As you can see from the photo, I am working on making things prettier by spending more time on my plating. I still have a long way to go as this is really not one of my strengths and, while I am making progress and had fun sprinkling black lava salt on the plate and trying to group items artistically, even I can see that my arugula could have been distributed and fluffed better to improve my plate.
That being said, the dish was good and, despite having multiple elements, simple to make. The only thing that I would do, should I make it again, would be to use fingerling potatoes. Purple potatoes are lovely but roasting them dimmed the beautiful, vibrant purple color that makes them so striking on a plate.
This dish serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as a main course.
1 octopus (anywhere between 1 and 2 lbs), cleaned and debeaked
2 bay leaves
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp fennel seed
1 lemon, zested and juiced + 1 lemon, halved
1/2 tsp ground bay leaf
6 Creamer purple potatoes, scrubbed, halved
1 bunch arugula, washed, dried and stemmed
2 Tbsps olive oil (1 tsp + 1 Tbsp + 2 tsps)
Salt to taste
Put 5 cups of water in a large stockpot and salt as you would pasta water. Add the bay leaves, red pepper flakes and fennel seeds and the 2 lemon halves and bring to a boil. Add the octopus, lower the heat, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
Drain, place in an ice bath to stop it cooking further. Peel off the skin and suckers (don't panic while reading this, they all rub right off), separate into tentacles. Place the lemon zest, ground bay and 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a bowl. Stir well, add the tentacles and toss to coat in the lemon flavored oil. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 370.
Toss the potato halves in 1 Tbsp of the oil, salt well, place each half in one part of a muffin tin and distribute the oil remaining in the bowl evenly over the top of the potatoes. Bake for 40 minutes, turning the potatoes at the half way mark. I cannot take credit for this method, which Stubbie came up with, and which makes for proper, beautifully crispy roasted potatoes. I think that this is because the metal of the muffin tins must conduct heat and crisp up the potatoes better than having them flat on a baking tin.
While the potatoes are cooking, wash and dry the arugula. Set aside. Prepare a dressing with the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil and the juice from half the zested lemon.
As soon as you remove the potatoes from the oven, turn on the broiler, tip the octopus onto a baking tin and broil until charred in places, about 2-3 minutes per side. Sprinkle with the juice from the remaining half of zested lemon.
Check for salt, toss the arugula in its dressing, plate and serve at once.