Best Spanish Recipes

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Ingredients for 8 persons

• 1 frozen octopus, thawed
• 2 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tbsp paprika
• sea salt

Preparation: Heat a large saucepan of salted water until boiling. Add the whole octopus, onion -studded with the cloves- and bay. Bring back to the boil and leave to simmer on a medium heat for 45 minutes until tender but still firm. Remove from the pan and leave to cool on a plate.

Heat a saucepan of salted water until boiling. Peel the potatoes and slice them in 1 cm slices. Add to the saucepan and boil until quite tender. Transfer to a strainer and let dry.
Remove and reserve the head from the octopus. Slice the tentacles into 2 cm slices.

Presentation: Place a layer of warm boiled potato slices on a serving plate and cover with the octopus slices. Spoon over some virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika, some sea salt and serve at once, next to some good bread.

Pulpo is often presented on a large wooden serving plate. It can also be presented in individual wooden plates.

Cooking tip: Look for an octopus with 2 parallel lines of suckers along its tentacles. The single-line variety is less suited to being used for this dish.

As the head is not used, you’ll need a large octopus with chunky tentacles for this dish. The head can be used on a cold salad or a rice dish.

You can add a bit of glamour to this dish and achieve a richer texture by confiting the octopus before serving. For this, heat up some 3 cm of oil in a pan until warm (about 80°C). Add the octopus to this warm oil and cook for 5 minutes on a steady heat. Serve immediately, using the oil from the pan when spooning over the dish.

About this dish: Pulpo a la gallega means Octopus Galician style. This preparation originates in Galicia, Spain’s far northwest corner, famed by its fresh fish and shellfish, where it is knows as pulpo a feira (octopus holiday style).

Pulpo a la gallega is often consumed as tapas, a large dish of octopus at the centre of the table surrounded by other tapas dishes for all to share. It can also be consumed as a light main at lunchtime. On hot summer days the potatoes are left out and the cool octopus is spooned with warm olive oil to create a refreshing, lukewarm delicacy.

Curiosity: Although widely available at tapas bars all over Spain, pulpo is most often consumed at home. The ease of preparation, relatively expensive nature of pulpo at bars’ price lists and the fact that microwave reheating positively spoils this dish means that many spaniards prefer not to risk it at the local bar and cook it at home when friends or family visit. the exception is Galicia, where the recipe originates and excellent quality pulpo is always available at every bar.

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