Octopus salad with celery salsa

Fish starter
Total: 3 hr 30 min. | Active: 1 hr 30 min.
lactose-free, gluten-free

For a long time, I had huge reservations about cooking octopus, even though I love eating it. I thought it would be very complicated and difficult to prepare. That was until I came across the method for cooking "polpo all'acqua sua" – here the octopus cooks slowly in its own juice. It's important to use a heavy cooking pot with a lid that seals firmly. This cooking method is super simple and the octopus always comes out tender. The perfect way to spoil your guests.

Recipe by:
Daniela Bieder – daniela CULINAIRE

Ingredients

for 6 people

Octopus
1  octopus (approx. 1.4 kg)
2 tbsp olive oil
1  garlic clove, squeezed
2 pinch salt
1  bay leaf
2 sprig flat-leaf parsley
Salsa
2 tbsp sultanas, coarsely chopped
2 stick celery, cut into cubes
4 sprig flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp pitted mixed olives
1 tbsp capers, rinsed, drained, roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp sea salt
a little  pepper
  pine nuts

How it's done

Octopus

Place the octopus, oil, garlic, salt, bay leaf and parsley in a cooking pot. Cover and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer the octopus (covered) for approx. 1 hr. 15 mins. Leave the octopus to cool in the resulting juice.

Salsa

Place the sultanas in a bowl along with approx. 50 ml of the octopus juice, leave to soften for approx. 15 mins. Add the celery, parsley, olives, capers, olive oil and balsamic, mix, season. Without adding any oil, toast the pine nuts in a frying pan for approx. 2 mins. Add the pine nuts to the salsa.

Serve

Cut the octopus into pieces and plate up. Top with the salsa.

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