I know what some of my Swiss friends are gonna say when they see this… they just don’t find animals with tentacles so appealing, let alone eating them. But this is one of my ever favourite dishes and when Mr. C. is cooking, he usually does this or this. The insalata di polpo is one of his father’s original Puglia recipes and is especially great on hot days like today.
What you need:
2 whole frozen, cleaned polpi (octopus)
1 carrot
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 cork
salt & pepper
lemon juice
extra vergine olive oil
chopped flat parsley
Bring water in a large pot to boil and add the onion, celery and carrot. Once the water is boiling, add the frozen polpi and the cork (don’t ask why – that’s one of Mr. C. seniors secrets). Once the water is boiling again, keep it boiling for exactly 30 minutes. Then remove the polpi from the pan and cut them up nicely. Our dog loves the heads and I don’t so there is something for everybody.
Put the chopped pieces in a bowl and add lemon juice and a good olive oil according to your taste. Add a bit of salt and pepper and sprinkle the parsley on top. Best is, to let is sit for at least one hour (the longer the better) so the flavours mix nicely. Serve with ciabatta, olive bread or warm onion baguettes.
Recipe source: Papà C.
Recommended music while cooking this: most likely I should say Vasco Rossi but I to go for the Vanilla Sky soundtrack.
