Preparation

• Have the fishmonger clean the octopus, or you can do it yourself, as perfectly explained here on the GialloZafferano site. My octopus weighed 1 kilo and 100 grams

  Prepare two pots. In one, we will boil water to cook the potatoes and in the other the water for the octopus, which we will scent with a carrot, a stalk of celery, half an onion, some lemon peel, and the white wine.

  Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces the size of a walnut (preferably the same size) and put them in a bowl with cold water.

  As soon as the water comes to a boil, salt it and add the potatoes drained from the cold water. Cover and let them cook for only 6 minutes (or 5 minutes for smaller pieces). After the time has passed, immediately drain the potatoes and let them cool, even if they seem undercooked; during cooling, they will continue to “cook” and will be just right in softness when we combine them with the octopus. It’s important that they are the same size, to avoid ending up with pieces still raw and others mushy.

  As soon as the octopus water boils, grab it by the head and lower it into the water up to the tentacles (which will curl) for 10 seconds, then lift it and repeat this operation two more times. This step is necessary so that the tentacles soften and cook well.

  Then completely immerse the octopus, lower the heat, cover, and let it cook for 20 minutes (for a 1-kilo octopus 20 minutes are sufficient; in my case, I had to extend the cooking by 5 minutes because it was still too tough when pierced with a fork), making sure the water simmers slowly, as for ragù, so to speak. In fact, too strong a boil would ruin the octopus’s meat making it rubbery.

  After 20 minutes, pierce the octopus with a fork, which should enter even if with a little difficulty.

  Turn off the heat and leave the octopus in the hot cooking water for another 20-25 minutes at most. Remove the lid and seal the pot with food wrap; or, place a flat plate on the pot and apply food wrap both on top and all around the plate and the upper part of the pot, to keep the heat as much as possible.

  Meanwhile, wash and cut both the carrot and the celery stalk into cubes (in this case, I prefer to use a more central stalk, because it’s more tender and sweet). If you use, instead, a more external stalk of celery, i.e., the greener ones, it will be necessary to remove the part rich in filaments with a potato peeler.

  After the resting time in the cooking water, take the octopus and place it on a cutting board, being careful not to burn yourself.

  First, divide it into two pieces, then separate the tentacles from each other with a knife and cut them into pieces about 1/2 inch wide. Cut the head into strips.

  Now let’s assemble our octopus and potato salad. In a bowl, first, put the octopus pieces, which we will season with extra virgin olive oil, salt, freshly ground pepper, the celery, and carrot cut into small pieces, and the pitted olives. Give it a quick mix, add the potato pieces, add the juice and very finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon (if desired, we can also use apple cider vinegar) and mix well again. We can further flavor with some garlic or a little chopped onion, if desired. Cover and leave at room temperature or put in the fridge our delicious octopus and potato salad to season. It’s also delicious the next day.

  The extra idea. If you need to cook more octopuses, each of them must be immersed first by the tentacles, three times, as described above.

  We can make the octopus and potato salad in several stages: first boil the octopus and, maybe, the next day the potatoes, depending on when we want to serve it. If the salad is to be eaten cold at lunch, I recommend cooking both the day before.

  Bon appetit