Octopus with green beans
Fresh beans with octopus is a summer food that is common on Mount Athos and is considered Sunday or festive. It is a delicious and wholesome dish based on the careful gathering of the pure ingredients by the monks and the execution with patience and care. Read bellow the authentic monks recipe of the head chef of Mount Athos, monk Epifanios, and make your own oily beans with octopus and fresh tomato sauce.
We clean the octopus well, wash it and put it in a pot to boil for about 50 minutes until it softens.
We drain the octopus, cut it into small pieces and set it aside for later.
We clean the beans, removing the fibers and if there are very large beans, we cut them in half.
We clean the garlic onions, wash them and chop them.
We grated the tomatoes on a grater.
We put olive oil in a pan and fry the onions on a low heat.
Then, we add the beans and mix 1-2 times.
We add 2 glasses of water and the garlic to the pan.
We salt the food, cover the pan and let the ingredients boil for half an hour.
Then, we add the grated tomatoes, octopus pieces, parsley and pepper to the pan.
We let our food boil on a low heat until its liquids are saved, shaking the pan every now and then so that it doesn't stick.
If we don't have fresh green beans we can also use frozen.
We never stir the food so it doesn't dissolve. We just shake the pot here and there.
If we don't have traditional monastic pan we can use a wide pod, preferably non-stick.
