Salento-style octopus and potatoes or purpu alla pignata with potatoes, an easy fish main course and flavorful dish based on octopus, as good as Pasta with octopus, cherry tomatoes and olives or the more modern Octopus and avocado sandwich. Octopus alla pignata with potatoes in the Apulian style is a simple and tasty traditional dish you can enjoy in the wonderful Salento or at home, perhaps when preparing a Seafood New Year’s Eve dinner or simply a delightful meal. But what is the pignata? Simply put, the pignata is a terracotta pot, which, by gradually absorbing heat and redistributing it slowly and steadily, ensures optimal cooking of the octopus, which, cooking in its own water, becomes tender and flavorful without losing its aroma. What are the ingredients of octopus alla pignata Salento-style? The ingredients are very few and simple: besides the octopus, which is the star, there are fresh tomatoes, potatoes, onion, chili pepper, white wine and little else. What makes this recipe exceptional? Certainly the freshness of the ingredients and the slow cooking in the pignata without ever adding water allow the perfect balance of aromas and flavors that make “purpu e patate alla pignata” a specialty. And if you don’t have a pignata, what then? In that case you will use a heavy-bottomed stainless-steel pot and our recipe will turn into Sicilian-style octopus and potatoes, because these two recipes are identical except for the cooking vessel used.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Low cost
Rest time: 15 Minutes
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Low heat
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients to make octopus and potatoes in the pignata

1.8 lb octopus
1.3 lb potatoes
9 oz cherry tomatoes (or ripe tomatoes)
1 onion (medium)
1 clove garlic
1 chili pepper (small or half)
to taste extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup white wine (about 3.4 fl oz / 100 ml)
to taste parsley

Tools

Pots terracotta

Steps

Clean the octopus, which should be fresh: remove the entrails and the beak, or ask your fishmonger to do it for you. Rinse it under running water and cut it into pieces. Peel, rinse and chop the onion and put it in the pot together with the garlic clove peeled and halved, add a generous drizzle of oil and let it soften.
Add the octopus, a bit of chili pepper and sauté until the octopus changes color, pour in the white wine and let it evaporate.
Then add the cherry tomatoes rinsed and cut into pieces and finally the potatoes, also rinsed, peeled and cut into chunks.
Season with salt, lower the heat to the minimum, cover and cook for 1 hour without ever adding water, stirring occasionally.
When cooking is complete, let rest for 15 minutes inside the pot with the heat off, garnish with chopped parsley, plate and enjoy.
I recommend preparing only the amount of octopus and potatoes you plan to eat, because when freshly made it is very, very good. Leftovers should be refrigerated and consumed within 24 hours, but they won’t be as good as just made.