Grilled Octopus Arugula Salad

Good octopus is hard to find. Hence why I choose to procure mine from Spain nowadays. I bought mine precooked and vacuum-packed, saving me a lot of hassle (and time). They come ready to slice into a cold seafood salad, to warm by slipping the package into a pan of boiling water or to sear briefly in a heavy pan or on the grill with a slather of sauce.

The pressing question then becomes, what to make out of these tender tentacles? Seeing the weather is warming up, I opted for a simple grilled octopus arugula salad.

Grilled Octopus Arugula Salad

INGREDIENTS:

• 330g octopus salad
• 2 cups of arugula
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 lime
• Black pepper, kosher salt, to taste
• 3 tablespoons of Pukara’s lime flavoured extra virgin olive oil

METHOD:

1. Take tentacles out of vacuum sealed pack and wash. Slice octopus diagonally into 2 cm bite-size pieces.
2. Slice and dice the tomatoes.
3. Heat a cast iron pan on high heat and add dash of olive oil.
4. Once hot, throw in the chopped tentacles. As the octopus sears, crack some black pepper and salt to the pan. Squeeze the juice from half a lime too for that extra kick. Sear for roughly 3 minutes in total till you get the lovely golden char marks.
5. Meanwhile, toss together the arugula and diced tomatoes with two tablespoons of Pukara’s lime flavoured extra virgin olive oil. Crack some black pepper and salt. 
6. On a clean plate, layer the mixed arugula tomato salad. Add the perfectly seared octopus tentacles on top. Drizzle some more lime juice. Garnish with a wedge of lime to serve.