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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Lobster Butter

Made with equal parts roe and butter, along with the creamy fat, if desired, this lobster butter is a deliciously rich savory spread for bread, crackers or toast.

A couple of years ago, at a huge book sale held in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind – Jersey, I bought a little paperback called, The New Channel Island Cook Book. It is a wealth of knowledge (albeit a bit dated, published in 1989) about local produce with all sorts of recipes from the ubiquitous Jersey Royal potatoes to a fruit I’d never heard of called babaco which was reputedly imported from Ecuador and is similar to papaya.

Apparently, back then, they were hoping that as tomato farming was winding down due to competition from growers abroad, babaco production would pick up some of that slack. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. 

From what I can discern, babaco is still grown in the Channel Islands but there are only a few plants that still produce the fruit in Guernsey. In fact, maybe it was only ever grown there.

Another ingredient I was unfamiliar with is calabrese. Turns out this is a variety of what we call broccoli these days and the stalks were peeled and eaten! As they should be. I will never understand people who cut the broccoli stalks off and discard them. They can be tough on the outside but are delicious on the inside, either cooked or raw. 

Quite a few of the recipes include seafood, understandable since it's an island cookbook, so when I lucked into a boiled lobster a while back, I started perusing its pages. I came across a very simple recipe for a part of the lobster I must confess I usually discard, the roe or eggs. What a waste! From now on, I’ll be making lobster butter.

Lobster Butter

The ingredient amounts will naturally depend on the size of your cooked lobster. This is where a kitchen scale comes in handy. Weigh the roe and any fat you will be using, then measure an equal weight in butter. 

Ingredients

Roe from a cooked lobster or the roe and the fat 

An equal quantity of butter

Method

Weigh the lobster portion of the ingredients. The roe weighed 48g and the fat weighed an additional 11g.

Add the roe and fat and an equal amount of cold butter (59g, in this case) to your mortar. 

Mash together until smooth. 

As you can see, I used the back of a spoon instead of my pestle. This takes a bit of time and persistence, but it's worth it! Isn't it a gorgeous color?

Serve with crackers, toast or slices of nice crusty bread.  A cold glass of a dry white wine goes nicely! 

Freeze any leftovers rolled up in a baggie or cling film to create a sliceable log for later.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 12th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter L. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the L recipes below:

• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Lychee Martini
• A Messy Kitchen: Lemongrass Chicken and Asparagus
• Food Lust People Love: Lobster Butter
• Culinary Cam: Enamored with Culinary Lavender: From Sips to Sweets
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Lemon Pudding Cookies
• Magical Ingredients: Lentil Lasagna Dip
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Lobia Paneer Salad
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Preserved Lemons
• Sneha’s Recipe: Besan Almond Ladoo
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Chickpea Salad with Lemony Swiss Chard Pesto
• Palatable Pastime: Tahdig Lubia Polo

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 – this post! 

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Baked Salmon Potato Croquettes

Crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, these tasty baked salmon potato croquettes are served with tangy lemon garlic mayo. Great as a main or appetizer.

Whenever I have leftover mashed potatoes, I like to make some form of croquette. Sometimes I add a protein like chopped ham or fish and sometimes, I just add a little cheese and egg to make potatoes patties. 

Leftover mashed potatoes are so versatile and go with just about anything. I’ve even been known to add them to quiche filling! These salmon potato croquettes are probably my favorite.

Baked Salmon Potato Croquettes

These can be made with any cooked fish, even canned tuna, preferably albacore tuna in water. Just drain it well! 

Ingredients for about 30 croquettes

For the salmon potato croquettes:

1 fresh salmon fillet, 10 oz or 284g

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

2 red chili peppers

6 green onion tops

1 1/2 lbs or 700g leftover mashed potatoes

2 eggs

Zest 1 lemon

1 - 1 1/2 cups or 70-105g panko 

For the lemon garlic mayo:

3/4 cup or 160g mayonnaise

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, optional

Method

Use a sharp knife to remove the skin from the salmon fillet. Season the fillet well with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Add a drizzle of olive oil to your skillet and pan-fry the salmon for about two minutes each side over a high heat. 

Cover the pan, turn the stove off and leave the salmon to finish cooking for another 4-5 minutes. Ideally, your fish should reach 140°F or 60°C internally, on an instant read thermometer. 

Remove from the pan and set aside to cool. 

Meanwhile, mince the red chili peppers and green onion tops.

Use two forks to flake the salmon. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix the leftover mashed potatoes, eggs, flaked salmon, minced chili peppers and green onion tops, along with the zest of 1 lemon.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare your baking pan by greasing it with a little olive oil and/or lining it with a silicone liner. 

To make the lemon garlic mayo, mix together the mayonnaise, garlic and lemon. Stir well to combine. 

Add the cayenne and stir again. 

Set aside while you make the croquettes. 

Put 1 cup or 70g of the panko in a large mixing bowl. Use a small scoop or a soup spoon to scoop out small golf ball sized portions of the potato croquette mixture into the panko. 

Coat the pieces with panko and use your hands to form round balls. 

Remove the croquettes to your prepared baking pan. 

Continue the process with the rest of the mixture, until all of the croquettes are ready to bake, adding more panko to your bowl, if necessary. 

