Pulpo / Octopus from the cooking pot

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1 ½ kg octopus, whole, gutted
• 50 g ginger
• 1 m.-large chili pepper(s), red
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 onion(s)
• 3 bay leaves, preferably fresh
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

for preparing for the grill and other dishes

Rinse the octopus thoroughly under cold running water and place it in a saucepan with a fitting lid while it is still dripping wet, with the tentacles facing down. The pan should be large enough so that the octopus covers most of the bottom. Lightly crush the garlic and chili and add it to the pan with the other ingredients. Drizzle with oil and season with salt. Heat the pan to high heat and, as soon as it starts to simmer, reduce the heat slightly. Close the lid. Nothing else needs to be added; the oil and the water that runs out of the octopus are sufficient. Let the octopus simmer over medium heat with the lid closed for about 50 minutes to 1 hour. You can test whether the octopus is cooked with a wooden skewer. If you can simply insert the skewer into the thick part of the tentacles and pull it out without resistance, the octopus is done. Discard any liquid that has formed during cooking. Prepared in this way, the octopus can be used for other purposes, e.g. For example, in octopus salad, as an ingredient in risotto, or for grilling. To do this, cut the octopus tentacle by tentacle, then brush with a little olive oil and briefly roast on the grill. Everything except the beak and eyes can be used. If the head sac isn’t fine enough for grilling, for example, you can cut it into strips, season it, marinate it in olive oil, and serve it as a cold appetizer with toasted bread. I’ve only had fresh octopus so far, but frozen works just as well. The same procedure applies, but thaw the octopus in the refrigerator first.