SUCH A LONG WAIT….
Octopus – pig’s foot – fennel
Penta-di-Casinca, August 2005
This plate was gestated for 15 years from an outstanding memory.
This Corsican mountain village is surely one of the most beautiful on the island, very remotely hidden and difficult to access because very steep, I had visited it during the summer of 2005.
I was with friends, we had eaten in the only restaurant of the village run by a quiet grandmother.
She made a pig sausage with fennel, it was an absolute wonder, I had reordered it twice, we also had on the table a cold octopus salad.
Out of curiosity I had eaten a piece of sausage with a piece of octopus, it was divine, I will always remember how it knocked me out….
I told myself that one day I had to make a dish out of it, but I didn’t know it would take that long, but things are never lost, it’s always somewhere, one day or another, when it’s time, it’s coming back.
Lionel Beccat
Under the veil of homemade fennel seed flavored ham :
Octopus massaged with nukazuke, then soften in a mix of grated daikon, shoyu and Mirin
Sliced and marinated in olive oil,
Burnt with flame
Pig’s foot is boiled traditionally in a court bouillon, then fried panned for a crispy texture
Melting mashed potato with olive oil, parsley, brined lemon, pickled shallots, fried onions, fried garlic
Concentrer sauce made with wild fennel and octopus bouillon