Bring a large pan of water to the boil with the bay leaf, garlic cloves, onion and carrot. Add the octopus and simmer for 45 – 50 minutes
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 octopus, approx 1.25kg, with the head removed
2
Allow the octopus to cool in the liquid, then remove and cut into thin slices. Strain the liquid, discarding the vegetables but reserving the water
3
Add the water back into the pan, add the potatoes and cook for 15 – 20 minutes until tender, then drain
300g of new potatoes, or baby potatoes
4
Add the olive oil to a frying pan and fry the octopus slices until slightly crisp at the edges. Remove the octopus from the pan and allow the oil to cool slightly
80ml of olive oil
5
Stir the pimentón into the warm oil, then add the octopus back to coat
1 tbsp of sweet smoked paprika, ideally pimentón
6
To serve, place the octopus in overlapping rings on plates, with a pile of potatoes in the centre. Spoon over any of the remaining pimentón oil from the pan, and garnish with a few chopped chives and a sprinkling of maldon salt