Grilled or fried Galician octopus

How to prepare grilled or fried octopus .

Today we have prepared a recipe with seafood , an exceptional Sunday dish, grilled octopus with cheeks accompanied by garlic and a little garlic oil with paprika.

This recipe will delight anyone who likes octopus, I also assure you that it will be perfect with all the secrets to cook the octopus at its point.

This dish has all the flavor and ingredients of the Galician preparation but enhanced with the crispy touch of the churruscadita skin.

We can cook the octopus in infinite ways, from the classic Galician octopus , an original  baked octopus , as they do in Mugardos, to Mugardesa (in the form of a stew), to Sochantre , candied (one of the favorite recipes of Picasso), in tempura, accompanying a rice or risotto … or as in this case, grilled.

When I cook an octopus I usually use the heads to make croquettes , the tips of the legs for this recipe and the rest to make large carvings for the octopus à feira .

Once the head and ends are cooked, they go directly to the freezer, thus saving time to make this dish.

In the recipe we have used quality products, so the recipe already has many points for it to turn out well, yummy.

Preparation of the octopus. Potatoes cooking

1. We take the octopus out a day before the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost.
2. It is very important to do it in a saucepan or a large bowl because it will release a lot of liquid and it can overflow.
3. At the time of cooking we pass it a little through cold water to remove possible impurities.
4. We put a casserole (the largest we have) on the fire with water and a whole peeled onion, we do not add salt because the octopus is salted at the end, in the presentation.
5. When it starts to boil we add the octopus: we take it by the head and “scare it”, this technique consists of putting the octopus in and out 3 times from the pot to make it stiff and the skin does not fall off during cooking.
6. We cook the octopus for about 30 minutes over medium heat (it will depend on the size).
7. You have to puncture it from time to time to see how hard it is, this time we are going to leave it almost done but not so much as to prepare it feira.
8. In another casserole, or in the same one (if you use the same broth to cook the octopus, the potatoes will take on color), cook the potatoes with the skin and add an onion and two bay leaves.
9. In twenty minutes they should be ready, try with a fork and remember that we are going to finish preparing them by marking them on the plate.

Preparation of the grilled octopus

1. Peel the garlic and reserve one. The rest we are going to laminate finely.
2. Add the garlic (the whole one too) and 3 or 4 cayennes to a frying pan and confit them.
3. We leave them in the oil for 10 minutes over low heat, remove and add half a teaspoon of paprika.
4. This way we avoid burning the paprika and do not spoil the recipe. Take out the whole garlic and reserve the rest.
5. Heat a little oil on a griddle or frying pan.
6. We place the octopus legs when we see that the plate is already very hot and let them brown on both sides. It is not advisable to do it much so that it does not dry, just five minutes.
7. We do the same with the potatoes that we will cut in two and mark on the plate. We remove and we are mounting the plate.
8. To present it, season the grilled octopus with a little Maldon salt.
9. We serve together with the potatoes with the garlic on top and a little bit of the oil with paprika.
10. Accompany the dish with a teaspoon of garlic oil. I assure you that it is delicious.

Preparation of garlic oil

1. We introduce the whole garlic clove that we have previously confit into the glass of the mixer and add extra virgin olive oil to cover 1 cm of the glass, add a pinch of salt.
2. Then add the egg and put the mixer to the bottom of the glass.
3. We begin to beat leaving it fixed and we will notice that in a few seconds it emulsifies. That is, it turns into cream.
4. At that moment is when we must raise and lower the mixer in a slow motion, in this way we manage to integrate the oil completely with the egg.
5. When it has set, we can increase the volume by adding a little more extra virgin olive oil. Although with this measure it is enough to accompany the recipe.
6. A little garlic oil goes to the potatoes. Garnish with a little La Vera paprika, not too much, just to add color.

You can see all the photos of the step by step in the next album .

Tips for a Suckling Grilled Octopus

• A little advice, rub with the garlic confit the plate already hot, you will see what a good touch it will give to the recipe.
• I have added to the plate a little garlic oil very typical in the Alicante area where I have been on vacation since it is going great, there they put everything from rice to squid.
• It is best to prepare the garlic oil while the potatoes and octopus are being made, and then you can serve it all together while they are still hot.