Since it was only two of us at home that day, I baked just nine to eat for dinner, with a garden salad. I baked the rest the next day to take them up to my mother-in-law’s. Cover any you aren’t baking right away with cling film and refrigerate until ready to bake. Ditto with the lemon garlic mayo.

Bake the croquettes for 15-17 minutes in your preheated oven, or until golden on the outside and hot in the middle. You can turn on broil the last couple of minutes for more color, if desired. 

Serve with the lemon garlic mayo.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today my blogger friends are sharing recipes made with seafood. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the links below. 

• Baked Salmon Potato Croquettes from Food Lust People Love
• Fried Prawn Masala from Sneha’s Recipe
• Pissaladière from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp Dip from A Day in the Life on the Farm 

 

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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Crab Rangoon Ravioli

Fresh sheets of egg pasta filled with crabmeat, cream cheese, chives and garlic make the most succulent crab Rangoon ravioli! Serve simply buttered or with the sauce of your choice.  

We don’t eat out very often since I love to cook and my husband has gotten pretty good at it himself, since he started taking turns during the recent pandemic. One place we do like to go is a Chinese buffet that has wonderful sticky ribs and crispy shell on shrimp. It also serves my late sister's favorite, crab Rangoon, crunchy deep-fried wonton wrappers filled with cream cheese and crab. 

Crab and cream cheese are a delightful mixture but I'm not big on deep frying at home so when I had leftover crab a while back filling ravioli to boil seemed like much a better idea.

This is a dish that takes time to make but homemade ravioli dough is so worth it. And the filling is super easy to make! It’s special enough for either the main course at an intimate dinner party, or like fancy Italian restaurants do, you can serve just three or four per person in shallow bowls, as your starter. 

Crab Rangoon Ravioli

This recipe makes about 24 ravioli but is easily doubled. After making and filling the ravioli, any scraps of pasta can be cut into noodles and refrigerated to be boiled for another dish, another day. I used my leftovers in a stir-fry. This recipe was adapted from one on Thailand 1 Dollar Meals.

Ingredients  

For the egg pasta dough:

1 1/2 - 1 2/3 cups or 187.5- 208g tipo 00 flour (plus extra for rolling out the pasta)

1 egg 

1 egg yolk (save white for filling)

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the filling:

Small bunch chives

1 clove garlic

4 3/4 oz or 135g cream cheese

3/4 cup, lightly packed, or 130g crabmeat

1 egg white (saved from making the egg dough)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

For serving:

Pasta sauce of your choice or simply melted butter and garlic

Parmesan cheese, grated

Extra chives for garnish

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Method

In large bowl, combine 3/4 cup or 94g flour, 1/4 cup or 60ml water and remaining dough ingredients. With mixer at slow speed, beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Using a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. I start with half and go from there. You may not use it all. 

Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Wrap in cling film and let stand at least 30 minutes. (After the 30 minutes, refrigerate the dough if you aren’t ready to assemble your ravioli yet.) 

While the dough rests, we can get on to the ravioli filling. It couldn’t be simpler. 

Finely chop the chives and mince the garlic. 

Mix all the ingredients together well in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Once the dough has rested, cut it in four equal pieces and remove one. Wrap the rest of the dough again with the cling film.

Flour the dough ball well and use a rolling pin or a pasta roller to roll it out quite thinly to the size of your ravioli plaque. Check out my original ravioli post to see my roller in action.

Flour your ravioli plaque liberally and lay the sheet of pasta on top. Fill each hole with about a teaspoon of the filling.

Using the second quarter of the dough and, following the same instructions, roll it out to the size of your ravioli plaque.

Use a pastry brush to wet the pasta on the plaque between the spoons of filling.

Carefully, starting at one end, lay the second sheet of pasta on top of the filled one, sticking the two sheets together and pressing out the air as you go along.

Turn the ravioli plaque over and let the filled pasta drop out onto your countertop. If it sticks, just gently pry it off.

Trim the ravioli around the edges and cut them apart.

Set them aside on a plate lined with cling film that has been well floured.

Continue the process until all the ravioli are rolled out, filled and cut apart. I put another layer of cling film and flour again with each layer of ravioli.

The ravioli should be stored in the refrigerator, covered with cling film until you are ready to boil them.

When you are ready to cook the ravioli, warm your sauce of choice or serve simply with some melted butter, perhaps with a little chopped garlic. 

When your sauce is simmering, if using, heat a pot of salted water to boiling. 

Add several ravioli at a time, using a slotted spoon being careful not to over-crowd the pot. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender.

Remove with a slotted spoon to the pan with the warmed sauce. As you can see, I added mine to a pan with just butter and garlic. 

Stir gently to coat then spoon into plates or bowls to serve. Top with grated Parmesan, crushed red chili pepper and some chopped chives for garnish, if desired.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing dinner party dishes! Check out the links below. 

• Anti-Hero Appetizers from Culinary Cam
• Banana Cream Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Black Eyed Peas Curry - Safed Lobia ka Salan from Sneha's Recipe
• Crab Rangoon Ravioli from Food Lust People Love
• Crockpot Pulled Pork with Ale from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mini Chicken Tostada Appetizers from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp, Papaya and Pineapple Salad from Palatable Pastime

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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