Baby octopus salad

I've had octopus on the mind lately, so when Broad Branch for the first time I've ever seen had a little pile of baby octopuses in their fish counter, I bought one to try it.

The first task was to figure out what I had, since the recipes I looked at were talking about an octopus weighing 2 to 3 pounds, and mine was only 5 ounces. But it definitely wasn't a squid, and Google Images helped me determine it's what is called a baby octopus.

Mark Bittman has octopus recipes in his Fish, but these are the big daddies. He does say that octopus is underappreciated in this country and he knows people who swear it's better than lobster. Epicurious came up with a nice and easy recipe for baby octopus salad.

Let me say right away that the result was a revelation. I've had and enjoyed both octopus salad and grilled octopus, but cooking it fresh at home introduced me to a new and better version. This octopus came out tender, not chewy, with a delicate flavor that hinted of fish but had that creamy sweetness you associate with lobster or crab, only with a firmer texture.

You just simmer the octopus in water with a bay leaf for 45 minutes, drain and, when cooled, toss in a vinaigrette of oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oregano and leave it sit for 20 minutes. Squeamish alert. These little guys have tentacles with little sucking pads on them and they start moving in the water as cooking tightens and curls the flesh. The water turns purple and the boiled octopus comes out purple. The recipe says to cut off the head and then cut it in half lengthwise. I chopped the tentacles into smaller pieces, the way I've seen in salads that I've had. I for once was out of lemons so substituted a dash of white wine vinegar.

The result was a new treat that I can't wait to repeat. Hopefully, this was not a one-off appearance at Broad Branch. The octopuses seemed fresh but may have been thawed out. Bittman says that most octopuses are caught offshore in this country and then shipped to Europe. The frozen octopus available here goes that route. The only other time I shopped for octopus was at the Fishery and they brought out a kilo-size block of frozen fish that was way too much for just me, since Andrea practically turned ill at the sight of even a baby octopus.