Category Archives: Pickled food

Pickled Octopus

We put the crab pot out to try and catch crabs while moored in Fame Cove, Port Stephens NSW. No luck with crabs but we didn’t go away empty handed, we did get an octopus.

Pickled Octopus
Octopus caught in the crab trap.

One of our favourite happy hour nibbles is pickled octopus, so we set to work making it.

Dwayne’s first job is to get it out of the net; I just can’t handle the thought of it wrapping it’s tentacles around my arms (which it does!).

The Octopus

octopus
Octopus

Dwayne prepares it by removing it’s head and the skin , then cutting it into individual tentacles.

Removing the octopus skin.
Removing the octopus skin.

I place the tentacles into a pot and put it on the lowest possible heatĀ (adding no water). I simmer the octopus for about 30 minutes. The pot fills with liquid as the octopus simmers.

Pickled octopus

When cooked I slice the octopus into bite-size pieces and place them in a container with one part white vinegar, one part sweet spiced vinegar, half a packet of pickling spice mix, a pinch of chilli flakes and a slice onion. Then refrigerate it!

Pickle octopus ready to refrigerate.
Pickle octopus ready to refrigerate.

When I serve the octopus I place it in a serving dish and drizzle it with a little olive oil, yum.

Pickled Octopus
Pickled Octopus ready to serve.

Check out ourĀ Pickled Octopus Salad with Lime Aioli

 

Pickled Marlin (Numus)

Sailing between Port Stephens and Coffs Harbour in NSW we caught a blue marlin. It was amazing! After two hours of reeling him in and letting him run, the game finally ended with us the victors and a freezer full of marlin. Read about The Marlin!

Dwayne's Marlin
We have 55 bags of frozen marlin steaks, around ten bags of belly flaps and other off cuts to use in curries, pies etc and with the last of the meat that we got off the marlin (the scraps on the bones), I made pickled marlin.

Pickled Marlin

I boiled white vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, fennel and coriander seeds, peppercorns, garam masala and chilli. I added sliced onion to the vinegar mix after I had taken it off the heat. I then set the vinegar and onions aside for about 1 hour until the mix hadĀ cooled. The final step was to simply addĀ the marlin. Viola! Pickled marlin.

Spices, vinegar and raw marlin

Ready to eat pickled marlin
Pickled marlin ready to eat.

Marlin Numus

For this pickled fish, I simply mixed white vinegar, soy, lime juice, chilli, garlic and brown sugar. I then layered the marlin and sliced onion in a container and poured the vinegar mix over it. Done and very delicious if I do say so myself!

Pickled marlin with chilli

Delicious pickled marlin with chilli.
Marlin Numus ready to eat.