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Recipe

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Nornie Bero's confit octopus with native chimichurri

Prep time: 
10
Cook time: 
90
Skill level: 
Medium
Serves: 
6
Plated confit octopus topped with native chimichurri, served on a pink dish with fresh herbs on the side.

The native chimichurri really is a perfect match for the soft and tender confit octopus. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Alice Zaslavsky is the host of A Bite To Eat with Alice, weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV and anytime on ABC iview. Alice is the resident culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, a food literacy advocate, bestselling cookbook author, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of veg into the curriculum.

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Alice is joined in the kitchen by Nornie Bero, who shares a truly special dish — her confit octopus with native chimichurri. Known for celebrating fresh, local and native ingredients, Nornie showcases how simple yet deeply flavourful Australian bush foods can be. 

Raw octopus tentacles in a bowl, ready for cooking.

Fresh octopus should be firm, glossy, and have a slight ocean scent. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Fresh saltbush and warrigal greens in a woven basket on a wooden surface.

Native greens in full glory — saltbush and warrigal greens bring a bold, earthy flavour to this vibrant chimichurri. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

This dish is a labour of love, slow-poaching octopus in aromatic olive oil with fennel, garlic and native spices to create a melt-in-your-mouth texture. It's then grilled to develop a smoky char, before being topped with a bright and zesty native chimichurri made with saltbush, warrigal greens, and pepperberries. 

Octopus poaching in olive oil with herbs in a baking dish.

Despite appearances, this dish is really as simple as whacking it in a tray, and popping it into the oven. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

A true showcase of native Australian flavours, this dish highlights the beauty of cooking with local ingredients, while delivering restaurant-quality results at home.

Cooked octopus confit in olive oil with herbs and aromatics in a baking dish.

The octopus shrinks as it slow-cooks, intensifying its flavour and creating melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Native chimichurri made with fresh herbs in a mortar and pestle.

A bold, herb-packed native chimichurri, featuring Australian ingredients like saltbush and warrigal greens. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Tips
  • Wash the octopus thoroughly to remove any stickiness from the suckers.
  • Save the leftover oil: Store it in an airtight container and use it as a seafood-infused oil for other dishes.
  • Pepperberry is sometimes called mountain berry in supermarkets, so keep an eye out for both names.
  • Seal the foil tightly over the dish to trap heat and ensure the octopus poaches evenly.
  • Saltbush has a flavour similar to oregano, making it a great native herb to cook with.
  • Gently mix the greens in the mortar instead of bruising them, to preserve their fresh flavour.
  • The octopus can be confited the day before and left in the fridge overnight, making prep easier.

Here’s the full list of recipes from Season 2 of A Bite To Eat With Alice.

This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show on ABC iview and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV.

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Nornie Bero's confit octopus with native chimichurri

Prep time: 
10
Cook time: 
90
Skill level: 
Medium
Serves: 
6

Ingredients

Native chimichurri 

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 190°C fan-forced (200°C conventional). 
  2. In a bowl, combine the octopus and salt, wash and rinse well. 
  3. Place fennel tops, pepperberries, tarragon, garlic, shallots and chili in a baking tray. Top with octopus and cover with olive oil. Place baking paper on top and cover with foil. Place in the oven to poach for 1 hour. 
  4. Once cooked, remove the octopus from oil and place into an ice bath to cool. Slice and grill on each side until golden brown.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare the warrigal and saltbush chimichurri. Combine the warrigal greens, saltbush, coriander and chili in a bowl. Add the olive oil, then the vinegar and oregano, and season with pepperberry and salt.
  6. To serve, top the grilled octopus with native chimichurri. 
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