About this Recipe

Octopus salad, or Salada de polvo in Portuguese, is a traditional Portuguese entrée most common in the summer, since it is served cold. It is best enjoyed together with a cold beer or fresh white wine on a warm summer day.

Instructions

• In a pressure cooker, bring about 1L of water to a boil (4 cups), together with a big, peeled onion and a garlic clove.
• Once the water boils, bring the heat down a little and place the octopus* in the pressure cooker. Let it cook for about 20 minutes.
• Take out the octopus, cut it into small bits and set aside to cool down.
• Cut the small onion and parsley branch into fine pieces.
• Once cool, place the octopus bits, together with the fine sliced onion and parsley** in a bowl, add some olive oil and vinegar and mix well, using a spoon. Season with fine salt and black pepper to your liking. Serve cold.

*Note: To achieve maximum tenderness, there are 2 tricks you can use: Hammer the octopus with a kitchen hammer before you cook it and dip the octopus in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then pull it out for another 30 seconds, before letting it cook.

**Optional: Instead of just onion and parsley, you can choose to add some finely diced tomato or red and yellow peppers to the salad. It’s common to serve the salad with a quarter lemon. Some people enjoy squeezing it over the salad for more acidity.