Gigantes me Chtapodi from Greek Macedonia (Γίγαντες με Χταπόδι)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •large heavy pot, 5 litre, for simmering the beans
• •wide heavy pot with lid, 4 litre, for braising the octopus
• •round metal tapsi or deep baking dish, 32cm
• •fine sieve for straining the octopus cooking liquid

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Put the gigantes in a large bowl and cover them with cold water by at least 8cm. Leave them 12 hours, then drain and rinse. If a few beans float and look hollow, throw those away. This is the step that keeps the middle from staying chalky while the outside softens.

2. 2

   Simmer until yielding

   Put the soaked beans in a 5 litre pot with fresh cold water to cover by 5cm and add 1 bay leaf. Bring to a boil, skim the foam, then lower to a gentle simmer for 45 to 70 minutes, until a bean presses easily between your fingers but still keeps its shape. Reserve 500ml of the cooking liquid and drain the beans. Do not add tomato yet. Tomato's acidity slows the skins from softening, so the beans must be nearly tender before they meet the sauce.

   Old beans take longer and sometimes never become creamy. Buy from a shop with turnover, not from a dusty bag that has forgotten its own harvest.
3. 3

   Braise the octopus

   While the beans cook, put the octopus in a wide heavy pot with the wine or water and the second bay leaf. Cover and cook over low heat for 45 to 60 minutes, turning once or twice, until a small knife slips into the thickest part of a tentacle with only a little resistance. Do not salt it. The octopus gives its own briny liquid. Lift it out, strain and reserve 300ml of the cooking liquid, then cut the octopus into generous 4cm pieces.

   If the pot dries before the octopus is tender, add a small splash of hot water. Don't drown it at the start, or you wash out the flavor you need for the beans.
4. 4

   Start the sauce

   Heat 110ml of the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrot, and 4g of the salt, then cook for about 12 minutes until the vegetables soften and smell sweet. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, paprika or boukovo, oregano, and black pepper for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and 250ml of the reserved octopus liquid. Simmer 10 minutes, until the sauce looks glossy and no longer raw.

5. 5

   Fill the tapsi

   Heat the oven to 180C. Put the drained beans and cut octopus into a 32cm tapsi or deep baking dish and pour the tomato sauce over them. Add enough reserved bean cooking liquid to come almost level with the beans, usually 250 to 350ml. Taste the liquid before adding the last 2g of salt, because the octopus may have done the work already. Drizzle over the remaining 50ml olive oil.

6. 6

   Bake until glossy

   Bake uncovered for 60 to 75 minutes, shaking the dish gently once halfway through, until the beans are creamy, the octopus is tender, and the tomato sauce clings instead of running. The top should be burnished in places, with little green-gold beads of oil at the edges. If the dish dries before the beans finish, add a ladle of hot bean liquid, not cold water.

   A dry oven makes tough beans. Keep the liquid just under the surface until the final stretch, then let the sauce tighten.
7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Rest the dish for 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Scatter with parsley and bring it to the table warm, not boiling hot, with country bread and bitter greens if you have them. It is even better the next day, when the beans have drunk the octopus and tomato properly.

Chef Tips

• •Use real dried gigantes from a recent crop if you can, especially Prespes. If you can't find them, choose large dried white lima beans from a shop that sells through stock quickly. Canned beans are for another day. Here they collapse before the tomato and octopus have done their work.
• •Frozen octopus is not a disgrace. In many Greek kitchens it's preferred because freezing helps tenderize it. What I avoid is pre-cooked octopus packed in brine, which tastes flat and gives you no cooking liquid for the sauce.
• •Salt late. Octopus can be mild or fiercely salty, depending on where it came from and how it was handled. Taste its cooking liquid before you season the baking dish.
• •For a strict fast, cook this on a day when oil and wine are permitted, or use water instead of wine. The old calendar is precise. It has no need for our improvisations.
• •This dish wants bread, horta vrasta, and maybe a few olives. Not a salad crowded with everything in the drawer. Λίγα και καλά, a few things, and good ones.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the beans 12 hours ahead; the dish depends on it.
• •The octopus can be braised 1 day ahead. Chill it in its strained cooking liquid, then cut it before baking.
• •The finished dish keeps well for 3 days in the refrigerator. Warm it gently, covered, with a splash of water or reserved bean liquid if the sauce has tightened too much.
• •For the best make-ahead version, bake it fully the day before, cool it, and reheat it until glossy. Beans are patient food.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)