Last time cooking octopus, I followed what's known traditionally as the "pot no water method," just adding some aromatics and then giving it a slow covered roasting in the oven. All good, but slow is… slow. Sometimes you want a pulpo salad a bit quicker, right?

Last weekend, I bought two pieces and just plopped them in a pot, added water with some vinegar, bay leaf and let it boil for about a half hour. At the market, a man in line had asked me how I cooked octopus. It turned out that he and his wife had just vacationed in Spain, enjoyed the local variety enormously, and now wanted to try making it home. So I told him what I just told you. And then I went home and tried to follow my advice. It failed miserably. 

Well, my new found food market friend, I hope you had better luck. My 30 minute boil method led to an awfully tough piece of "pulpo." Well, after scratching my head a moment, I decided to take out my Fagor pressure cooker, which ten minutes later, well, success! Or at least decent enough to attempt this blog entry. So if you're the fellow I spoke to at the store the other day, big apologies for my directions but here's some new ones… pressure cook it!

Oh and here is the salad, tender and delicious impromptu  pulpo a'la plancha with salad.