Octopus with Mustard Greens and Rice

Directions

1. Rice cooks in slightly different times depending where you are, so check what it says on the container you buy your rice in.  Here in Rome, for instance, it takes 14 minutes. Rinse the rice in cold water in a sieve to get some of the starch off. Put the rice in a pan with a tight-fitting lid and cover with water the width of your thumb above the top of the rice.  Put this on a medium to low flame and put the lid on. Set the timer to 14 mins (in my case) and make sure it doesn't overflow when the water comes to the boil (otherwise you have a hard time calculating how much more water to add, how hot for how long , etc.). As soon as the timer pings turn off the flame but leave the lid on to let the rice steam a little longer. After five minutes take off the lid and separate the grains with a fork, perhaps stirring in a drop or two of olive oil
2. In a pan that is big enough to hold the whole octopus and the whole onion together with the lid fitting tight, place these two items. Put the pan over a medium flame. This is the scary bit as it seems as though the octopus will burn without any oil or liquid but in fact it starts to pour out its own liquid, as well as the onion, and starts to cook in it. You do have to watch this process (although the first time I didn't very well and it almost dried out) to make sure the liquid doesn't ever completely evaporate, so keep peeping in under the lid and regulate the temperature accordingly
3. After about 40/45 minutes the octopus should feel tender and be cut easily and the onion will have practically melted away into the liquid at the bottom of the pan.  If for some reason the liquid does evaporate add a bit of water so the animal doesn't have a chance to burn. Once it is cooked take the beast out of the pan and cut it up into bite sized pieces and reserve this on a plate
4. Reserve also any of the cooking liquid and mash up the pulpy onion in it
5. In a separate frying pan put 3 tablespoons of oil and bring up the temperature. When it is hot enough throw in the garlic in pieces and cook till it is golden. Remove two-thirds of the garlic and reserve on a plate
6. throw in the octopus pieces swiftly followed by the broccoli and mustard greens. Cook these thoroughly till they wilt down
7. add the rice, most of the chopped herbs, the liquid with the soft and squashy onion from the octopus, and a good  dash of extra virgin olive oi
8. Mix this all together and serve nice heaps in the middle of plates garnished with more herbs and some of the rest of your reserved golden garlic
9. Note for serving: as a bit of a texture fetishist I love to make chifles (fried plantains) and sprinkle them on the top, adding crunch to the whole experience, I have uploaded how to make these too