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About this recipe

✨

Recipe highlight

Why you’ll love it

Tender octopus, soft potatoes, lemon, garlic, olive oil, and parsley make this Balkan seafood salad fresh, glossy, and unforgettable. 🐙

Ingredients

• Octopus base 🐙
• 🐙 1.2 kg cleaned octopus, fresh or thawed (2.6 lb)
• 💧 2 l water, for simmering (8 cups / 68 fl oz)
• 🍃 2 bay leaves
• 🧅 100 g yellow onion, halved (⅔ cup / 3.5 oz)
• 🍋 20 ml lemon juice (4 tsp / 0.68 fl oz)
• 🧂 6 g fine sea salt (1 tsp / 0.21 oz)
• Potato salad base 🥔
• 🥔 700 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (5 cups / 1.54 lb)
• 🧂 6 g fine sea salt, for boiling water (1 tsp / 0.21 oz)
• 🧅 80 g red onion, thinly sliced (½ cup / 2.8 oz)
• 🧄 8 g garlic, finely grated (2 cloves / 0.28 oz)
• 🌿 25 g fresh parsley, chopped (¾ cup / 0.9 oz)
• 🫒 25 g capers, drained (2 tbsp / 0.9 oz)
• Lemon olive oil dressing 🍋
• 🫒 90 ml olive oil (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp / 3 fl oz)
• 🍋 45 ml lemon juice (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🍷 15 ml white wine vinegar (1 tbsp / 0.5 fl oz)
• 🧂 5 g fine sea salt (¾ tsp / 0.18 oz)
• ⚫ 2 g black pepper (1 tsp / 0.07 oz)
• 🌶️ 1 g chili flakes, optional (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• Serving ✨
• 🍋 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 🫒 40 g olives, optional (¼ cup / 1.4 oz)
• 🥖 300 g warm crusty bread, for serving (10.6 oz) gluten

Preparation

• 1 Simmer the octopus 🐙 Place the octopus in a large pot with water, bay leaves, onion, lemon juice, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover partly, and cook for 55–65 min until tender when pierced with a knife.
• 2 Rest and slice 🛋 Turn off the heat and let the octopus rest in the cooking liquid for 10 min. Lift it out, cool slightly, then slice into bite-size pieces.
• 3 Boil the potatoes 🥔 While the octopus rests, boil the potatoes in salted water for 14–16 min until tender but not falling apart. Drain well and keep warm.
• 4 Make the dressing 🍋 In a large bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt, black pepper, and chili flakes if using until glossy. Add the grated garlic and stir again.
• 5 Toss while warm ✨ Add the warm potatoes to the dressing and toss gently for 30 sec so they absorb the lemon olive oil flavor. Add sliced octopus, red onion, parsley, and capers.
• 6 Rest for flavor 🌿 Let the salad rest for 15 min at room temperature so the potatoes, octopus, garlic, lemon, and parsley settle into one bright coastal flavor.
• 7 Serve Adriatic style 🫒 Transfer to a dark serving bowl or platter. Finish with olives if using, lemon wedges, extra parsley, and a small drizzle of olive oil. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Timing details

Nutrition

Estimated values per serving.

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