Tiradito de Pulpo al Olivo

Braised Octopus with Aceituna Botija Sauce & Olive Tapenade

This recipe is my updated version of the classic octopus tiradito pulpo al olivo, or octopus with creamy Botija olive sauce. The first time I cooked octopus, I’d talked my way into running a catering gig in Lima for a couple hundred people. I overheard a guy asking if anyone knew a caterer for a convention he had coming up. I told him that sure, I had done catering gigs before, which was a complete lie, but I was a confident sixteen-year-old—or maybe estúpido is the better word.

I rounded up a couple of my friends, and we headed down to the docks where we bought the most gigante live octopus we could find. It had beady black eyes and looked like it would be more than happy, given the chance, to strangle all of us with its tentacles. The fisherman handed the pulpo over in a plastic sack, and we hailed a taxi and tossed it in the trunk. We were almost home when we heard the sirens of a police car. When our cabdriver pulled over, we all looked at each other. Which of us was the idiot who did something wrong? It turned out that the octopus was a little Houdini. It had escaped from the bag, and its tentacles were dangling out of the trunk. We shoved the octopus back into the bag, closed it tightly this time, and when we got home, fired up a huge pot of water and got that octopus into the pot rápidamente. I don’t remember what I made with that octopus, only that the catering event was a success. Today, this is the octopus dish I would make to really impress the pulpo uninitiated at an event. Since you can boil and slice the octopus up to a day ahead, it’s also very easy to assemble at the last minute.

  • ¼ cup homemade ponzu (page 37)
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 8 (¼-inch-thick) slices octopus tentacle (3 to 4 ounces), blanched (see sidebar, page 100)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons Aceituna Botija Sauce (page 181)
  • About ¼ cup Botija Olive Tapenade (recipe)
  • 1 small heirloom tomato, sliced into small wedges
  • 4 or 5 thin slices Persian or Japanese cucumber, quartered
  • Small handful of arugula

1 Mix together the ponzu and olive oil in a small dish and spoon the sauce on the bottom of one large or four small plates. Neatly arrange the octopus slices on top of the sauce with about ½ inch of space between each slice. If you are using a large, round serving platter, you can arrange the octopus in a circle, like the rays of the sun, or use a long, rectangular plate and arrange the octopus down the middle.

2 Drizzle the aceituna Botija sauce on the octopus slices and place a small dollop (about 1 teaspoon) of the Botija olive tapenade in the center. Mound the tomatoes, cucumbers, and arugula in the center of the platter along with any remaining tapenade, or alongside each individual plate. Serve inmediatamente.

Botija Olive Tapenade

Makes about ½ cup, enough for 2 large tiradito plates

  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • Generous pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoon finely chopped Peruvian Botija olives or Kalamata olives
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped freshly roasted or jarred red bell peppers
  • 2 tablespoons minced shallots

Stir together the olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, and salt and black pepper in a small bowl. Add the olives, roasted peppers, and shallots and toss all of the ingredients to combine. Use right away, or cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.