Octopus and Potato Salad

Cook Time 1 hour 15 mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

1 Stick celery roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 small onion roughly chopped
2-3 fresh bay leaves
1x 600g octopus well cleaned
400g potatoes
100ml extra virgin lemon oil
200 gms sea salt
1 tab finely chopped parsley
1 clove garlic finely chopped
Good splash white wine vinegar
1 lemon
1 long red chilli, finely sliced (seeds optional)
Mint leaves

Method

Put the celery, carrot, onion, bay leaves and sea salt in a large saucepan and add 2 litres of cold water and bring to the boil. Continue boiling for 15 minutes to make a broth.

Take the octopus by the head and plunge into the boiling stock for 30 seconds. Repeat this 3 times until the tentacles start to curl, then release the octopus into the broth. Add the potaotes to the put and cook on a medium boil for 45 minutes. Test by piercing the octopus with a knife. If it pierces easily then it’s ready if not then continue to cook. When it is cooked remove the octopus and the potatoes and set aside till it is cool enough to handle.

Reserve 250 mls of the liquid for the salad.

Chop the potatoes into 2cm pieces.

Pull each tentacle down lengthways, squeezing at the same time to remove the gelatine coating. Chop the flesh into 2 cm pieces.

Combine the octopus and potato in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add garlic, parsley, chilli, splash of vinegar and lemon oil. If a little dry add some cooking liquid.