Jersey Octopus Ceviche

Made with octopus caught in Channel Islands waters, this tender Jersey Octopus Ceviche is the perfect tart and spicy dish for a bright hot summer day. 

If you read my grilled octopus post a couple of weeks ago, you’ll know that our favorite eight-legged sea creatures have become quite a menace for folks in these islands that capture crabs and lobsters to sell as their livelihood. An octopus can easily get inside the cages and eat the entire catch! 

So, as suggested by our local newspaper, we are trying to eat more octopus! It’s great in a risotto but frankly, we just love it grilled with a squeeze of lemon.

I actually made this ceviche with leftover grilled octopus from that previous recipe but you can use cooked octopus bought vacuum-packed in a grocery store. If you are stateside or live in the UK, Costco carries it as well in the refrigerated section near the meat counter.

Jersey Octopus Ceviche

My three limes were fat and juicy so they yielded about 1/2 cup or 120ml of juice, which nicely covered the sliced onions and chopped chili pepper. Use more if your limes aren’t as productive, juice-wise. This recipe serves two generously.

Ingredients

1/2 medium purple onion

1 red chili pepper

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 limes (or more if your limes aren’t juicy)

small bunch cilantro plus extra for garnish, if desired

7 oz or 200g cooked octopus

Method

Peel and finely slice the onion, finely chop the chili pepper and cut the octopus in bite-sized pieces. 

Put the onion, chili pepper and salt in a bowl that will eventually hold all of your ingredients. Cover and refrigerate the octopus. 

Pick the hard stems off of the cilantro and discard them. Tender stems are fine. 

Rinse the cilantro with cool water and spin to dry. Don’t skip this crucial step. No one wants grit in their ceviche. 

Chop it finely and set aside. 

Juice the limes into a separate bowl and discard any seeds.

Pour the juice into the onion bowl. Give it a little stir then cover and leave to macerate until you are about half an hour from serving. If it’s longer than a couple of hours, you can refrigerate the mixture. 

About half an hour before serving, stir the octopus and cilantro into the onion bowl, making sure the octopus is well coated with the marinade. 

Set aside to marinate for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir again to serve and garnish with a little more cilantro, if desired. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 15th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Cranberry Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Orange Chocolate Cake 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Orzo with Parmesan and Basil 
• Food Lust People Love: Jersey Octopus Ceviche 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Overnight Oats 
• Blogghetti: Easy White Chocolate Covered Oreos 
• A Messy Kitchen: Citrus Marinated Chicken 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Orange Avocado Salad 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sheet Pan Italian Olive Oil Summer Vegetables
• Culinary Cam: Octopus: Takoyaki, a Japanese Snack Food
• Magical Ingredients: Onion Oaxaca Dip

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche – this post! 

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Pecan Pie Brownies

Chewy fudgy brownie on the bottom with pecan pie filling on top, these pecan pie brownies start with store-brought brownie mix. They disappear in a flash and are super easy to bake!

A couple of years ago my mom was living with us on hospice care and I wanted invite her sister and nephews and their families over for Sunday lunch, to have a little time chatting and laughing together while Mom could still appreciate it. 

The main part of the menu was simple to decide. We are a Cajun family so I made an immense pot of gumbo and a potato salad. Two of Mom’s favorites. Our beverage was something my maternal grandmother often served, pink lemonade with crushed pineapple, a great childhood memory for me and my cousins. 

I am usually all about baking things from scratch but time was precious so I started thinking about ways to fancy up a brownie mix. Back to my Cajun roots again, I had the brilliant, and I thought novel idea, to top it with pecan pie filling. Like many of my “original” ideas, a quick Google search found 11,900,000 results (0.24s) for that very thing. 

So these may not be the first pecan pie brownies you’ve ever seen, but I promise they are delicious. 

Pecan Pie Brownies

The ingredient list below calls for one boxed brownie mix along with the other ingredients listed on the box. I use the 16.3 oz Betty Crocker fudge mix so I’ve listed the other ingredients as well. Your box mix may call for something different. Please read the box and mix as instructed.

Ingredients

For the brownie base:

1 9×9 size boxed brownie mix (Betty Crocker fudge mix, see note above.)

