Pulpo a la Gallega
Spanish week continues with a delicious Pulpo a la Gallega or Pulpo a Feira (Galician name meaning ‘fair style octopus). This is a traditional dish from the region of Galicia but it is served all over Spain. You can make this dish either as a tapas along with other small/ medium sized dishes to share or as a main course.
Many people think that cooking octopus is a lot of work, takes a long time and that finding good octopus in Switzerland is also not an easy task. Stress no more - this dish only takes a total of 45 min to cook and is as easy as cooking a plate of pasta. We bought our octopus here and it was extremely fresh (Jelmoli and some of the best restaurants get supplied by them as well).
We hope you enjoy cooking this Spanish dish :)
Prep Time: 20 Min
Cooking Time: 25 Min
Ingredients for 2:
Octopus - 1 /1.5Kg
Potatoes - 350 gr
Sea Salt Flakes
Spanish smoked paprika (Paprika powder will do)
Olive Oil
How to:
The first step when cooking Octopus is always the same - take the Octopus, put it in a kitchen towel and “beat it”. We usually use a hammer to beat it. This process will tenderize the meat and it is really important if you don’t want a chewy octopus.
Clean the octopus, get rid of the head and wash it properly - if you want to re -use the head you can cut it into small pieces and bake it with some tomato sauce and serve it with some bread.
Peel your potatoes and get them ready - meanwhile you can also bring some water to boil in a large pot (both the potatoes and octopus need to fit and the octopus needs to be fully covered in water).
Once the water is boiling it is time to “scare” the octopus (no the octopus is not alive this is simply what the method is called). Grab the octopus from the top part and just dip the tentacles in the water - repeat this three times and then immerse the octopus fully in the water and add the potatoes.
Let everything boil together for 25 min and drain.
Once drained take the octopus and clean it with a kitchen towel or paper towels - the goal is to get rid of as much dark part as possible so grab the tentacles one by one and pull the dark part away.
To serve the dish, cut the octopus tentacles and potatoes into ½ a cm thick slices. Pulpo a la gallega is traditionally served in a wooden plate with a base of sliced potatoes, topped with slices of octopus. Season with sea salt, smoked paprika and a good drizzle of quality extra virgin olive oil.
Enjoy: