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Wood-fired Octopus Salad

50m Total time
10m Prep
4 Serves
hard
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About

Octopus is one of my guilty pleasures. Guilty because it’s one of the animals that I feel most bad about eating. But…it is really, really tasty when cooked correctly.

I’ve classed this recipe as hard - not because the steps are hard, but because it’s hard to simmer the octopus at the right temperature and not overcook them.

When overcooked, you will get a rubbery texture. You want to simmer these babies very gently and take them out when a sharp knife goes into them with no resistance, like it would into a cooked potato. It may take a couple a tries of this recipe to get it right, but when you do, it’s a great summer dinner.

Method

  1. Place your baby octopus in a pot and cover with cold water. Add the white wine, juice of half a lemon, the rind (if unwaxed) and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and leave until a sharp knife goes in with no resistance - approximately 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your octopus.
  2. While your octopus is simmering, make your vinaigrette and croutons. For the croutons, pre-heat your oven to 200C.
  3. Place parchment paper on a baking tray and tear up your baguette onto it. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss them around so they’re well coated.
  4. Cook in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and leave to cool.
  5. For the vinaigrette, squeeze your lemon into a dressing shaker or jar with a lid. You want a 1 to 3 ratio of lemon to olive oil, so you may want to top this up with some white wine vinegar.
  6. Add the rest of the vinaigrette ingredients and shake well.
  7. When your octopus is cooked through, drain and run under cold water. Add to a bowl along with your marinade ingredients, toss and leave in the fridge for 1 hour and prep the rest of your salad ingredients (I don’t need to tell you how to make a salad).
  8. Heat up your pizza oven to 400C. Pop a cast iron skillet in to preheat and take your octopus out of the fridge to bring to room temp.
  9. Whack the octopus onto the skillet and cook until lovely and charred - approximately 3-4 minutes.
  10. Add to your salad, with your homemade croutons and vinaigrette and enjoy!

Notes

  • If you don’t have a pizza oven, you can achieve the same effect on a grill, it just won’t have the lovely smoky flavour.
  • When your octopus is finished cooking, it will have turned from grey to purple.