Pasta salad with octopus

Pasta fredda al polpo

Pasta salad with octopus and green beans Our original home cooking

Pasta salad with octopus and green beans is a typical example of our original home cooking.
In summer our preferred main dish is pasta combined with vegetables and/or fish, a perfect cold dish when it's hot! The ingredients of this pasta salad dish are: good-quality short pasta, octopus, ripe tomatoes, green beans (also called string beans or French beans), parsley, chives and extra virgin olive oil. Obviously it's one-plate meal.
Here's the recipe as we are used to do at home!

Pasta salad with octopus, the photo shows the plate full of rotini (penne noodles or fusilli), octopus and green bean pieces — Pasta salad (insalata di pasta) with octopus and green beans

yeld for 4

1 kg (2lb and 3 1/4oz) fresh octopus
6 ripe but firm tomatoes (about 400 g - 14 1/4oz)
250 g (8 3/4oz) frozen green beans, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons dried chives
2 tablespoons dried parsley
250 g (8 3/4oz) dried short pasta (rotini pr penne)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Time:
preparation: 20 minutes
plus cooling time for octopus
cooking: about 90 minutes
total: 100 minutes
Difficulty:
easy recipe
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 502 (kCal) 26 % GDA (*) - 2099 (kJ)
Protein: 33.3 (g) 67 % GDA
Total fat: 11.1 (g) 16 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 59.7 (g) 23 % GDA
Sugars: 12.0 (g) 14 % GDA

The recipe of pasta salad with octopus and green beans

Prepare the octopus. Clean the octopus and put it in salt boiling water. Lower the heat and simmer, half-covered, for at least 45 minutes or until its meat is tender. Switch off the gas and let the octopus cool in the cooking liquid. At this point skin the octopus and cut it into small pieces.

Cook the pasta together with green beans. Bring to the boil abundant salt water and add, at first, green beans and then, when the water is boiling again, the pasta too. You have to calculate exactly the cooking times for green beans and pasta in order the reach the right cooking at the same time. For this reason we suggest to use frozen green beans. Read the instructions on the package both the green beans and pasta. For more details read also our instructions.

Prepare the tomatoes. Meanwhile peel the tomatoes, remove their seeds and chop them. Put them in a large bowl together with octopus, aromatic herbs and olive oil.

The last step. Drain the pasta and green beans together, run under cold water to stop the cooking and drain again very well. Transfer them to the bowl and stir with delicacy.

Note

- We make this pasta salad with different kinds of pasta. In the photo you can see oregano-and-tomato flavored pasta.
- In summer you can use fresh green beans, chives and parsley for the best result.
- Prepare this pasta salad an hour before serving it. If you prepare this dish some hours ahead you have to chill it but remember to bring it back to room temperature half an hour to an hour before serving.
- Make it in summer for your family or for a complete menu for a special occasion. It can be a course in a buffet party all year. Read more on our blog ...
- What are the most important rules to make a tasty pasta salad? Read more ...

Healthy eating

- Pasta salad is a dish rich in ingredients and so it is necessary to calculate the right amount of everything we use not to exceed calories, fat and sugars.
- Daily menu. Note the amount of calories and protein and the combination of its ingredients. It can be only one-plate meal. Complete your meal with fresh seasonal fruit. We remember pasta should be eaten preferably at lunch and the calories eaten at lunch should be 500 - 700 (30 - 35% of energy needs for an adult if his daily needs are about 2000 calories and he correctly divides his calories into 5 micro-meals).
Here are the doses per head: 60 g (2 1/4oz) pasta, 60 g (2 1/4oz ) green beans, 1 to 2 tomatoes even big (don't worry about the amount of vegetables ... it seems to have a fuller plate if there are a lot of vegetables and for those who are eternally hungry it's a good trick, isn't it?), 250 g (8 3/4oz) octopus, aromatic herbs and less than one tablespoon olive oil.
- For the high protein this pasta salad dish has we suggest to eat vegetables at dinner. Read more on our blog ...
- Special occasion menu. Don't worry about fat, calories, sugars ... it happens rarely, doesn't it?
- If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
- If you want to know more about Italian pasta and its nutrition value read this page.
- We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavours that substitutes salt. Other salt-free recipes ...

What's the right wine ?

Our suggestion is: Regaleali Bianco (a white wine of Sicily)