Octopus Salad With Crispy Vegetables

Ingredients

• 6 medium carrots
• peeled
• 4 small red onions
• peeled
• 2 medium celeriac
• trimmed and peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 2 pounds octopus
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• or more to taste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• or more to taste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Hot red pepper flakes
• 1 cup chopped basil
• plus more for garnish
• 5 red bliss potatoes

Instructions

1. Roughly chop half the carrots, onions and celeriac, and combine in saucepan with bay leaf, peppercorns and white vinegar.
2. Bring to boil, and add octopus, along with water to cover; cook at least 1 hour, or until octopus is tender (check with point of sharp knife).
3. Let octopus cool in cooking water.
4. Discard cooked vegetables.
5. Cut octopus into small pieces, and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, pepper flakes and basil.
6. Marinate, refrigerated, for 3 to 4 hours.
7. Simmer potatoes in salted water until tender.
8. Chop remaining raw vegetables.
9. Blanch carrots for about 5 minutes and onions for about 2 minutes, just to remove some of the crunch; shock in ice water to chill.
10. Mix octopus with raw celeriac, cooked potatoes and blanched carrots and onions.
11. Adjust seasoning, and then drizzle with fresh olive oil and lemon juice, if you like.
12. Garnish with minced basil, and serve.