Polvo à LagareiroRoast Octopus with Garlic Oil

A lagareiro is the man who runs the olive press, and this dish is named after him because of how much olive oil goes into it. The octopus is boiled until tender, roasted until the edges crisp, then drowned in hot garlic oil. Batatas a murro on the side are not optional.

The fear with octopus is that it turns out rubbery. It won't if you freeze it first and boil it gently.

The recipe

Polvo à LagareiroRoast Octopus with Garlic Oil

Tender octopus roasted with plenty of olive oil and garlic, served with punched potatoes. Includes the freezing trick that makes octopus soft every time.

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Prep15 min

Cook75 min

Total90 min

Serves4

Ingredients

MetricUS

Serves

4

½×1×2×3×

• 1 octopus (about 1.5 kg), cleaned
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 kg small potatoes for batatas a murro
• 150 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 small bunch parsley, chopped
• Coarse sea salt

Method

1. Freeze the octopus for at least 24 hours, then thaw it in the fridge. Freezing breaks down the fibres. Most fishmongers sell octopus already frozen, which is fine.
2. Put the octopus in a large pot with the onion and bay leaves, but no water and no salt. Cover and cook on medium-low heat. It releases its own liquid.
3. Simmer for 45–60 minutes, until a skewer slides easily into the thickest part of a tentacle.
4. Meanwhile, make the batatas a murro: roast the potatoes in their skins with coarse salt at 200 °C for 35–40 minutes, then punch them open.
5. Heat the oven grill or set the oven to 220 °C. Cut the octopus into tentacles, put them in a roasting dish with the potatoes, and brush with a little oil.
6. Roast for 10–15 minutes, until the edges of the tentacles are crisp.
7. While it roasts, warm the olive oil and garlic in a small pan for 4–5 minutes until the garlic is fragrant but not brown.
8. Pour the hot garlic oil over the octopus and potatoes, scatter with parsley and coarse salt, and serve straight away.

Notes

Clear ticks

Tap ingredients and steps to tick them off. Scaling changes the quantities at the start of each line; check the rest by eye.

Buying octopus

Look for octopus with two rows of suckers on each tentacle: that's the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) used in Portugal. Allow about 350 g raw weight per person, because it shrinks by almost half as it cooks.

From the shop

What you’ll need

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Farberware 6-quart stainless stockpot

A best-selling stockpot for caldo verde, octopus and cooking bacalhau.

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Algarve sea salt

Sea salt from the Algarve salt pans, for coarse-salt roasting batatas a murro and for finishing grilled fish.

Tip: A little goes a long way. Use it for finishing, not boiling water.

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Bordallo Pinheiro cabbage dinner plates, set of 2

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Tip: Handwash to keep the glaze bright for decades.

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