MY OCTOPUS APPETIZER over PLANTAIN TOSTONES or as a SALAD!

​I was born and grew up in Puerto Rico, a paradise island, where I learn to eat all kinds of seafood as a little girl; conch, oysters, crabs, sword fish, octopus and the such. We passed the tradition to our son, who as a boy could easily eat 1 dozen of oysters by the marina, where fisherman came with fresh oysters from the ocean and open them for him.  Therefore, when I find non-traditional seafood like octopus in the market, I buy it and run home to cook it to ease my cravings. Reminds me of my daddy, (who loved to fish as a hobby,) coming home with fresh octopus for me to cook it. Sweet!
 
Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: Under 30 minutes
Approximate Cost: $30.39 or $10.13 per serving
Difficulty Level:    X     Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced
Servings: 3 +
 
Ingredients
1 lb. of cooked octopus, cleaned and diced (Costco sells it) ($21.99)
1 small chopped onion (.40)
2 minced garlic (.15)
2 tbsp. chopped olives, drained and rinsed (.40)
¼ c. chopped roasted red peppers (.50)
1 chopped Jalapeno (.25)
Salt and pepper to taste (.10)
¼ c. extra virgin olive oil ($1.25)
1 lemon - juice of a large lemon (.50)
Red Hot sauce to taste (.20)
 
8 to 16 Tostones (or frozen plantains) ($2.00)
1/3 c. of olive oil to fry the plantains ($1.40)
1 avocado ($1.25)
 
Directions

1. The octopus is already cooked and clean, however, I like to rinse and pat dry it before dicing it in bite size pieces and place in a med-size bowl.
2. Chop the Chopped Onion, Garlic, Olives, roasted red peppers, and Jalapeno and add to the Octopus bowl.
3. Add the Olive oil, Salt and pepper to taste, lemon juice and some Red Hot sauce to taste. Stir it all well. Refrigerate while you prepare the plantains.
4. In a skillet with 1/3 c. of olive oil, fry the plantains until golden brown according to the package directions.
5. Slice the avocado and you are ready to plate as soon as all the plantains are done.