Italian
Octopus and Chickpea Salad
by Casa Pappagallo · 705K subscribers on YouTube
A fresh and light summer salad with tender octopus, creamy chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, olives, and aromatic herbs, dressed with a simple lemon-olive oil emulsion.
- Cook
- 35 min
- Difficulty
- medium
Ingredients
14 items- 2 pcsOctopusthawed if frozen
- 1 pcsOnionsmall, for cooking the octopus
- 2 pcsBay Leavesbay leaves, for cooking the octopus
- Saltfor cooking water and final seasoning
- Chickpeascooked chickpeas
- Paprikasweet or spicy, to taste
- Tomatoescherry or ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 pcsSpring Onionspring onion, including green part
- Basilfresh basil, chopped
- Mintfresh mint leaves, chopped
- Parsleyfresh parsley, chopped
- OlivesTaggiasche or other olives
- 1/2 pcsLemonjuice of half a large lemon, plus more for dressing
- Olive Oilextra virgin olive oil, for cooking and dressing
Method
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Season with a pinch of salt, add one onion and a couple of bay leaves.
- Add the thawed octopus (two small ones) to the boiling water. Cook for about 35 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let the octopus cool in the cooking liquid for at least 30 minutes (preferably longer).
- While the octopus cools, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a pan. Add the cooked chickpeas and a sprinkle of paprika (sweet or spicy to taste). Sauté for a couple of minutes, then set aside.
- Prepare the salad base: In a large bowl, add chopped tomatoes, sliced spring onion (including the green part), chopped basil, mint, and parsley. Mix gently.
- Add a handful of Taggiasche olives (or your favorite olives) to the bowl.
- Once the octopus is cool enough to handle, remove it from the liquid. Separate the tentacles and cut them into bite-sized pieces, leaving some tentacle ends whole if desired.
- Add the cut octopus to the bowl, then add the sautéed chickpeas (still warm). Mix everything well.
- Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the salad.
- Prepare the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the juice of the remaining lemon half with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt (if needed, since the octopus was already salted).
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat evenly. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.
- Serve the salad at room temperature, garnished with an extra drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Casa Pappagallo
Home cook705K subscribers on YouTube163.1M total channel viewsCasa Pappagallo, casa nostra! Proprio così, vi apro le porte di casa mia per condividere con tutti voi ricette, i miei esperimenti di produzione agroalimentare e tanto altro.
