Nom Nom: Pulpo A La Gallega Versus Octopus Stew

This past Sunday, we (and The Boy) attempted to make pulpo a la Gallega (That’s right. Makin’ the ancestors beam with pride underneath all their yards of black clothing) following “The Minimalist’s” recipe (video below the jump). It turned out… edible. But not exactly tasty. In fact, it didn’t taste like anything at all, despite all the salt and paprika that went into its preparation. So we’ve been on the search for a better recipe using the other octopus we bought (We ended up having to go to a Chinese supermarket in Flushing to find one. The Boy accidentally asked for a creature with “eight pants.” Luckily, they grocer didn’t take out a tentacle and slap us both). We think this is a good one and can’t wait to try it out:

That’s The Minimalist’s recipe. We found it to be flavorless. The head makes a particularly fun / gruesome mitten with which to chase someone around a kitchen in Queens.

Here’s the recipe we’re going to try (although we’re substituting whole, baby octopi for tentacles and… chunks of octopus face. Mmmmm:

Ingredients:

8 octopuses (about 18 cmts each)

2 big red onions

2 garlic cloves

1 glass of water

1 glass of dry white wine

4 medium potatoes

some olive oil

some salt

black ground pepper

and 4 tablespoons romesco

Directions:

If you freeze the octopuses before cooking them, they will be more tender!

Defreeze. Take a casserole and put the octopuses in, cover with the water and wine. Boil until it reduces completely.

Chop the onion in small dices and add to the casserole, turn heat to the lowest and let it sweat with a bit of olive oil.

When the onion starts getting some golden colour, add the peeled and minced garlic and when fragant, add the potatoes (peeled, cleaned and cut).

Cover with water and cook at low heat until potatoes become tender. Taste and add salt and pepper to fit your taste.

Add the romesco, cook for 30 seconds while shaking the casserole in order to avoid breaking the potatoes and it’s done!

Nom nom! And nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. Whew.

Octopus in a Stew [Spanish Recipes]