Have you ever tried octopus? If not, let’s give it a try today with the Spanish Style Octopus with Potatoes recipe! I’ve had it a few times in sushi, and I remember a grilled baby octopus salad that was superb. But all that was a long time ago, for some reason. I supposed I’ve been in a bit of a food rut since the pandemic since we eat out so much less. I tend to stick to easy favorites when I cook.
Well, I actually ventured out to grocery shop the other day, and I found a package of octopus in the frozen section. I bought it without having a recipe in mind at that moment. But frozen food keeps for a while, so I started searching my Pinterest boards for an octopus recipe. I have pinned several over the years, so it took me a while to settle on one. I finally decided this simple-sounding Spanish Style Octopus with Potatoes would be the one. Let’s find out what it’s like!
Octopus is tender and bit bity—I like it that way. The dressing is to die for! Use it for all your grilled or sautéed veggies!!
The Ingredients
As I mentioned, I had a package of frozen octopus on hand. The package was only 10 ounces, and this recipe calls for 1 pound (16 ounces) per serving. I’m cooking for myself and my husband, so I had to buy another package.
That was okay because I also had to buy some potatoes and yellow bell pepper. The type of potatoes isn’t specified, so I went with red potatoes because they do well when boiled. I had everything else in my pantry, but I think I picked up some extra garlic and lemon to be safe. I can always use them.
This recipe calls for “oil” but doesn’t specify the type. I keep several types of cooking oil in my pantry, so I had a tough time deciding. I wanted to go with olive oil initially, but I ended up using canola. I thought it would be better for browning the potatoes.
The Process
I chose this recipe for its simplicity, and it didn’t let me down. The first step was to simply boil the octopus for 45 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I needed to cut the tentacles into smaller pieces, so I did a quick Google. Other recipe photos for similar recipes showed whole tentacles, so I left them. My 5.5-quart Dutch oven was a perfect size.
The potatoes were next. It wasn’t specified in the recipe, but I decided to peel mine. It only took 5-6 minutes and was simple to do. Once I cut them into large chunks, I added them to another pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes. Then I drained them in a large colander and set them into the refrigerator to chill.
I finished the rest of the prep work while the potatoes boiled, including mixing up the dressing. Then I got started on browning the potatoes and pepper when the timer was down to 15 minutes.
I used a large nonstick skillet so the soft potatoes wouldn’t stick to the pan. The goal was to keep all the browned bits on the potatoes. The 15 minute time was perfect, and I ended up with browned potatoes and peppers.
All that was left was to drain the octopus and mix it with the potatoes, dressing, and cilantro. It was just as easy as it sounds! A total time wasn’t listed, but this is how my time broke down:
- 10 minutes to prep
- 45 minutes to cook the octopus
- While cooking the octopus:
- 20 minutes to cook potatoes
- 3 minutes to make dressing
- 15 minutes to brown the potatoes and peppers
- 1 minute to strain the octopus and mix with potatoes and dressing
- 56 minutes total
