Culinary Director of Fusion Resort Cam Ranh P.J. Bosman

This colourful dish from Fusion Resort Cam Ranh is perfect for summer, with fresh octopus served two ways. One is blanched, rolled into a carpaccio style (a dish of meat or fish thinly sliced and served raw), and the second over an open fire to get a smoky flavour.

Octopus Summer Salad

Ingredients

1 whole octopus (around 1 kilogram)

1 lemon (halved)

60g pineapple (cut into cubes)

30g fresh tomato (cut into cubes)

60g smoked tomato (pureed)

60g long beans (pureed)

15g red onion (cut into cubes)

1 red radish (sliced)

5g fennel seed

5 black peppercorns

5g spearmint (thinly sliced)

3 bay leaves

1 red sorrel leaf

30ml kumquat juice

15ml tomato & paprika oil

30ml olive oil

1tsp paprika

Salt

Pepper

Instructions

For the octopus:

- In a pot, add the octopus, lemon, fennel seeds, olive oil, black peppercorns, and a pinch of salt, then add water until the octopus if completely submerged

- Cover the pot with aluminium foil and cook on low heat for 45 minutes or until tender

Octopus Carpaccio:

- Remove the octopus from the water, then cut off its head and separate the tentacles into groups of four

- Use a plastic wrap to compress the four tentacles into a cylinder shape, then place the octopus in the freezer to set

Charred octopus:

- Separate the remaining four tentacles into two groups, making sure that two tentacles in each group are still attached

- Season them with salt, pepper, paprika, and olive oil

- Over an open flame, char the octopus until the outer layer is slightly crisp

For pineapple salsa:

- Char the pineapples using a blow torch

- In a bowl, add in charred pineapple, fresh tomatoes, red onion, spearmint, kumquat juice, and salt, then mix thoroughly

Serving

- Remove the octopus carpaccio from the freezer, then cut into thin slices (around 3mm thin) and remove the plastic wrap

- Arrange the sliced carpaccio into a half-moon shape using five slices per plate

- Put the long bean puree and dried tomato puree on the opposite side of the carpaccio

- Place the charred octopus onto the octopus carpaccio

- Spoon over the salsa, drizzle over the tomato oil and garnish with red sorrel and red radish. VNS