My friends and I were traveling in Spain, driving from Leon to A Caruña, when we felt we needed to stop for a restroom break. We pulled up a country road and went inside a local restaurant thinking we could just order some soft drinks and use its restroom. This restroom stop became one of the memorable stops we did during our journey.
The restaurant was apparently patronized mostly by male customers - some were having their lunch, some were just having beer. Since it looked quite clean, we decided to sit at a table while waiting for our drinks. The waiter brought us a menu on which "Pulpo a Feira" was written. Upon seeing that , I instantly remembered reading that pulpo or octopus is one of the delicacies in the Galicia region of Spain. I wondered then why octopus would be popular in Galicia, an evergreen expanse of land in northwestern Spain that is somewhat deprived of a coastline.
To make the story short, the first authentic pulpo dish we had was at that restaurant and it was so unforgettably delicious! The octopus was served on a wooden plate filled with chopped and very soft bite- size pieces of octopus, literally swimming in olive oil and topped with ground red paprika. And yes, we dipped the fresh home-made bread in that tasty olive oil later on! That was our first "Pulpo, Galician style".
The second pulpo dish we had was at a restaurant that was recommended by a clerk at the hotel where we stayed at in Finisterre. After watching the beautiful and unforgettable sunset at Cape Finisterre - believed to be the end of the known world or "land's end" - we were ready for beer and good food! And were we amazed at the wide variety of pulpo dishes the restaurant offered!
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| Pulpo a Feira (June 2012, FInisterre) |
The third pulpo dish I had was at one of the lunch stops some fellow "peregrinas" and I did along the Camino road to Compostela. The photo below shows someone lifting up a newly boiled octopus - quite small than the octopi I have seen before. At this place, in addition to pulpo, we had "Pimientos de Padrón - small green papers fried in olive oil and sea salt- and Estrella beer served with lemon!
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| Boiled Octopus |
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| (R-L) Pulpo dish, "Pimientos de Padrón"(green peppers fried in olive oil) and french fries! |
TIME TO TRY
A few days after I had returned home from travels in Spain, I went to Costco. To my surprise, boiled mini-octopus in bags of three per bag were being sold and without a second thought, I decided to buy a bag and experiment on the ways to prepare pulp dishes.
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At the time of this writing, I have three big pieces of octopus in my crockpot - a slow cooker - and will cook overnight. This is the first time I am trying this method so I am hoping to get very soft boiled octopus pieces in the end.
Method :
Buy fresh octopus legs, wash well
Put into the crockpot, cover well with boiling alkaline water
Add one whole peeled onion
Add 1 tsp baking soda
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UPDATE:
If you are very particular about smell, this slow cooking is not for you. The smell of boiled octopus had lingered in my house for hours when I got up in the morning! SOS! Put the fan on, open the windows, let that air out...OMG!
After 10 hours of simmering, the octopus looked soft but pinching it made me think I should "slow-cook " it for a bit more ...OUTSIDE the house.
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| Octopus after 5 hours in slow-cooker |
It looked as if it would rain, so I covered the pot with newspaper - just so the rain won't flow into the pot.
And the story continues...the slow- cooking octopus was outside the house for about 5 hours.When I got home from my daily swim at the pool, I went to get the pot in. I held the newspaper over it tight and secure, as I did not want its hot steam on my face. As I entered the door, my grandchild who was playing outside followed me. Worried that the door might close on her, I looked back while taking off the slippers I used for outside. Then all of a sudden, I tripped! And holding the pot tight, I fell on my knees and dropped the pot, which eventually was turned to its side due to my forward thrust and weight. The heat on my arm made me get me up immediately, run to the kitchen sink, wash my arms with very cold water. While holding ice compresses on my one arm, I looked at where I fell... the soft and shrunken octopi were already out of the pot and the soup was all over the place.
The burns I sustained were not that bad...first degree burn, I must say at worse.
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| All for the want of Galician style "pulpo"! |
The resulting Pulpo dish was tasty - not at all chewy nor rubbery...but definitely shrunken!
As you can see in the photo below:
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| My version of Pulpo a Feira |
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This octopus dish is typical of Galician cuisine. I even found a page in Wikipedia where it talks about this recipe.
Galicia is the evergreen land, up in the northwest of Spain, just over Portugal. I've never been there but I positively know that I would fall in love with their people, their food and their landscapes!!! One of the most famous foods there is their Seafood, not to mention their cheese!. All good restaurants in Spain have Galician products in their Menus.
See what Matt Gross from The New York Times thinks about Galicia in his article written 2 years ago.
Galicia has strong Celtic influences; the Bagpipes is their musical instrument and Meigas (Witches) live in the dark, humid and green forests... or that is what legends say! So, here is my opportunity to add my special dressing today: Van Morrison and Moondance. Yes, I know he is Irish but I LOVE him! He is one of my favourites ever!!!
Now, turn the player on and follow these easy instructions :D
Ingredients for 4 servings: 4 to 5 big potatoes, 4 black pepper balls, 1 bay leaf, 500 to 600 grs of octopus (legs), half a glass of Extra virgin olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, red sweet ground paprika, red hot ground paprika, thick sea salt and water.
Octopus is a bit tricky to cook, if you don't follow the boiling process properly it can be too chewy or too rubbery. Here you have a few tips: *If you buy it fresh at your fishmonger, what I do to get it softer is freeze it first: have two days in the freezer at least, and then one day before cooking it, have in the fridge and let defreeze little by little. Prepare a big pot with boiling water and one onion inside, put the octopus in the boiling water for 1 minute and take it out. Repeat the procedure for 5 times in a row (this is done to avoid the skin to fall). Leave it inside the pot and let it boil for 25 minutes at medium/high heat. Use a fork to see if it's completely done and reserve. *If you buy it frozen or canned and cooked (La Tienda has some canned octopus) then you can directly go to the next step.
Peel and wash the potatoes. Have another big pot ready with water, the black pepper balls and the bay leaf. Cut the potatoes in thick slices and put in the pot, make sure the water covers them. Boil until potatoes are done. Reserve.
Mince the garlics and add to the half glass of extra virgin olive oil. Also add two teaspoons of sweet red paprika and one teaspoon of red hot paprika. Stir and reserve.
Get a wooden plate or tray and set the potatoes on it, drop the thick sea salt on them, add the octopus cut in circles on top and pour the oil mixture over the octopus. Tachán!!! The 8th wonder is ready to be devoured!!!
