Sous Vide Tender Octopus in Mole Sauce

Recipe Temp: 76.7°C. Recipe Time: 05:00. Prep Time: 00:30.

Step 1: Set Anova Precision Cooker to 170F/76.5C. Step 2: Clean octopus. Remove heads from octopus by cutting about halfway between the head and the tentacles. Remove the beak with the tip of your knife. Step 3: Blanche octopus. Bring a large stockpot of water to the boil, without salt. Drop the octopus in the water for 2-3 minutes to firm them up. Step 4: Immediately drop into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Step 5: Cut one octopus in half with 4 tentacles on each piece. Cut the second octopus into 8 pieces, or one for each tentacle. Add the octopus, olive oil, salt, and lime juice to a ziploc bag or vacuum seal bag. Step 6: Place the bag in the water bath and remove the air using the water submersion method if using a ziploc. The bag will float. Don't worry, it'll sink within 5 minutes of going in the hot bath. Set timer for 5 hours!

Finishing Steps -- Sear and Dress Step 1: Remove bag from the water bath. Scoop out the tentacles with tongs and save the water in the bag for soup or broth later. Step 2: Heat a large skillet with a knob of butter until it's piping hot. Add the pieces of octopus to sear very quickly -- maybe 30 seconds each side. Step 3: Toss the seared octopus in the mole gravy. This should be a fast coating in hot sauce. You don't want to keep the octopus cooking. Step 4: Garnish and serve immediately. I used fresh cilantro, thinly sliced red onion, and Antirrhinum flowers (snapdragons) for their biting bitterness that works wonders with seafood.

Optional Mole Sauce Step 1: Toast a heaping tablespoon each sesame seeds, almonds, and pumpkin seeds. Step 2: Soak a dried ancho chili and 2-4 pasilla chilis in water that's just boiled. Step 3: Grind nuts, seeds, and chilis into a paste in a food processor or with a pestle and mortar. Step 4: In a small pot, sweat 1 shallot, 1 habanero chili, 1 jalapeno, and 1 clove of garlic ... all finely diced. Step 5: Add paste with pinches of cinnamon, allspice, star anise, and clove to the pot and stir until a fond forms on the bottom of the pot. Step 6: Slowly add 2 cups/.25l of chicken stock while whisking together. A loose gravy should form. Step 7: Add 100g/3.5oz of 95% dark chocolate. Whisk until well blended. Step 8: Turn down heat to a low simmer, cover, and let reduce by 1/2 until a smooth gravy forms.

From https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-tender-octopus-in-mole-sauce