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Insalata di Polpo e Patate
Created by Chef Graziella
The classic octopus salad of the Neapolitan coast, where the day's catch meets waxy potatoes and the simplest of dressings. Dressed warm so the octopus and potatoes drink in every drop of lemon and oil.
In Naples, this salad appears on Christmas Eve as part of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, but fishermen's families eat it year round, whenever the morning catch is good. There is nothing complicated about it. You cook octopus until tender. You cook potatoes until soft. You dress them while warm. That is all.
The difficulty lies in the octopus itself. Cook it too briefly and you get rubber. Cook it too long and you get mush. The window for perfection is not wide, and you must test, not guess. A knife should slide into the thickest tentacle with the same slight resistance you feel when testing a potato. When you feel that, you stop.
Neapolitans add a wine cork to the cooking water. Ask them why and they will tell you it tenderizes the flesh. Ask a scientist and they will tell you this is nonsense. I add the cork. What we inherit from our grandmothers deserves respect, even when we cannot explain it.
Ingredients
whole octopus
Quantity
1 (about 3 pounds)
cleaned
waxy potatoes
Quantity
2 pounds
wine cork (optional)
Quantity
1
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole octopuscleaned | 1 (about 3 pounds) |
| waxy potatoes | 2 pounds |
| wine cork (optional) | 1 |
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