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1. Italian Baby Octopus Salad - Yahoo Recipe Search

   Food.com

   Squid (Calamari) Salad and Octopus (Polipo) Salad

   Living by Boston's waterfront, we always had access to the freshest seafood. We were within walking distance of the docks where fishing boats loaded their catch into a large processing warehouse. Fish were hand cleaned, fileted and sorted. Most were destined for distribution to restaurants and markets. Limited days and times were opened to the public. Locally at the corner of Salem and Cross Streets was Giuffre's Fish Market. It was a well-known Boston treasure featuring a huge selection of the freshest seafood anywhere. Squid was almost a throw away species, often used for bait. Being Italian, we knew how special they were. Competition kept prices low but once the general population was exposed to fried calamari and other squid specialties, prices skyrocketed. The availability of squid already cleaned also increased demand and costs. Baby octopus was available in the North End but seldom seen in traditional grocery store chains outside. Today's pricing also suggests demand is still limited. My local gourmet grocery store sold the pound of baby octopus in the picture below for almost half the price of the squid they displayed. Squid and octopus’s salads were almost always in our refrigerator, available for lunch, snacks, or even as a main course with hunks of artesian bread. Please make this dish a day ahead. Sitting overnight, garlic mellows and flavors merge. Don't get me wrong, it's terrific when first made but even better with time. You can also add a little more lemon and can adjust salt. Serve with a spoon. Every mouthful is best with an ample puddle of dressing. Squid submerged in boiling water cooks quickly. Smaller 3" to 5" squid tubes cut into rings takes about a minute, larger and thicker, perhaps a minute and a half. If steaming, about 3 minutes for smaller tubes. Squid is cooked when rings just begin to firm. Anything more, they will become tough and rubbery. Although octopus is thicker, they seem to cook even quicker before becoming tougher. Some use a dipping technique, plunging raw octopus in and out of a pan of boiling water to ensure they don't overcook.

   Food52

   Octopus and Potato Salad (Insalata di polpo e patate)

   Octopus and potato salad is a favorite dish all along the Italian coast. You can find it in practically every Tuscan and Ligurian port. Cleaning the octopus involves removing the eyes, beak, and innards, and rinsing under cold water—this is often already done when bought from a fishmonger or at a supermarket or if you have bought it frozen, but at my fresh-off-the-boat fisherman’s shop front, they are just as they were pulled out of the water. Freezing the fresh octopus helps to tenderize it; alternatively, you can buy it already frozen and defrost it at home. If you have a larger octopus, 45 to 60 minutes of cooking usually suffices. Baby octopus cooks in a much shorter time; 20 minutes can be plenty. Once cooled and chopped into pieces, it makes a delicious salad with potato, thinly-sliced celery, a handful of parsley, and a dressing of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice (if you like, black olives go nicely here, too). Eat it room temperature or chilled—on a hot day, this is one of my very favorite meals.

   Food52

   Grilled Squid with Fennel and Grapefruit

   I usually despise squid and octopus. There is nothing worse than getting an overcooked piece of octopus and chewing on it for hours as if it were a nasty piece of fish-flavored gum. Once, however, at a tiny Italian restaurant in Northern California I had a Calamari salad that I actually liked. The fact that I am still thinking about it today, years later, surprises me due to my torrid history with the stuff. The salad was bright and flavorful with bites of citrus and parsley. I gobbled down the salad with delight as my dining companions watched on with part horror and part bewilderment on their faces. I tried to put my own spin on this Squid Salad recipe. It turned out edible, and maybe even a bit enjoyable. Taking from that citrus and parsley memory, I marinated the grilled squid in a lemon, grapefruit, white wine, and parsley mixture and found the end result was quite palatable.