Greek octopus salad

Ingredients for 6

• 1 whole octopus, fresh or from the freezer (defrosted), about 1,3 kg

• 3 (1 cm wide) strings of lemon peal (from 0,5 lemon)

• 2 bay leafs

• 2 branches of oregano or 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon lemonjuice

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• - ingredients for olive vinaigrette -

• 3 cloves of garlicconfit or 1 clove of garlic, pressed

• 0,5 red onion, in thin rings

• 1 teaspoon of freshly chopped oregano or 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

• 25 grams of roughly chopped Kalamata-olives

• 60 milliliters of extra vergine olive oil

• 3 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley

• - ingredients for salad -

• 1 tablespoon of extra vergunde olive oil

• 75 grams of cherry tomatoes

• 40 grams of rucola

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Step 1

  Preheat the water bath at 84 degrees Celsius.

• Step 2

  Put the octopus with the lemon peal, bay leaves, oregano, lemon juice and salt in a vacuum bag (4 liters) and vacuum seal it.

• Step 3

  Put the octopus in the water bath and cook it for 4 hours (maximum 6 hours).

• Step 4

  When the octopus is done, take the bag out of the water bath and put the bag in an ice water bath for 30 minutes until cooled down completely. The octopus will have shrunken down till half its size and there will be a lot of residue liquid.

• Step 5

  In the meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. Put the garlic, red onion, oregano, lemon zest, lemon juice, vinegar, olives, oil and parsley in a big bowl and mix everything together with a wooden spoon.

• Step 6

  Take the cooled down octopus out of the water bath and remove the cooking liquid. You can throw it away or save it for another dish. It is full of flavor! It could be good in a fish soup or risotto.

• Step 7

  Prepare the octopus. Cut the arms from the head and cut each arm diagonally in pieces of 5 centimeters. The head is not as tasty as the arm, for the salad only use the arms.

• Step 8

  Make the salad. Cover the pieces of octopus with the oil and season then with some salt and pepper. Put a cast iron pan or another skillet on medium to high heat. Bake the octopus for 1-2 minutes until they brown a little. Turn them and bake the other side for 1-2 minutes.

• Step 9

  Put the pieces of octopus in a bowl with the vinaigrette and stir until they’re evenly covered. Add the tomatoes and rucola. Add salt and pepper according to flavor. The olives and the octopus are already salt so you might not need to add extra salt.

• Step 10

  Put the salad in a bowl and enjoy!

• Step 0

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