Grilled octopus with potato, bean, onion and dill salad

Octopus may seem daunting to cook, but it’s not really that hard and is well worth the effort. It’s fine to use frozen octopus rather than fresh: in fact, some claim that it’s even better because the freezing causes cell walls within the flesh to rupture, which tenderizes it. This technique of slowly baking the octopus, rather than boiling it, comes from Paul Melville, the talented chef running The Providores kitchen when we shot this dish. If you can’t find a large octopus