Octopus in the Pot – polenta, tomato sauce and a Croatian fishermen's story

Octopus in the Pot is a house special at Oli Mare, priced at €27.00 per person, and a dish that pays tribute to the fishing families of the Croatian coast.

On the Croatian coast it was said that good polenta was worth as much as a good catch. While the octopus simmered slowly in a rich tomato sauce, the whole family would gather around the table waiting for the aromas coming from the pot. It is from moments like these that one of the best-loved dishes of Croatian fishermen's tradition was born.

We cook the octopus slowly, for hours, until it turns completely tender, in a sauce of ripe tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, onion and red wine. It is served with baked polenta that soaks up the sauce and gives the dish the fullness only home cooking can achieve.

This is a dish for guests in Poreč who are looking for authentic Istrian and Dalmatian tradition rather than a tourist version of Mediterranean cuisine. We recommend pairing it with Teran or a lighter Istrian red that matches the sweetness of the tomato and the depth of the octopus.

In honour of that story, those flavours and generations of fishing families, we created our Octopus in the Pot – a dish we cook with patience, because patience was the main ingredient of the original recipe too.