Neapolitan Octopus Carpaccio

La storia di questo piatto

Octopus is the sea's quiet gift to Campania's table, here rendered tender and sliced thin as marine silk. It is a home-style take on the Neapolitan way with polpo, kept honest and unadorned, with no invented centuries behind it.

Ingredienti

• 1200 g Fresh octopus
• 3 l Water
• 10 g Sea salt
• 2 pieces Fresh lemon (juice and zest)
• 80 ml Extra virgin olive oil
• 20 g Fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 cloves Garlic cloves
• 1 cloves Garlic (for infusing the dressing oil)
• q.b. to taste Freshly ground black pepper

Preparazione

1. Rinse the octopus under cold running water, rubbing vigorously with your hands to remove all sand lodged between the suckers. With a sharp knife, slit the head sac and turn it inside out like a glove: discard the innards and ink sac, then remove the eyes along with the surrounding skin. Locate the hard beak at the center of the tentacles and push it upward from underneath to expel it. Rinse again until the octopus smells only of the sea. To tenderize the muscle fibers without bruising them, you may freeze the fresh octopus for 24 hours in advance and thaw it in the refrigerator; alternatively, give it a few light, gentle taps with a meat mallet. With long, slow cooking and cold service, pounding is not essential.
2. In a large pot, bring 3 liters of water to a rolling boil with 10 g of salt and 2 unpeeled garlic cloves. Grasp the octopus by the head and perform the classic Neapolitan shock: dip it into and withdraw it from the boiling water 3 times, 5 seconds each time, so the tentacles curl up. Then fully submerge it, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low so the water barely simmers, and cook for 45–50 minutes—the cooking is mostly passive during this phase; just check occasionally that the simmer remains gentle. Test for doneness by piercing the thickest part of a tentacle with a skewer or fork: it should yield with light elastic resistance, neither fibrous nor falling apart. Turn off the heat and let it rest in its cooking water for 10 minutes.
3. Drain the octopus without rinsing it, letting excess water drip off well. While still warm—the natural gelatin acts as a binder—arrange it neatly with tentacles drawn tight and parallel. Wrap it snugly in plastic film, rolling it like a compact log, then refrigerate, preferably under a small weight. Active time is about 15 minutes, but refrigeration requires at least 6 hours or overnight: only then will it firm up and hold its shape when sliced. Chill the serving plate as well.
4. Remove the octopus from the refrigerator and unwrap it. With a sharp, slightly dampened knife blade, slice it into paper-thin, almost translucent slices, like delicate petals. Arrange them in a fan pattern on the chilled serving plate, overlapping them just slightly.
5. Season at the last moment: a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in which you've briefly infused a lightly crushed garlic clove (then removed), freshly squeezed lemon juice, a light shower of zest for aroma, freshly chopped parsley, and a grind of black pepper. Taste a slice and adjust the salt if needed. Serve immediately, very cold.