Pulpo a la vinagreta (Octopus with vinaigrette)
By Premnath Bhaskaran • May 25th, 2009 • Category: Recipes
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ed: I’m a *huge* fan of facebook now. I’ve met more old friends, school chums and never-met-before relatives in the last few months I’ve been active on Facebook, than in the last decade! And, if you’re on Facebook, I’d *love* to connect with you too! This is Premnath Bhaskaran’s first contribution to this blog and you know what? I learnt a few moments back that he’s my uncle, once removed! If you think that’s neat, take a look at his bio below. I’m thrilled he’s taken out the time to take step by step photographs of this dish. Now… where can I find some fresh octopus in Delhi… INA Market!!
PULPO A LA VINAGRETA
Ingredients:
- 1 kg octopus, innards removed and cleaned properly
- 1 medium sized onion cut in fine juliennes
- 1 medium sized purple onion cut in fine juliennes
- 1 small bell pepper cut in fine juliennes
- 1 green chili, cut in fine julienne if you want to spice it up – I do without it
- 1.5 tbs vinegar, adjust to taste
- ΒΌ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 lemons
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 stalk leek
- 1 cup of finely chopped cilantro
- 1 stalk celery
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Method:
- Rub the octopus with lemon and set aside for 10 min.
- In a big pan, boil water with salt, celery, leek and bay leaves.
- Holding the octopus by its head with a pair of tongs, lower it into the water in stages, that is, first the tips of the tentacles then progressively till the whole thing is in the water; after each stage the octopus must be taken out of the water and cooled down slightly. It is a dip-in and take-out process. Boil for 20 min. Use a prong to see if the octopus is done; if the octopus is big you might have to boil it for longer.
- In the meantime in a bowl put the onions, capsicum, green chilies, vinegar, olive oil, cilantro and the juice of one lemon and mix well.
- Take the octopus out of the water, cool a bit and then cut to about 15mm size bits and add to the bowl. Put salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Can be served with bread or eaten as it is.
Tip: Refrigerated well, it will last for around three days. If stored in airtight jars, it will last longer. Do not freeze.
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Premnath Bhaskaran is is a retired professor of Mechanical Engineering and has lived and worked in Venezuela for the last 40 years. A graduate of the second batch from IIT Madras, Premnath enjoys cooking, is a trained chef as well and is just learning the intricacies of pastries. Fluent in Spanish, Premnath likes gadgets too.
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Do you have good simple salmon dish that can be prepared at home?
@smanoida: Sure! Here’s a quick one. Take your salmon fillet, brush it with a little salt, pepper and olive oil and toss it on a grill pan (or other non-stick frying pan) with a little more olive oil. Keeping the flame medium and the pan covered, take another pan and melt a little butter in it and throw in some chopped chives, a couple of finely sliced mushrooms and finely sliced garlic. Stir for a 10 – 20 seconds, take off the flame and keep warm. Turn your salmon over and cook on the other side too (about a minute, depending on the thickness of the fillet). Take off the fire, place the salmon on a platter, pour the sauce with the chives and mushrooms over it and serve with a wedge of lemon and some crusty bread.
that was quick btw; This post has only been there for about 20 minutes!
@smanoida: If you can’t easily find chives, try replacing with finely chopped spring onion stalks and bulb and cook for about 30 seconds.
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Wow! Premetta that’s a simple dish to prepare! The photographs are marvellous specially the one of the octopus. I have never seen a red octopus before. Siddhartha, are you sure INA will have octopus in one of their baskets?
@Mum: Must have been quite embaressed being caught. I’m sure octopus isn’t something that they normally have, but they get some exotic stuff once in a while, like the sting ray we dissected the other day.