Marinated Octopus Salad

I made this recently and it was really good.




New York Times Cooking's Marinated Octopus Salad.

14 to 16 ounces cooked, cooled octopus (recipe follows) [no, it didn't!]*
1 small red onion, sliced thin
½ cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon drained capers
2 tablespoons sliced pitted calamata olives
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons good-quality red wine vinegar**
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, coarsely chopped
1 bunch arugula, rinsed and dried

Slice the octopus into one-inch pieces and put them in a bowl. Add the onion, celery, capers and olives and mix.  Mix the oil, vinegar and salt and pepper together. Pour over the octopus mixture and toss lightly. Allow to marinate at room temperature at least an hour. Just before serving, fold in the parsley and check seasoning. Serve on a bed of arugula.

*Oh, here it is. I didn't do this because I had a bag of frozen, partially cooked octopus. I thawed it, sauteed it very briefly in olive oil until it started to get pink. It released a lot of liquid. I added the juice of one lemon and refrigerated it for a few hours, then drained it and proceeded with the recipe.

** Since I was craving a lemony flavor I used the juice of one lemon instead of vinegar.