Pulpo a feira

Ingredients

Quantities for 4 servings.

• 2 kg Octopus, frozen and thawed
• 800 g Potatoes
• 2 tbsp Smoked paprika
• 1 tsp Hot paprika
• 100 ml Olive oil
• 2 tsp Coarse salt
• 1 piece Bay leaf
• 1 piece Onion

Method

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil with the onion and bay. Do not salt it.
2. Hold the octopus by the head and dip the tentacles into the boiling water for five seconds, then lift it out. Repeat three times.
3. Lower the octopus in whole and cook at a bare simmer for forty minutes.
4. Test with a fork at the thickest part of a tentacle: it should go in without resistance.
5. Turn off the heat and leave the octopus in the water for fifteen minutes; it finishes and softens further.
6. Boil the potatoes in the same water and cut them into rounds.
7. Cut the tentacles with scissors into centimetre pieces, lay them over the potato, dust with paprika and salt and pour over the oil.