Spanish potato salad with grilled octopus

“Kiwifruit contains a natural enzyme that helps tenderise the octopus, so no cement mixers required here. With such simple ingredients, it’s important to use good quality Spanish sherry vinegar and olive oil because the warm potatoes will suck up all the flavours of the dressing.” Shane Delia, Shane Delia’s Moorish Spice Journey

• serves

  6-8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Pickled octopus

• 1 kg baby octopus, cleaned, beaks removed
• 50 ml white vinegar
• 1 kiwifruit, peeled and pureed
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 thyme sprigs
• pinch of smoked sweet paprika, to taste

Spanish potato salad

• 800 g mixed potatoes such as kipfler, desiree and purple, peeled and cut into similar sizes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 250 ml (1 cup) olive oil
• 2 tbsp De Soto sherry vinegar
• 180 g (1 cup) Spanish green olives, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1 French shallot, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
• 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Seville orange, zested
• 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

Marinating time 12 hours

You will need to begin this recipe 1 day ahead.

Instructions

To make the pickled octopus, place all the ingredients and 500 ml (2 cups) water in a large non-reactive bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours. Drain the octopus and discard the liquid.

The following day, to make the potato salad, place the potato in a saucepan of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes or until tender when tested with a sharp knife. Drain, then break the potatoes in half and place on a tray. Drizzle all over with olive oil and toss gently to coat well. Drizzle with vinegar, then season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a chargrill over high heat. When hot, grill the octopus for 2-3 minutes or until charred and just cooked through. Season with salt and pepper, then remove from the grill and cut into bite-size pieces. Combine the octopus with the potato, olives, shallot, spring onion, garlic and parsley, then transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with the orange zest and smoked paprika to finish.

Shane Delia's Moorish Spice Journey starts Thursday 15 October 2015 at 8pm on SBS and finishes 17 December 2015. Visit the Shane Delia's Moorish Spice Journey program page to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes and read our interview with Shane.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.