Galician style octopus (polbo á feira in Galician, pulpo a la feria in Castilian, because it is typical in festivals, fairs, pilgrimages) is a traditional dish of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain, that people eat in the rest of the country too, in restaurants or as “tapas” in the bars. Before cooking it, it is recommended to freeze it to soften its meat and to thaw it the day before you want to prepare this recipe.
Let’s have a look how to prepare the galician style octopus.
Galician style octopus
Ingredients
- 1 kg octopus
- 2 potatoes
- water
- olive oil
- salt
- sweet or spicy paprika
Instructions
- Peeling the potatoes and cooking them in a pot with boiling water and a pinch of salt. Once they cooked, cut them into slices, not too thin, and setting them aside.
- At this point cooking the octopus. First of all, “scaring” the octopus, putting it in a large pot with boiling water, and pulling it out of the water three times, so the octopus becomes stiff and its skin will not fall during cooking.
- Then introducing it into the water and cooking it for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the octopus. To know if the octopus is cooked, using a fork, if it is more or less fluffly, it’s done.
- Once cooked, cutting into slices with scissors and putting it aside.
- Now preparing the dish. Putting the potatoes on a wooden plate (the typical way it is served, if you do not have a wooden plate it doesn’t matter) and placing the cut pieces of the octopus on them.
- Seasoning with oil, paprika and salt as desired and serve. Enjoy your meal!
