Ensalada de Pulpo y Garbanzos (Octopus and Chickpeas Salad)

This salad has many variations, Cubans make it with canned octopus and chayote, Italians and Greeks also prepare their own version adding or omitting a few ingredients, but no matter what version you make, it is always a delicious way to start a meal.



Ingredients for 4 servings

2 pounds fresh or defrosted clean octopus
1 onion halved
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 can chickpeas 16 Oz
1/2 cup roasted red peppers drained and cut into strips
1/2 cup minced cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 1/2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper.

Wash the octopus over running water making sure is clean. In a pressure cooker, place the octopus with enough water to cover, the halved onion and the garlic cloves. Bring to a boil over high heat and seal the cooker. Once the pressure is reached lower the temperature to medium  and cook for about 20 minutes. Use quick pressure release, remove the octopus and drain. Discard the cooking water.

Place the octopus in a bowl with cold water to cool. Once is cold enough to handle, over running water rub w the octopus with your hands to remove the dark outer skin, it should come off very easy.

Heat a cast iron grill or barbecue. Cut the octopus into big pieces, leaving the tentacles whole. Rub with salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil and grill until crisp and brown. Remove from the heat and cut into smaller pieces or leave whole if you want to serve it on top of the salad.



In a salad bowl place the chickpeas drained, the roasted red peppers, red onion, cilantro. In a small bowl mix the olive oil and vinegar, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add oil mix to the salad bowl and mix well.
Before serving add the octopus to the salad and mix.








Comments

  1. Hi there!

    My name is Steve Walters and I recently started blogging at http://www.eatingbangkok.com, which is currently being updated with recipes, but in the next few months will be my vehicle for covering the food and restaurant scene in Bangkok Thailand.

    I am now in the process of meeting as many food bloggers as I can and I found your site http://lossaboresdemicocina.blogspot.com recently and was pretty impressed. I've added your site to my Foodie Blogs list here: http://www.eatingbangkok.com/foodie-blogs/ and would also like to add you to my blogroll.

    If you could add my site to your blogroll and write back to let me know it has been added (foodie [at] eatingbangkok.com) I will add you to mine as well and the exchange would be greatly appreciated!

    As you might imagine I am very excited to get moved to Bangkok and get started on covering the food scene there as I feel it is an area that isn't well covered by English speaking bloggers. I plan on adding loads of great reviews, pictures and even video and will be holding contests as well. It should be fun, entertaining and informative for everyone that visits.

    Thank you so much in advance for adding me to your blogroll and I look forward to reading your posts (I've subscribed!) and maybe even featuring some of your own posts as I do plan on a weekly roundup of Thai themed recipes and posts from other food bloggers.

    Warm regards,
    Steve

    P.S. If you are on Twitter I would love to have you as a follower and I follow back:
    http://www.twitter.com/eatingbangkok

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Steve, for your comment and for adding me to your blogroll. I've added you as well and followed on twitter.

    I'll be reading yours often as I'm a fan of Thai cuisine..we'll keep in touch.

    Cheers,

    Bernie.

    ReplyDelete

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