Cooking Octopus - Yummy!

 I love, love, love a soft, melts in your mouth, octopus. Yes, when it is soft and tender, you forget you are eating an eight legged slimy creature from the sea!  When cooked the right way, it shouldn't be a chore for your jaw, but a feast in your mouth.  Early this summer, a friend, Jacinto invited a whole bunch of us to learn how to make, one of my favorite dishes when I go tapa hoping, "Pulpo a feria", or "Pulpo a la Gallega".

Pulpo a feria, is octopus boiled and then chopped into pieces, sprinkled with extra virgin olive oil, and served over a bed of sliced potatoes.  Just thinking about it, makes my mouth melt, "se me hace la boca agua",  as one would say in Spanish.

Head down, legs over the head, and dunk 3 times.

Agua hierviendo y tiempo
 es lo que se necesita para cocinar un pulpo

Our teacher, Jacinto, told us to buy fresh pulpo, and to clean it really well with salt.  It seems the octopus, is covered by a sticky slime that helps it hide under the sand to fool its pray.  By the way, this slime, is how you can tell if the Pulpo is fresh. So to clean it, rub it with salt, and clean all dirt and slime, especially around the tentacles.  

Next, empty the contents of its body/head, and cut and throw away that little beak it has for a mouth.  Rinse it well with water, and leave the body whole.

Finally, freeze it for a day or two.  Why? This breaks the skin's cell walls to yield a softer tender meat.  The old fashion way, is quite messy.  Pick a corner of your patio and throw the eight legged creature as hard as you can against a wall.  Repeat this several times until you think it has softened enough. Good practice if you are a pitcher or want to release some stress, but I rather freeze it and forget about.

Thank God Jacinto had done all the prep for us, so we skipped the cleaning, freezing, and thawing steps.  

See how neatly the octopus looks with all the curled legs? 

It is done, and ready for cutting and serving.

Cuando se cocina el pulpo se debe de asustar 3 veces para que las patas se enrosquen.

Waiting for our Pulpo to cook.
Los comensales esperando al pulpo.

Pulpo a feria ingredients:  

1 Octopus
2 or 3 large potatoes, 
1 jar each of sweet and hot paprika powder, 
1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil, and 
coarse sea salt.
a large tile or flat weight that fits inside the pot (watch the video)

To cook the octopus:

In a large heavy pot, fill halfway with water and heat (make sure you leave room for octopus and potatoes), when it is at a rolling boil, quickly dunk (not drop) the octopus upside down, as in the above picture.  Head down and tentacles as if they were a wig on a head.  This has to be done quickly and traditionally 3 times.  Then release the octopus in the water. This is done, so the tentacles curl nicely inward for presentation purposes. 

We cooked 3 octopi in this large pot. Jacinto proceeded to drop several large whole potatoes in the water, but no salt was added. Next, place something heavy, like a tile on top of the octopi to weigh them down, and to keep all parts submerged.  

Close the lid and let it boil about 20 minutes before checking for doneness (check with a fork for tenderness in the thickest part of the octopus.  Where tentacles and head meet). It took 45 minutes total for our octopus to soften.  Don't forget to check the potatoes, they may cook first, and remove them when done.

Once the Octopus is tender, removed it from the heat and run it through cold water to stop the cooking process.  

With a pair of kitchen scissors cut the octopus' head in little pieces, and then slice the tentacles.  Peel and slice the potatoes add salt, and lay them first on the serving platter.  

Next, add the smaller octopus pieces first (head and tentacle tips) and finally the larger octopus slices on top.  

And for the final touch, Jacinto told us to drizzle the entire platter with EVO, so the seasoning can stick to the octopus.  Last, add salt to taste, and generously sprinkle both sweet and spicy paprika.  It is ready to eat. Yummy!

It really is very simple.

 A la verdad que no es tan difícil una vez que te lo explican

Had to try it before it went to the table.  Yep, it's tender alright.

Antes de que se lo devoren, hay que probarlo. ¡Perfecto!

Ok here is the video on how Jacinto makes this yummy Pulpo.

Special thanks to Jacinto and Pilar for turning their beautiful home into a cooking school for a day.  

Gracias Jacinto por tu paciencia y dedicación en enseñarnos este rico plato.