Octopus in Epis
At Greenleaf in Milford, N.H., chef Chris Viaud does a play on the Haitian chicken dish poul nan sos, replacing the poultry with octopus.
He starts by pounding thawed Spanish octopus tentacles and then marinates it overnight in a Haitian spice blend, called epis, of garlic, parsley, scallions, bell peppers, onions, thyme, Scotch bonnet pepper, olive oil, lime juice and salt.
Then he poaches the octopus for around 2.5 hours in a broth of tomato, bell peppers, charred onion & garlic, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, coriander and cloves. Once it’s tender, he shocks it in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
At service he fries the octopus to crisp it up and serves it with fried sweet plantains, a green pepper coulis, roasted tomato purée and a Haitian vegetable slaw called pikliz (“pickles”) made with cabbage, carrots, bell peppers and Scotch bonnet peppers marinated in white vinegar and garlic.
Price: $18