N and I have just come back from 2 weeks sailing the Adriatic and exploring Spain. It was a fantastic late summer holiday and coming back to the cold and wet has been nothing less then traumatic!
We used to wake up to morning swims and dolphins. Spending the day cruising coves and beaches. Then falling into bed after too much seafood and wine. All made even better by the fact that we were surrounded by friends and family.
Croatia served up the most delicious seafood. Octopus could be found on every menu; open fire ovens served up the juiciest squid and langoustines; mixed shells and catch of the day added a touch of lucky dip to what always ended up being a dinner of sharing plates.
As you can imagine the holiday blues are hitting hard!
This little creation served up a quick fix however – bringing some of those sunshine flavours to a dark and wet evening. What was even better was that using shop bought Octopus Carpaccio meant to was super quick.
If you haven’t tried it before and your an octopus fiend like me I totally recommend getting your hands on some. My favorite brand is Medusa. You should be able to find it most supermarkets, but I can vouch for Waitrose/Ocado.
Another great way to speed up this recipe is to pop by your local sushi counter. There you can get precooked fresh tentacles pretty cheap. In London my favorite places are Japan Centre in Central and Atari-Ya (numerous locations).
Octopus & Nduja Crushed Potato Salad
- 1 Tbs Nduja
- 150g Octopus Carpaccio (I usually go for Medusa which you can buy in most supermarkets but you can always use another brand or use fresh octopus)
- Bag of lambs lettuce
- 2 spring onion, sliced
- 100g new potatoes
- Pinch of black pepper
- Juice of half a lemon
Drain octopus/slice precooked tentacle thinly.
Slice potatoes in half and boil in salted water for 10 minutes. Drain.
In a separate pan gently dissolve Nduja with a splash of olive oil. Add in potatoes and mix together. Once you’ve got a lovely orange glow to your potatoes take the pan off the heat and crush with a fork.
Add octopus and lemon juice combining everything together.
Add a pinch/few grinds of black pepper.
Serve on a bed of lambs lettuce, with a sprinkle of spring onion.