Pasta salad with octopus and beans

Pasta fredda con polpo e fagioli borlotti

Pasta salad with octopus and beans Our original home cooking

The pasta salad (insalata di pasta) with octopus and borlotti beans is very simple but a little long to do. You will need: good-quality egg pasta, fresh octopus, borlotti beans in the pod, ripe tomatoes, aromatic herbs (chives, bay leaf and parsley), soya sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Here's the recipe, an exclusive creation of ours!

Italian pasta salad with octopus, beans, ripe tomatoes — Pasta salad (insalata di pasta) with octopus and beans

yeld for 4

250 g (8 3/4oz) dry egg pasta
800 g (1lb and 12 1/4oz) fresh octopus
500 g (1lb and 1 1/2oz) fresh cranberry beans (borlotti beans) in the pod
400 g (14 1/4oz) ripe but firm tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 dried bay leaf
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons soya sauce
Salt

Time:
preparation: 30 minutes
plus octopus cooling time
cooking: about 90 minutes
total: 90 minutes
Difficulty:
easy recipe
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 509 (kCal) 26 % GDA (*) - 2128 (kJ)
Protein: 35.0 (g) 70 % GDA
Total fat: 11.8 (g) 17 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 66.8 (g) 25 % GDA
Sugars: 9.4 (g) 11 % GDA

The recipe of pasta salad with octopus and beans

Prepare the octopus. Clean the octopus and put it in salted boiling water. Lower the heat and simmer, half-covered, for at least 45-60 minutes or until it 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. Put it in a large bowl.

Prepare the borlotti beans. Shell the beans, wash and put them in a little pan. Cover them with cold water, add the bay leaf and bring to the boil. Remember: add no salt! Lower the flame and cook until tender. Generally 40-50 minutes are enough. Add other hot water if necessary. Drain them very well and add to the octopus in the bowl.

Prepare the other ingredients. Wash and peel the tomatoes; dice them.
Add the aromatic herbs, tomatoes, soya sauce and olive oil to the other ingredients in the bowl. Season to taste with salt and stir.

Cook the pasta. Meanwhile cook the pasta al dente stage according to the instructions on the package or our instructions. Drain and stop the cooking under the running cold water. Drain it very well again.

The last step. Pour the pasta into the bowl. Stir accurately but with delicacy.
Wait at least for an hour before serving to let all the ingredients flavor.

Note

- You can prepare this dish ahead. Chill until serving but bring back to room temperature before serving. Take it away from the fridge an hour before serving.
- You can use dried aromatic herbs istead of fresh ones (2 tablespoons of chives and 2 tablespoons of parsley).
- You can also use frozen beans (250 g - 8 1/2oz) instead of fresh beans. If you have no time of cooking them use 1 400 g (14 oz) can beans.
- Serve it as one-plate meal in summer (it serves 4) or in a cold dinner party with other courses (it serves 8) or in a buffet for a ceremony or a special occasion with many other courses (it serves much more people).
- Who likes the taste of raw onion can add it to the ingredients.
- 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. Pasta salad with octopus and beans has high amount of calories and protein. Complete your meal with raw seasonal vegetable if you are still hungry. We suggest vegetables for there are no vegetables in this pasta salad. Besides you have to choose very carefully your dinner courses, preferably based on vegetarian recipes.
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, 120 to 140 g (4 1/4oz to 5oz) beans in the pod, 200 g (7 1/4oz) fresh octopus, aromatic herbs, 100 g (3 1/2oz) or more ripe tomatoes, onion and less than a tablespoon olive oil.
- 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 as we suggest below 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: Vermentino (white wine of Liguria in Italy)