From the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, pulpo gallego is a dish of boiled octopus dressed with smoky paprika and olive oil. Traditionally, the octopus is dipped into boiling water three times before being immersed and boiled. I’m not sure whether this achieves anything but I gave it a go.
You will need to boil some water first, enough to cover the octopus. I only bought one tentacle which weighed 900g (2 lbs). Peel and halve an onion and peel 3 cloves of garlic and add them to the water. Dip the octopus into the boiling water 3 times, making sure the water is boiling each time. Finally, immerse the octopus completely in the water and boil until tender (this might take between 30 and 90 minutes). If you have a pressure cooker you can cook the octopus in 12 minutes. When cooked, cut the tentacle into rounds. If you want to make this more of a meal, serve over boiled potatoes. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil and sprinkle with smoky paprika before serving.
michelle picker cooks 