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Ensalada de Pulpo a la Plancha –Grilled Octopus Salad

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Pulpo a la Planca

I have been debating a tangle with this ancient denizen of the deep for over a year now. Part of what I love so much about Spanish cuisine is its abundance of fruits from the sea with flavors teased out by the rich bounty of the soil. However, an octopus salad has to be built thoughtfully and with ample patience. The key to cooking octopus is consistency. Overcook it and you may as well be chewing gum. Cook it just right and you will enjoy the tender, juicy and flavorful gift of a slowly simmered, wine-infused octopus. I found myself in an experimental mood the other night when I discovered some fresh lentils and black-eyed peas that had never been dried and I decided that grilled octopus would be their perfect companion. With this Mark Bittman article as a guide and after consulting my friend from Japan who makes an amazing octopus appetizer, I dug right in.

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Ingredients:

Cooking the octopus

  • 1 pound of baby octopus, cleaned, heads on or a large 1 lb octopus
  • 3 cups water
  • 3 cups red wine
  • 1 large stalk celery, chopped (about ½ cup)
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped (about 2/3 cup)
  • 3 sprigs thyme
  • 1 small sprig rosemary
  • 1 bayleaf
  • 8 peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Marinade

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • juice of ½ large lemon
  • 1 heaping teaspoon fresh cilantro, minced
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • salt & pepper

For the Salad

  • 1/4 cup shaved fennel
  • 1/2 cup fresh red and green lentils, black eyed peas, green peas or chickpeas
  • 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted
  •  2 oz. dry chorizo, chopped 
  • 1 green pepper chopped, grilled
  • 1 handful of chilantro, chopped
  • juice of 1/4 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

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Directions:

Cooking the Octopi

Add the vegetables to the water and wine in a small stockpot. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and add your octopi/octopus. Make sure there is just enough liquid to cover the octopus. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Test for “doneness” first on the smallest of your octopi, picking one up with tongs and piercing the center with a skewer or meat thermometer. Mark’s article said that you want to feel the meat yield like a cooked potato, offering little resistance. That’s how you know when it’s done. Remove the smallest octopi first, testing larger octopi before removing them. You may refrigerate them overnight or proceed to marinate.

Adding the marinade

Remove the heads of the octopi/octopus. Combine the marinade ingredients. Put the octopi and marinade together in a zip-top bag or covered dish. Push the air from the bag before sealing if you use a bag. Marinate for a couple of hours, turning the combo frequently to ensure contact with the marinade.

Grill the Octopi

Preheat a grill to high heat. Remove the octopi from the marinade. Quickly grill each side of the octopi over very high heat. You are not cooking them. Rather, you just searing them to add grill marks and flavor to them. No more than 30-seconds to a minute each side on a raging hot grill. Cut up the octopus into manageable bites.

The Salad

Combine all of the raw peas and beans in a serving dish and lay the octopus right on top of the salad. Toss the octopus with the chickpeas, beans, chorizo and herbs. Drizzle the lemon and oil over the salad and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Comments

  3. Chica Andaluza

    Fantastic – this is exactly the sort of summer food we enjoy here! And you have a beautiful cazuela too 🙂 I agree with the cooking of octopus (and squid and cuttlefish) – either slow and gentle or fast and fierce. I’m waiitng for our fish lady to deliver one to me as I have seen a sort of ceviche recipe I want to try! Love all the peas and beans in the salad…perfect.

    • abrooke65

      Thanks. I imagine your octopi must be really fresh. In Spain and Portugal I’ve been lucky enough to witness the fisherman delicately “tenderize” the octopi by slamming them repeatedly against a rock or beating them with a stick. Maybe that helps with the fast and fierce method 🙂 I got my cazuelas from latienda.com Love them. Thanks for your comment!

      • Chica Andaluza

        Freezing them then cooking after defrosting them also tenderises them…can’t remember who taught me that but ut really works and is easier than beating them on a rock! Only works with fresh ones though 🙂

        • abrooke65

          LOL yes. That’s what it says in Mark Bittman’s article. I don’t even think you can get a fresh one around here so mine have been “pre-tenderized.”

      • Mad Dog

        I read that about freezing them too – I believe the Galicians have given up beating octopus in favour of the freezer theses days.

  4. tinywhitecottage

    I could not be more impressed by this recipe. I have had octopus as chewy as gum and tender and juicy (in Greece). And black eyed peas? I love them. This really is a fantastic recipe. So well thought out. First thing I thought….”more people need to see this!!” Genius.