Gochujang Octopus and Gnocchi
The premise of this dish was to to create a textural study between 3 different gummy ingredients, braised octopus, potato gnocchi, and korean rice cake. All 3 of these things can remind me of each other, so I thought it would be fun to put them all together in a korean flavored sauce. It came out pretty tasty in the end, but I don’t feel that I fully achieved what I was going for. The main issue was the size differences between the 3 main ingredients. I was aiming to make them all a similar size and shape but failed. Regardless, if you like octopus you will enjoy this dinner, but on a normal night I would make it with either gnocchi or rice cake, and not both.
I chopped the octopus into what I considered to be gnocchi sized, but they ended up shrinking like crazy. I knew this happens when braising octopus but for some reason I wasn’t thinking.
Next start the sauce. Sauteed onions followed by some garlic, ginger, and gochujang.
Can of tomatoes in next.
Then the octopus.
Let this simmer about 2 hours.
Meanwhile I made the gnocchi. In addition to cutting the octopus too small, I also made the gnocchi too big for some reason.
Rinced and blanched the rice cakes. Only cook them about 1 minute.
Tasty stuff all mixed together. The rich hearty octopus infused sauce really coats the gnocchi and rice cake well.
Good, but not exactly what I was going for.
Gochujang Octopus and Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 Onion sliced
- 5 Cloves Garlic minced
- 2 Inches Ginger grated
- 2 Tablespoons Gochujang
- 28 Ounces Canned Diced Tomato
- 3/4 Pound Cleaned Octopus
- 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Saute onions until beginning to brown. Add garlic and ginger, then gochujang. Add a can of diced tomatoes. Then the squid and a little rice vinegar, soy sauce, and salt. Cover and simmer on low about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. When octopus is tender, add in the (blanched) rice cake or (cooked) gnocchi. Simmer another few minutes before removing from heat and serving.
This recipe took me a bit by suprise. I like fusion-food, but never thought about doing a sort-of Koren-gnocchi thing – thanks for this amazing idea, the next time I have the chance to get some octopus, I will definitely give this recipe a go.
Oh, you hit me right in my comfort zone…this is just like my favorite Korean dish of spicy octopus with noodles…and I always ask the chef to add rice cake to it. I can never find octopus where I live and have often wondered if I could sub calamari or baby octopus?