Marinated Octopus Salad With Olive Oil And Lemon Recipe

How to make it

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• 1. If the octopus is fresh, clean it, removing all viscera from the head sac, etc. If the octopus is frozen, it will have been cleaned before freezing. Thaw it slowly in the refrigerator.
• 2. Bring 4 quarts (4 liters) water to a rolling boil in an 8-quart (8-liter) pot over high heat. Add 3 tablespoons salt. Working with one octopus at a time, pierce the head, two or three times, with a meat fork and dip the whole creature, tentacles first, into the boiling water. Hold it in the water for about 5 seconds, then lift it out. Repeat the dipping two times. This procedure is said to tenderize the octopus, and it causes the tentacles to curl attractively.
• 3. When both of the octopus have been dipped three times, return them both to the boiling water. Partially cover the pot and adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
• 4. Cook until the octopus are tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 – 1 ½ hours. If you aren’t sure, cut off a small piece from a tentacle and taste it. It should offer a little resistance to the tooth, but it shouldn’t be chewy. When the octopus are done, cover the pot, remove from the heat, and let them cool completely in the water.
• 5. At this point, if you do not like the gelatinous dark skin or the tiny suction cups on the tentacles, you can easily rub them off with your fingers. Italians tend to leave these parts intact. Cut the tentacles on the diagonal into 1-inch (2½ cm) pieces. Cut the head into ½ inch wide (1.2 cm) slices.
• 6. Put the sliced octopus in a bowl and add the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, and 1½ teaspoons salt. Stir well. Let marinate at room temperature for one hour, then taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve. If you like, you can marinate the octopus up to 2 days before serving. Keep it refrigerated, but remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving to take the chill off.