Octopus in Paprika Sauce

Lota is a Canadian conservas brand canned in Portugal — a project built on the craft tradition of the Iberian canning industry and a Canadian vision for bringing premium preserved seafood to a North American audience. This tin is one of the most distinctly Portuguese preparations in the Lota range: octopus in paprika sauce, a combination deeply rooted in the seafood cooking of the Atlantic coast.

Octopus is one of the great ingredients of Portuguese cuisine — eaten grilled, braised, stewed, and preserved throughout the country, particularly in the coastal regions where it is pulled from the rocky Atlantic beds. In this tin, the octopus is packed in a sunflower oil-based sauce with paprika and spices: the paprika adding its characteristic warmth, sweetness, and the faintly smoky depth that defines so much of the Iberian kitchen. The result is a preparation that is rich and savoury, with the tender texture of properly preserved octopus and a sauce that is genuinely worth eating — good over rice, mopped up with bread, or used as a base for a quick warm dish.