Recipe no. 136 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 72.
Ingredients
- octopus
- onion
- oil
- tomatoes
- bouquet garni
- cloves
- rice
- saffron
Preparation
- Preparing the octopusTake an octopus of medium size; after cleaning it well, then letting it soak in running water, beat it hard with a stick, for its flesh is always tough; cut the tentacles into pieces and the rest into roughly equal pieces, after discarding the eyes and the mouth.
- BlanchingBlanch it in boiling water, drain and remove the skin by wiping with a cloth.
- Cooking the octopusPut a chopped onion with a few spoonfuls of oil in a saucepan, brown it, then add the octopus, let it all brown together; add two finely chopped tomatoes, let it turn a few more times, then add liquid with 2 litres of water; boil it covered, after adding a bouquet garni, salt, pepper, an onion studded with 2 cloves. One hour later, take out the bouquet and the onion.
- Adding the riceThrow in 500 grams of rice, a pinch of saffron and let it cook another 20 to 25 minutes at most. The rice should be just right and ready to serve.
Reboul's text
Take an octopus of medium size; after cleaning it well, then letting it soak in running water, beat it hard with a stick, for its flesh is always tough; cut the tentacles into pieces and the rest into roughly equal pieces, after discarding the eyes and the mouth.
Blanch it in boiling water, drain and remove the skin by wiping with a cloth. Put a chopped onion with a few spoonfuls of oil in a saucepan, brown it, then add the octopus, let it all brown together; add two finely chopped tomatoes, let it turn a few more times, then add liquid with 2 litres of water; boil it covered, after adding a bouquet garni, salt, pepper, an onion studded with 2 cloves. One hour later, take out the bouquet and the onion, throw in 500 grams of rice, a pinch of saffron and let it cook another 20 to 25 minutes at most. The rice should be just right and ready to serve.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| póupre | octopus |
| desgourga | to soak |
| batre | to beat |
| banihoun | tentacles |
| tros | pieces |
| blanqueja | to blanch |
| besuscla | to brown |
| amaneu | bouquet garni |
| bouie | to boil |
| safran | saffron |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 136, page 72. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.