Pulpo with Onions and Potatoes

Pulpo Encebollada con Patatas

Type of Dish:

Main Meals

Approx. Preparation Time:

About 60 minutes

Difficulty:

Foodie's Play

Serves:

4 people

In Spain, Octopus is more popular than ever. People are rediscovering the joys of eating octopus (pulpo). And there are so many ways to serve it. In Galicia the octopus has a summer festival held in its honour. Any Spanish fisherman will tell you that an octopus has to be thrown against the rocks several times in order to tenderize it. They say it is ready to cook when the tentacles curl up. If there are no rocks handy, then give it a good hiding with an appropriate kitchen utensil. If you cannot bring yourself to bash a dead octopus, put it in the freezer for a couple of days. That will do the job. Here's a recipe for octopus with onions and potatoes.

List of Ingredients:

1 cleaned octopus (pulpo) of around 1 kg in weight

4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 thinly sliced large onions

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley

a dozen threads of saffron soaked in a little water

500 grams of yellow fleshed potatoes, peeled and sliced

Salt

Pepper

Preparation Instructions:

Rinse the octopus and slice it into small pieces. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions very gently until soft and golden - salt lightly to get the juices running - for about 10 minutes. Add the parsley and the saffron with its soaking water, and allow to bubble up. Add the octopus and cook gently in its own juices, loosely covered for an hour. You may need to add a little water. When the octopus is tender add the potatoes. Be sure there is enough liquid to cover and continue to cook for 15 more minutes or until the potatoes are perfectly tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in deep bowls, sauced with its own juices.

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