Octopus salad and fresh tarragon creme

Michael Craig

There is something quite delicious about the flavour of fresh octopus which goes well with fresh tarragon. Here, Geoff Scott has made a savoury whipped cream "dressing" to go with the octopus salad. "On the night, we will finish garnishing each plate with an artist's brush stroke of octopus ink," he says.

Ingredients

500 ml	Olive oil
400 g	Octopus, or squid, fresh (Main)
3	Garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1	Bay leaf, fresh or dried
1	Red chilli, fresh, sliced with seeds
8	Black olives
1	Orange, zested and segmented
1	Fennel bulb, sliced

Directions

1. Cook octopus in boiling salted water for 1 minute then plunge into iced water for 1 minute. Repeat two more times; this will help to tenderise the octopus.
2. Peel off the skin and suckers. In a saucepan bring the olive oil, garlic, bayleaf, chilli and olives to the boil. Add the octopus and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and allow the octopus to cool in the oil. It is best left overnight.
3. The next day, remove the octopus from the oil, slice finely and mix with peeled orange segments, orange zest, fennel bulb and slices of the black olives.
4. Drizzle with a little of the octopus oil and season with sea salt flakes and white pepper to taste. Serve with tarragon creme.
5. For the tarragon creme - whisk 1/3 cup of cream, then gently fold in 2 tsp of finely chopped fresh tarragon, a pinch of fine salt and ½ tsp of lemon juice.