Mexican-style squid salad with tomatoes, green and red onions, cucumber and coriander.
Have you ever tasted octopus? It tastes a lot like calamari, only meatier, which makes sense considering octopus is something of a giant squid.
One of my favorite dishes from around the world is Mexican octopus salad, or ensalada de pulpo, with fresh tomatoes, cucumber, cilantro, and chilies. It’s fabulous as a side dish or over tacos or tostadas.
Ensalada de pulpo is often prepared like a ceviche, the octopus being “cooked” in an acidic marinade without heat. For this recipe we’re going to take a different approach, using a technique taught to me by Hank Shaw, who cooks and eats a lot of squid.
We boil the squid, first blanching it and then slowly cooking it in its own juices over a bed of aromatic herbs. Slow cooking with no added liquid concentrates the flavor of the octopus while the octopus absorbs the rich aroma of the herbs.
Slow cooking also helps cook the octopus so the meat is tender (just a little tough, like lobster) rather than tough. We then chop the meat and toss it with the other salad ingredients and a lime juice, apple cider vinegar and olive oil marinade and refrigerate for several hours.
Squid Salad (Ensalada de Pulpo)
If using frozen squid, unwrap and place in a large rectangular bowl filled with cold water to thaw.
When you buy a frozen octopus, it’s already cleaned. When you have a squid fresh from the sea, there are a few steps you need to take to prepare it for cooking, which involves removing the beak, eyes, and ink sac. Check out this video or this blog post for good explanations on how to do it.
ingredients
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2 lb Octopuscleaned
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Salt
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Several large branches of Fresh oregano
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Several large branches from fresh parsley
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Several branches of fresh coriander
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1 Cup sown, chopped cucumber (peeled if the skins are thick and bitter, otherwise leave on)
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1/2 Cup finely chopped Red onion
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3 green onionssliced, including some of the dark green ends
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1 fresh jalapenoseeded and chopped (test on heat, if really hot use only a small amount)
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1/2 Cup loosely packed chopped fresh corianderincluding tender stems
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1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
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2 tablespoon lime juice
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2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
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1/4 Cup olive oil
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2 cups chopped, cored tomatoes
method
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Boil octopus in salted water:
Heat a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the raw octopus in the boiling water, bring the water back to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Then take the octopus out of the pot and let it cool on a baking sheet. Discard the cooking water.
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Cut the octopus into large pieces:
Discard anything that doesn’t look like meat (guts, beak, etc.) that has somehow shifted from the cleaning process. Place the squid pieces on the herb bed.
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Bake:
Prepare a bed of herbs (parsley, cilantro, fresh oregano) in a small Dutch oven or Dutch oven. Place the squid pieces on top of the herbs, cover and bake in a 250°F (120°C) oven for 1 3/4 hours until tender (adjust cooking time for smaller or larger squid ).
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Prepare the baked squid pieces:
Take the squid pieces to a sheet pan to cool. When it feels cool, peel off any jelly-like bits surrounding the pieces of squid you don’t want to eat. (It’s a texture thing. If you don’t mind the texture, don’t worry, it tastes good.)
You may also notice small round pieces of flesh that look like eyeballs. These aren’t eyeballs, but parts of the octopus’ suckers on its tentacles. They taste good too, just like the rest of the octopus.
Cut the meat into 1/2 inch pieces. You should have about 2 cups of chopped squid meat.
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Mix with the remaining ingredients (except tomato) and chill:
Place the chopped octopus in a large non-reactive bowl. Add cucumbers, red onion, scallions, cilantro, dried oregano, and jalapeño. Add the lime juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of salt and stir. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
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Stir in the chopped tomatoes to serve.
Links:
Greek Squid, from My Little Expat Kitchen
How to Clean Octopus, YouTube video
Octopus Demystified, from The Splendid Table
Greek-Style Grilled Squid by Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
Japanese Squid Salad from Just One Cookbook
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 535 | calories |
| 19g | Fat |
| 20g | carbohydrates |
| 70g | protein |