1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoons water

For the pecan pie topping:

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup or 120ml corn syrup

1 cup or 200g brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups, chopped, or 175g pecans

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a 9X9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. 

Prepare the brownie mix as directed on the box. 

Stir by hand, just until mixed. Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.

Bake the brownies for half of the recommended baking time plus 5 additional minutes to begin. 

While the brownies are baking, prepare the pecan pie topping. In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. 

Then whisk in the eggs. 

After eggs are mixed in thoroughly, stir in the chopped pecans. 

When the `brownies are done with their baking time of “half the recommended, plus five minutes” pull them out. If they still look wet and completely uncooked, return them to the oven for 3-5 minutes, then check again. While they won’t be fully cooked, the top should be starting to set up. I baked mine for 25 minutes. The top was just looking set and shiny at 23 so I left it in another two minutes to make sure. 

Pour the pecan pie topping evenly over the brownies.

Place the brownies, with pecan pie topping, back into the oven and continue baking for an additional 30-35 minutes. The top should be set before you remove the pan from the oven. If it still jiggles, leave it in for another few minutes.

Allow brownies to cool completely on a cooling rack. Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Or if you are in a hurry, you can chill in the refrigerator first. 

These pecan pie brownies are very sweet and rich! Cut them into small pieces to serve. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with my favorite nut, the pecan, in honor of National Pecan Pie Day yesterday. Many thanks to our host, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures. Check out the links below.

• Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pecan Pie by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Creamy Mixed Green Salad with Apple & Pecans by Sneha's Recipe
• German Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Coconut Pecan Icing by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pain de Pecan by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pecan Pie Brownies by Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread #BreadBakers

A slightly sweet tender loaf, this steamed cranberry pecan honey bread is wonderful sliced, even better toasted, buttered or not. We loved it all the ways! 

When this month’s Bread Baker’s host proposed “steamed breads” as our theme for July, I thought, excellent! No turning the oven on when it’s roasting outside. 

Gently steaming something on the stovetop sounded ideal.

A lot of the recipes I found online were either Asian in origin, or called for steaming in a coffee can. It just so happens that I have a couple of coffee cans saved for exactly such an occasion. Just not where I currently am! And rare is the coffee that comes in a can these days. 

Time to adapt. You can steam this in a well-oiled 1 lb coffee can or use a small loaf pan like I have. Mine is 8 1/2 X 4 1/4 in or 21.6 x 10.8cm. 

Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread

You can easily switch out the cranberries and pecans for other dried fruits and nuts. This very versatile recipe is adapted from one on Mother Earth News. 

Ingredients

2/3 cup or 95g fine yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup or 83g all-purpose flour

1/3 cup or 40g whole wheat flour

1/3 cup or 25g bran flakes, slightly crushed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg

3/4 cup or 180ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml honey

1/3 cup or 55g dried cranberries, plus extra for topping, if desired

1/3 cup or 40g chopped pecans, plus extra for topping, if desired

Canola or other light oil for greasing the loaf pan

Method

Combine the cornmeal, the flours, the bran flakes, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl. 

Give the cranberries and pecans a quick splash of water and stir them well to dampen. 

Toss them in the dry mixture to coat. This should help them not all sink to the bottom as the loaf steams. 

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and honey. Keep whisking until the honey is completely dissolved. 

Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan. Top with extra cranberries and pecans, if using. 

Then cover the pan with foil, set it on a steamer basket or metal cookie cutters inside a large pot with just enough water in the pot to submerge the bottom the pan.

Bring the water to a boil. 

Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for two hours. Check the pot now and then to make sure that all the water isn’t boiling away. Add a little hot tap water as needed.

At the end of the steaming period, remove the pan from the pot and carefully remove the foil. 

When it’s cool enough to handle–run a knife around the inside and turn the loaf out gently onto a wire rack to cool. 

When completely cool, slice to serve.

The sliced bread is delicious spread with cream cheese, butter or just plain!

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month – kind of snuck up on me this month since July 1st was a Tuesday! – and that means it’s time for our Bread Bakers group to share their recipes for steamed breads. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the links below 

• Bao Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Dessert Bao (Chocolate Steamed Buns) from A Messy Kitchen
• Keto Chinese Steamed Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Paczki na Parze (Polish Steamed Donuts) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Buns {Sheng Jian Bao) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread! 

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