{"id":9498,"date":"2016-09-05T22:46:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T22:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=9498"},"modified":"2016-09-05T22:46:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T22:46:08","slug":"insalata-caprese-grilled-octopus-eggplant-mint-tomatoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=9498","title":{"rendered":"insalata caprese; grilled octopus; eggplant, mint, tomatoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"octopus_eggplant\"<\/p>\n

I know that the pleasure\u00a0of eating octopus, to say nothing of an interest in preparing it, isn’t something many people share with me, but I’m both really\u00a0fond of the taste,\u00a0and\u00a0continually\u00a0excited about how incredibly easy it is to prepare.<\/p>\n

I also love the color.<\/p>\n

Octopus can\u00a0be found on almost every coast on earth,\u00a0except our own, the northern western Atlantic. I would love to bring home\u00a0a local catch, but for the ones we enjoyed Sunday night, I\u00a0had\u00a0to travel to Spain (by way of lobster Place<\/a>) once\u00a0again.<\/p>\n

While these baby\u00a0cephalopods\u00a0came from Iberia,\u00a0polipetti <\/em>is in fact very Italian, <\/span>and virtually everything about this meal was also Italian, in fact\u00a0southern<\/em> Italian (and much of it really was\u00a0from<\/em> Italy): the cheese, the various tomatoes, the bread, the basil,\u00a0the olive oil, the oregano (fresh and dried), the lemon, the dried chilis,\u00a0the eggplant, the mint, and the dinner wine itself.<\/p>\n

\"eggplant_platter\"<\/p>\n

\"eggplant_Prosperosa\"<\/p>\n

I prepared the grilled heirloom eggplant and cherry tomatoes\u00a0ahead of time, even prior to assembling the\u00a0the first course,\u00a0serving both\u00a0at room temperature, in Italian tradition, after arranging them on this platter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The meal actually began with an\u00a0insalata Caprese<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"tomato_Caprese\"<\/p>\n