Pulpo a la Gallega

Ingredients

• 1 octopus, about 2kg, previously frozen and fully thawed
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 1 bay leaf
• 700g waxy potatoes, peeled
• 2 tsp sweet pimenton de la Vera
• 1/2 tsp hot pimenton
• 80ml extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse sea salt

Before you cook

• Freeze the octopus for at least 48 hours and thaw it fully in the fridge, which breaks down the muscle and saves you hours of beating it on a rock.
• Rinse the thawed octopus under cold water and rub away any grit from the suckers.
• Peel the potatoes and cut them into rounds 2cm thick.
• Have a pair of kitchen scissors ready, because Galicians never cut octopus with a knife.

Steps

1. Fill a tall pot with water and bring it to a hard rolling boil with the onion halves and bay leaf.
2. Take hold of the octopus by the head.
3. Lower the tentacles into the boiling water for 5 seconds, then lift them clear.
4. Repeat that dip twice more, waiting for the water to return to the boil each time, until the tentacle tips have curled tightly.
5. Release the whole octopus into the pot and lower the heat to a steady simmer.
6. Cook for 35 to 45 minutes, allowing roughly 20 minutes per kilogram.
7. Test it by pushing a skewer into the thickest part of a tentacle, which should slide in with only slight resistance.
8. Turn off the heat and leave the octopus resting in its cooking water for 20 minutes.
9. Lift the octopus onto a board with tongs and let it drain.
10. Drop the potato rounds into the same octopus water and simmer them for 15 minutes until tender.
11. Drain the potatoes and lay them across four warm wooden plates.
12. Cut the tentacles from the head with scissors.
13. Snip each tentacle into rounds about 1cm thick and pile them over the potatoes.
14. Sprinkle coarse sea salt over everything from a height.
15. Dust with the sweet pimenton and then a lighter scattering of the hot pimenton.
16. Pour the extra virgin olive oil generously over the top and serve at once with toothpicks.