TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Pulpo a la gallegaGalician-Style Octopus
Tender boiled octopus and potatoes are served with olive oil and paprika. The key is cooking that preserves the octopus’s springy texture and slicing it while still warm.
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Raw octopus (gutted)Raw octopus that has been frozen once, then thawed in the refrigerator1200 g
- Potatoes500 g
- Water3500 ml
- Salt40 g for removing slime; 5 g for finishing45 g
- Olive oilFor the finishing sauce60 ml
- Sweet paprika4 g
Method
Remove the slime from the octopus
- 1 MeanwhileWhile preparing the octopus, bring 3.5 L of water to a boil in a large pot.
- 2 Remove any remaining beak and eyes from 1.2 kg of raw octopus.
- 3 Rub thoroughly with 40 g of salt to remove the slime, then rinse away the salt and slime well under running water.
- 4 Wash 500 g of potatoes with their skins on.
Ready when
Continue when no slime remains, including in the suckers.
Boil the octopus gently
- 1 Hold the octopus by the head with tongs and dip the arms into and out of the boiling water 3 times.
- 2 Submerge it completely and cook over moderate-low heat for 40–45 minutes.
- 3 Insert a skewer into the thick base of an arm to check. If it is firm, continue cooking in 5-minute increments.
Ready when
Continue when the skewer enters without strong resistance.
Rest the octopus and boil the potatoes
- 1 Turn off the heat and leave the octopus in its cooking liquid for 10 minutes, then lift it out.
- 2 Put the potatoes in the same cooking liquid, turn the heat back on and boil for about 20 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when a skewer passes through to the centre of the potatoes.
Slice and layer the warm octopus
- 1 Peel the potatoes, cut into 1 cm slices and spread them on a plate.
- 2 Cut the octopus arms into 1 cm slices and the head into manageable strips, then arrange over the potatoes.
- 3 Sprinkle evenly with 5 g of salt and 4 g of paprika, then drizzle with 60 ml of oil.
Ready when
It is ready when the octopus and potatoes are warm and the red paprika forms a thin, even coating.
About this dish
Galician-style octopus is also a speciality of O Carballiño, an inland town far from the sea. Galicia's tourism board explains this through a connection with the medieval monastery of Oseira.
Octopus was delivered from the monastery's coastal lands as payment for land use. People from the Arcos district of O Carballiño transported, cooked and sold it at markets, linking inland fairs with produce from the sea.
At the octopus festival in August, cooks known as pulpeiras serve the dish. The work handed down at fairs and markets remains connected to the town's major food festival today.
Bring the full course home next weekend.
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