Octopus salad is a fresh and refined appetizer or main course, perfect for summer or any occasion when you want to bring the scent of the sea to the table. Prepared with boiled octopus, potatoes, fresh parsley, Extra Virgin OliveOlive Oil and lemon juice, this recipe combines simplicity and flavor in a light and balanced dish.
Great served cold, it is ideal for summer dinners, elegant appetizers or buffets. Find out how to make a soft and flavorful octopus salad, with all the tricks for perfect cooking.
1. Clean the octopus by removing eyes, guts and rostrum. Rinse it very well under running water. Beat it lightly with a meat tenderizer.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Take the octopus by the head and dip the tentacles into the boiling water a few seconds 3 times in a row. Once the tentacles have curled, place the octopus on a plate.
3. Rinse the pot and fill it with cold water with a teaspoon of salt. Completely submerge the octopus in it with the head down. Once it starts boiling, cover with a lid and let it cook for about half an hour. Turn off the heat and let the octopus cook in its own water (without removing the lid).
4. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes (previously washed and cut into chunks) for about 20 minutes. Then blanch them in a pan for 10 minutes.
5. When the octopus is cooked (it will take about 1 hour in all), transfer it to a cutting board and, when cold, cut it into pieces.
6. Combine octopus, potatoes, and vegetables (previously boiled chopped) and tomatoes cut into wedges in a salad bowl. Add Extra Virgin Olive Olive Oil , adjust salt and pepper and add a pinch of sweet paprika and toss to combine. Serve at room temperature.
With fresh octopus it's a whole different story!
You can find frozen octopus in supermarkets, but for our octopus and potato salad we recommend you choose thefresh one, as it has a more intense flavor (that "sea" taste that in frozen specimens is unfortunately somewhat lost), and that typical texture, almost crispy and never chewy.
Remember that a really fresh octopus can be recognized because:
It has very vivid colors
It is tenacious and elastic to the touch
It is covered with a glossy patina
Before cooking it, remember togently beat itwith a meat tenderizer to soften the fibers. As for cooking, you can calculate 50 to 60 minutes per kilo of octopus.
Octopus salad, seared potatoes and more...
To make it tastier, we decided to addgreen beans, zucchiniandtomatoes to our octopus and potato salad as well.
As for the potatoes, once washed and cut into pieces, we recommend that you blanch them in water for 20 minutes, thenmash them in a frying pan with a drizzle ofOliveOlive OiloliveOlive Oilfor 10 minutes (they will form a very good crust).
The protagonist of our recipe is not only the octopus, but also theExtra VirginOliveOlive Oil , which manages to give the dish the finishing touch and tie all the ingredients together very well.
We used theExtra Virgin OliveOlive Oil Il Casolare Fruttato Intenso, characterized by a strong flavor reminiscent of freshly pressed olives, ideal for enriching the flavor of octopus without covering it.
