Baby octopus salad
Ingredients for 4 persons (8 as starter/tapa)
- 1 kg baby octopus
- sea salt
- ground pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 onions, peeled
- 2 cloves
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1/2 fennel bulb
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp sherry or balsamic vinegar
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 75 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 slices of bread
- light olive oil for frying
Preparation: Heat a large saucepan of salted water until boiling. Add the octopus, onion -studded with the cloves- and bay. Bring back to the boil and leave to simmer on a medium heat for 15 minutes until tender. Remove from the pan and leave the octopus to cool on a plate. Discard the onion and bay.
Dice the other onion and add to a large bowl. Core and wash the peppers, then dice and add to the bowl. Add the fennel (trimmed and diced) and garlic (finely chopped). Add the octopus, vinegar, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Before serving, remove the crusts from the bread slices, dice them and fry on a thin layer of olive oil until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
Presentation: If served as a main, place the salad on individual plates, scatter some croûtons on each and serve right away. For tapas, place on a serving tray on the table and provide a large spoon and small dish per person.
Cooking tip: Baby octopus is available frozen from large supermarkets. This salad can also be prepared using the head of the large octopus used to prepare Pulpo a la gallega.
About this dish: This is a contemporary recipe, inspired by a trend towards healthier options and new forms of using traditional ingredients. The base pepper-based medley is known as a vinagreta (vinaigrette) and typically appears as accompaniment to fish fillets or mussels. This recipe turns the role of vinagreta on its head, turning it into the main attraction and almost relegating the octopus to a supporting role.
Curiosity: Baby octopus has traditionally not been available in Spain. The massive success of the Pezqueñines no gracias (small fish? no thanks!) campaign in the early 80s avoided the country adopting the worldwide trends for bite-size marine delicacies. Recently however, economic development and openness to the world has finally introduced these new varieties and spawned recipes like this salad to blend them into Spanish traditional cooking.
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