixture, slowly adding the grapeseed oil to create a smooth puree. Continue pureeing until smooth. If needed, add a little more water to help make the mixture super smooth.
33. Pass through a tamis into a chilled stainless steel bowl set atop an ice bath.
34. Transfer the mixture to a container and refrigerate. Tightly covered, the puree will last for a week.

Nigori Sake Gelée

35. In a sauce pot, add the sake and bring to a near boil, turn of the heat.
36. Bring aloe juice to a boil, add in the agar and whisk well. Turn off the heat and add the mixture into the sake.
37. Pour through a strainer into a small square cake mold and place in the fridge for 1 hour to set.
38. Using small round ring molds, cut different sized rounds of the sake gelée and reserve for plating.

Cucumber Wrapped Octopus Terrine

39. Using a potato peeler, peel long full length strips of the cucumber without rotating until you reach the seeds. Rotate 180° and repeat on the other side. You will need about 12 strips in total. The strips should almost be transparent.
40. Place the strips in a large stainless steel bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. of salt. Mix well and carefully so as to not break the cucumber slices. Let stand for 10 minutes.
41. Transfer cucumber strips to a colander and rinse well under cold water until all the salt is removed. Soak in a bowl of cold water for 5 more minutes. Strain and dry on paper towels.
42. Make the matcha glaze by adding sugar, togarashi and water to a sauce pot and bringing to a boil. Reduce by half until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and whisk in matcha. Allow to cool slightly.
43. Lay a sheet of resinite plastic wrap 10” wide by 10” long on a flat clean surface. Brush the entire sheet with the matcha glaze. Start to lay the cucumber slices lengthwise from top to bottom (vertically), leaving a 1-inch space margin. Lay down the next one to overlap the previous one by 1/8 of an inch. When all are laid down and the sheet is covered, brush more glaze over the cucumber. You should have a cucumber square covering the plastic wrap
44. Carefully pick up the top and bottom of the sheet and drop the center into the terrine mold until it touches the bottom, draping the rest over the sides on the terrine mold. Now carefully push down so the plastic sheet with the cucumber forms to the terrine. Set aside.
45. Cook the octopus for 35 minutes in percolating water and remove once cooked.
46. While warm, assemble the terrine by arranging the tentacles in the terrine mold lined with the cucumber wrap going “one thick end, one tip end” alternating until the terrine is filled. It should take about 6 tentacles for a 10” terrine.
47. Drizzle the warm octopus cooking liquid over the octopus until it almost reaches the top of the rim of the terrine. Fold the wrap over-top so that there is resistance from the octopus and press down. Place a weight on top of the terrine to weigh it down, and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.
48. Remove the terrine from the freezer and place in the fridge overnight. The next day, remove the terrine mold and carefully remove the terrine to a cutting board. Slice a 1-inch slice per order.

Tentacles and Tea

49. Grill the octopus over the coals for 5 minutes on each side to form a nice brown crust.
50. While the octopus is cooking, take the cooked soba noodles and using a large fork, twirl the noodles to form a noodle nest. Place the nest in the center of a white plate.
51. Place 3 cooked daikon pieces in a triangular position around the noodles and garnish on top with a cooked toasted egg yolk and seedlings.
52. When the octopus tentacles are cooked, remove and place 3-5 tentacles attractively in the center of the noodle nest.
53. Place the green sea fan atop the noodle nest rising up from the tentacles as a garnish.
54. Slice a 1-inch thick portion of the octopus terrine and remove the resinite wrapper. Place a dollop of the shiso-wakame puree on the plate next to the cloche and run over with a spoon to create a droplet effect. Place the terrine atop the puree and garnish with the nigori sake gelée and some seedlings.
55. Fill a smoking gun port with TEALEAVES Floral Jasmine Green Tea. Place a cloche over the entire presentation and leave a small crack at the base where the hose is, light the gun and fill the cloche with smoke. Allow to run for 6-8 seconds until the cloche is filled with smoke. Drop the cloche to cover and serve tableside, removing the cloche in front of the guest.