Octopus stew – Spanish-style

Octopus stew – Spanish-style, flavoured with garlic, paprika and white wine makes a fantastic tapas-style dish. Serve with lots of crusty bread to mop up all the delicious gravy.

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Octopus stew – Spanish style

I first tasted this octopus stew a few years ago while on holiday in Spain. I must admit, I wasn’t too keen, never having eaten octopus before. But one mouthful was enough to convince me that this was something special.

It was made with melt-in-the-mouth tender pieces of octopus in a tasty tomato-based broth, flavoured with garlic and paprika, and packed with perfectly cooked potatoes and sweet onions.

It was part of a tapas spread that we’d ordered, and it arrived with a bowl of fresh crusty bread to soak up all the delicious gravy.

Poor hubby didn’t get a look in! I left him to eat the other tapas dishes and scoffed the entire bowl of octopus stew myself (although I did let him taste one spoonful).

The only way to make it (in my opinion)

When we got back home I set about trying to recreate the octopus stew myself. The first attempt was a massive failure. I cooked it in a saucepan on the stove but didn’t leave it to cook for long enough and the octopus was tough and chewy.

The second attempt wasn’t much better. This was made in a casserole in the oven, and while the octopus was tender, the potatoes cooked away to mush!

The third attempt was much better. I cooked the octopus in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes, then added the potatoes and cooked it for a further 5 minutes. The outcome was almost perfect but the broth was too thin.

So – and here’s the trick – I grated one of the potatoes before adding it to the pressure cooker and the result was perfect. The grated potato released enough starch the thicken the broth without the need for adding any thickening agents.

In my opinion, the pressure cooker route is the way to go. But don’t worry, if you don’t have a pressure cooker I’ve learned from my mistakes and included instructions for making this octopus stew either in a saucepan or in the oven, so you can get perfect results whichever way you choose to go.

What you will need

Equipment

First and foremost you will need a pressure cooker. This is similar to the one I use, but if you don’t have an electric pressure cooker, you can use a normal stove-top pressure cooker instead.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can use either a saucepan and cook the octopus stew on the stove, or use a casserole dish and cook it in the oven.

In addition, you will need a box grater for grating the potato, and a sharp knife and a chopping board for cutting everything up.

Ingredients

This octopus stew will serve at least 4 to 6 people as part of a tapas spread.

**You can get the complete recipe on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

Octopus – I bought fresh octopus from my local supermarket, which had already been cleaned and prepared. You can use frozen octopus if you can’t get fresh. Octopus shrinks (a lot) when it is cooked, and what looks like a large helping of raw octopus will shrink by more than half when it is cooked.

Potatoes – use waxy potatoes that don’t break apart during cooking. The traditional way of preparing the potatoes for octopus stew is to cut halfway through the potatoes with a sharp knife and then break them in half so that they release their starch into the stew. I’ve found that the potatoes thicken the stew more easily if you grate one of the potatoes on a box grater instead.

Canned tomatoes – get a good quality canned tomato – the cheaper supermarket ‘own brand’ doesn’t have the same depth of flavour.

Olive oil – I like to use extra virgin olive oil.

Onion – this should be cut into large pieces and separated into individual petals.

Garlic – as much as you like. You can use ready-crushed garlic from a jar if you don’t have fresh garlic cloves.

Paprika – add a smokey flavour to the dish.

White wine – use wine that you would actually drink – a bad-tasting wine won’t improve with flavour when cooking. If you don’t want to use alcohol, just substitute the wine with extra stock.

Stock cube – I like to use vegetable stock because I don’t want to include any meat flavour into the dish. If you have ready-made vegetable stock, by all means, use that, but a vegetable stock cube is a perfectly acceptable alternative.

Salt and sugar – for seasoning. I always add a teaspoon of sugar whenever I’m cooking with tomatoes because I think it enhances the flavour.

These are not pictured, but sliced red peppers (capsicum) would make a tasty addition.

What to do

Start off by rinsing the octopus under cold running water. Pay particular attention to the tentacles and make sure they are completely clean.

Cut the octopus

Make the octopus stew

The octopus should be fork-tender. If your octopus was quite large it may need a few minutes longer, but remember it will be cooked for a further 5 minutes along with the potatoes.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Keep one medium potato aside.

Grate the medium potato on the largest holes of a box grater (approximately half a cup of grated potato).

Add the grated potato to the octopus along with the remaining potatoes.

Select the ‘Stew’ function and cook for a further 5 minutes.

It should have thickened sufficiently from the starch in the potatoes.

If the sauce seems too thin, set the pressure cooker to the saute or browning function and leave it to simmer for a few minutes (without the lid) to allow some of the liquid to evapourate.

This sauce is not meant to be too thick, it should be runny enough to soak into the crusty bread.

Serve with slices of crusty bread as part of a tapas meal.

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Cook on the stove

To cook octopus stew in a saucepan on the stove:

• Brown the onions lightly in olive oil in a large saucepan.
• Add the rest of the ingredients (except the potatoes).
• Cover the saucepan with a lid and simmer for 60 minutes until the calamari is fork-tender.
• Add the grated potato and the chopped potatoes and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and the gravy has thickened.
• Leave the lid off the pan for the last 5 minutes to allow some of the liquid to evapourate if the sauce seems too thin.
• Check the level of the liquid occasionally and add extra stock if necessary.

Cook in the oven

To cook octopus stew in the oven:

• Brown the onions lightly in olive oil in a frying pan on the stove.
• Transfer the onions to an oven-proof casserole dish, and add the remaining ingredients (except the potatoes).
• Cover with a lid and bake in a preheated oven (200C / 400F) for 90 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and add the grated potatoes and the chopped potatoes.
• Return the dish to the oven and cook for another 40 minutes until the potatoes are done.
• Remove the lid for the last 10 minutes if the sauce seems too thin.
• Check the level of the liquid occasionally and add extra stock if it seems to be drying out.

How to serve octopus stew

I like to serve this dish tapas-style, with lots of other dishes to accompany it. A tapas meal is a great way to get sociable with friends and family around the dinner table.

That said, this octopus stew would make a fantastic starter.

You could also turn it into a complete meal by adding extra vegetables to the pressure cooker when you add the potatoes. I’m thinking that sliced red peppers would go well, as would a cup of shredded cabbage. The only other accompaniments you would need would be the crusty bread and a fresh green salad

More tapas recipes

If you are looking for other tapas recipes to make with the octopus stew, here are some you might like to try:

• Spanish croquettes with chorizo chicken
• Easy Spanish tortilla with new potatoes
• Blistered padron peppers
• And you can find another 50 tapas recipes on the BBC Good Food website.

Can I freeze octopus stew?

You can freeze any cooled leftover octopus stew in a suitable container for up to 2 months.

Defrost it in the refrigerator and then transfer it to a saucepan and reheat on the stove until piping hot. Serve immediately and do not refreeze.

Save for later

If you would like to try this octopus stew yourself, why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily. Just click on the image below.

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Other recipes

If this isn’t quite what you are looking for, why not try some of my other seafood recipes:

• Fresh mussels with pasta in tomato sauce
• Monkfish in Serrano ham with lobster risotto
• Seafood a la king
• Chicken and seafood paella
• Easy pasta pescatore with seafood

The recipe