Three Pepper Octopus

 Octopus, the great leviathan of the sea, can be quite a struggle to cook if you do not know how to tenderize it. Fortunately, there are many ways to tenderize an octopus. Here's a few I suggest: beating it with a brick, driving over it with a car, bashing it against a wall or a boat, freezing it (since freezing the octopus' flesh breaks down its enzymes; consequently, breaks down its molecular structure), or steaming it for about 45 minutes to an hour. However, for the inexperienced octopus tenderizer, I recommend steaming the thing. The key thing to remember is to score your octopus pieces before steaming them. 

Another benefit of steaming the octopus is that you can add spices into its steam bath in order to create flavours. For three pepper octopus, this is ideal.

Serves 2:
- 1/2 octopus
- 1 tbsp fresh green peppercorns 
- 1/2 tbsp fresh black peppercorns
- 1/2 tbsp pink peppercorns
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp bay leaves
- 2 tbsp paper-thin sliced red onion
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1 tsp espelette
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
- 1/2 tbsp green onion, chopped

1. Cut up and score your octopus.
2. In a steamer, throw in octopus, peppercorns, salt, bay leaves, 1 tbsp of red onion, 1/2 tbsp of capers. Cook for 45 min to 1 hr. Check for tenderness.
3. Towards the end of its steam time, preheat oven to a high broil (500 C).
4. In aluminum foil, throw in octopus mixture, espelette, and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Mix it up. Cook in oven for about 4 min.
5. Remove from heat (put it in a plate or bowl) and add the rest of the olive oil, the rest of the capers, the rest of the red onion, the coriander, and the green onion.
6. Serve.

To add a little something something to the octopus, you can add a little bit of saffron before throwing it into the oven. Saffron is extremely potent and can easily kill a meal; so, be careful with it. Two to three stigmas will do.