Chopped Herb Octopus Salad over Crispy Roasted Potatoes and Radishes
Tender octopus tossed with a mountain of chopped parsley and chives, quick-pickled red onion, capers, and celery in a smoky paprika vinaigrette, piled over golden, crispy roasted baby potatoes and sweet roasted radishes. Inspired by the classic Galician dish of octopus and potatoes, finished with your best olive oil, flaky salt, and a dusting of smoked paprika. Naturally grain-free.
Yield: Serves 4 · Active: 25 min · Total: 45 min with tinned or precooked octopus (about 2 hours with fresh) · Year-round (radishes are sweetest in North America in spring and fall) · Best eaten: midday or early evening
Ingredients
Octopus: choose one
Easiest: 2–3 tins (4 oz each) octopus packed in olive oil, drained (save the oil)
Precooked: 1 lb cooked octopus tentacles, from a fishmonger or Spanish market
Fresh: 1 whole octopus (2–3 lb), cleaned, plus 1 onion, 2 bay leaves, and 1 tbsp salt, for simmering
Crispy potatoes and radishes
1½ lb baby potatoes, halved
1 bunch radishes, halved (save 3–4 for shaving raw on top)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or tallow)
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt and ½ tsp black pepper
Quick-pickled red onion
½ red onion, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Smoked paprika vinaigrette
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar (or the pickling vinegar from the onions)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 small garlic clove, grated
Zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt and ¼ tsp black pepper
Chopped herbs and add-ins
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
¼ cup fresh chives, finely chopped
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced on the diagonal, plus a few of its leaves
Optional: green olives, sliced roasted piquillo peppers, cherry tomatoes, shaved fennel, fresh dill or mint, or a pinch of chili flakes
To finish
Your best extra virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt
A dusting of smoked paprika
Lemon wedges
Method
Cook the octopus (fresh only). Bring a large pot of water to a boil with the onion, bay leaves, and salt. Lower the octopus in, return it to a gentle simmer, and cook 45–75 minutes, until a knife slides easily into the thickest part of a tentacle. Let it cool in its liquid for 15 minutes, then cut the tentacles into ½-inch pieces. (Tinned or precooked octopus is ready to use. Just slice it.)
Roast the potatoes and radishes. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast cut-side down for 15 minutes. Add the halved radishes, toss, and roast 15–20 minutes more, until the potatoes are golden and crisp and the radishes are tender and lightly caramelized.
Pickle the onion. Toss the sliced onion with the vinegar and salt, and let it sit 10–15 minutes, until bright pink and softened.
Make the vinaigrette. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, smoked paprika, garlic, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.
Warm the octopus (optional, but lovely). For crispy edges, sear the octopus pieces in a hot skillet with a spoonful of olive oil (or the oil from the tin) for 2–3 minutes. Or just warm it gently.
Toss. Toss the warm octopus with the vinaigrette, pickled onion, parsley, chives, capers, celery, and any add-ins.
Assemble. Spread the crispy potatoes and radishes over a platter, pile the octopus salad on top, and shave the reserved raw radishes over everything. Finish with a drizzle of your best olive oil, flaky salt, a dusting of smoked paprika, and lemon wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Storage
The octopus salad keeps refrigerated up to 2 days (add the herbs fresh if you can). The potatoes are best fresh and crisp, but leftovers recrisp at 425°F in 8–10 minutes.
Nourishment Notes
Octopus — one of the richest food sources of vitamin B12, plus iron, selenium, copper, zinc, taurine, and lean protein.
Potatoes — potassium, vitamin C, B6, and resistant starch, especially when cooled.
Radishes — vitamin C and glucosinolates (at their most potent in the raw slices on top), plus a sweet, mellow flavor when roasted.
Parsley and chives — vitamin K (parsley is one of the richest food sources), vitamin C, and folate.
Red onion and garlic — quercetin, allicin, and prebiotic fibers.
Capers — quercetin and rutin, two flavonoid antioxidants.
Celery — potassium, vitamin K, and apigenin.
Smoked paprika — carotenoids and a warm, smoky depth.
Raw apple cider vinegar — acetic acid for blood-sugar balance.
Extra virgin olive oil — oleic acid and polyphenols.
For your cycle: Octopus's iron and B12 make this especially restorative during the menstrual phase, and the herbs and lemon zest bring vitamin C to help your body absorb that iron. It's a light, bright plate for every phase.
Sourcing
Octopus — wild-caught, ideally from Spain or Portugal, where octopus is traditionally caught with pots and traps; tinned octopus packed in olive oil, in a BPA-free tin, from a Spanish or Portuguese producer
Baby potatoes, radishes, red onion, celery, garlic, parsley, chives, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Capers — salt-packed capers from Pantelleria or Salina, rinsed
Olives and piquillo peppers (optional) — naturally cured olives; roasted piquillo peppers packed in olive oil, in glass
Smoked paprika — organic and non-irradiated (Pimentón de la Vera DOP)
Raw apple cider vinegar — organic, with the mother (Bragg)
Tallow (optional) — rendered from grass-fed suet
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass; save your best bottle for finishing
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall