SALPICÓN IS THE SALAD YOU NEED THIS SUMMER

 

Salpicón con pulpo--chopped salad with octopus and shrimp. 

Here’s a salad that will fit any need for your summer entertaining—lavish dinner party to grilling on the terrace. Starter or main dish. Grownups or kids. 

Salpicón is a chopped salad. (The word derives from sal, salt, and picar, to chop.) The popular tapa bar version of it is salpicón de mariscos, a shellfish cocktail with diced peppers and onions and a vinaigrette dressing. 

But salpicón as a cold supper dish goes back, at least, to the end of the 16th century. Remember the lines? En un lugar de La Mancha—Una olla de algo más vaca que carnero, salpicón las más noches— What Don Quixote ate most days of the week: an olla—boiled dinner—with somewhat more beef than mutton, salpicón—leftovers—on most nights for supper. 

Don Quixote’s salpicón was a cold hash, made from chopping together the leftover cooked meat and vegetables from the midday olla and dressing them with salt, olive oil and vinegar. While you could use boiled beef or pot-roasted brisket in your salpicón, I’ve chosen to use grilled steak.

Strips of steak grilled medium-rare are tossed with diced potatoes, slivered onions and a tangy dressing.

Following are recipes for a seafood chopped salad with octopus and a chopped salad with grilled steak. 

Chopped Salad with Octopus

Salpicón con Pulpo

Colorful and fresh, this seafood salad can serve as a starter or main dish.

Cooked octopus tentacles.

You will need cooked octopus for this recipe. Vacuum-packed cooked octopus can be purchased in supermarkets and from fish vendors. (See directions below if you have whole, uncooked octopus.) The cooked octopus tentacles are ready to be used straight from the package. But, for this salad, I chose to add flavor by grilling the octopus tentacles on a plancha before cutting them up.

Instead of octopus, you can use any combination of shellfish and fish that you like—lobster and mussels, crab and scallops, monkfish and shrimp. You get the idea. Although not traditional, a little chopped jalapeño is a nice addition.

Serve the salpicón as a starter, as you would shrimp cocktail, with shredded lettuce in the cocktail cups. Spread it on a platter or shallow bowl for a buffet meal. Toss it with cooked pasta shells for the best pasta salad you’ve ever had!

Diced octopus and shrimp with peppers for salpicón.

Serves 6 as a starter

8 ounces small shrimp

8 ounces cooked octopus tentacles

Oil for the grill pan

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup diced green pepper

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup chopped spring onion

1 small clove garlic, crushed

½ teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)

Pinch of cayenne

3 tablespoons Sherry vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 hard-cooked egg chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Salad greens, to serve (optional)

Cook, peel shrimp for salad.

To cook the shrimp, have ready a bowl of ice water. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil. Add the shrimp. When water returns to a boil, remove the pan from the heat. Let the shrimp set 1 minute. Drain the shrimp and place them in the bowl of ice water. Once cooled, drain the shrimp well and peel them. Cut them in pieces, more or less ¾ inch. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Octopus tentacles on grill pan.

Heat a grill pan and brush it with oil. Grill the octopus tentacles until they are very lightly browned, about 1 minute per side. Remove them from the grill and allow them to cool. When the octopus is cool, use kitchen scissors to cut it into ¾ -inch pieces. Place them in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil. Cover and refrigerate until ready to make the salad.

For the dressing, place the crushed garlic in a small bowl or jar. Add the pimentón, cayenne, vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper.Stir to mix well, then whisk in (or shake) the remaining 5 tablespoons of olive oil.

Combine the two kinds of peppers, onions, chopped egg and half of the chopped parsley in a mixing bowl. Add the cut-up shrimp and octopus. Add the dressing and stir gently to combine. Cover and chill the salad at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours. 

Serve the salad on a platter or in individual dishes, with salad greens, if desired. Sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley. 

Serve salpicón with chunks of bread or crackers for dunking. Pictured are pieces of regañá, a crispbread typical of Andalusia. 

Steak Salad

Salpicón de Carne

Steak salad could be served as a main dish. Add greens, sliced radish, tomatoes.

Grilled entrecôte steak.

I used thinly-cut entrecôte steak for this recipe, cooking it on a ridged grill pan to medium-rare. Any tender steak can be used, char-grilled or pan-cooked.  Alternatively, use deli-sliced roast beef. Use any cooked ham. I used lacón, Galician smoked shoulder-ham. 

 Soaking the slivered onions in salt and vinegar smooths out the onion’s harshness. They are not a true pickle. You will not need all of the sliced onion for the steak salad. Keep the remainder covered and refrigerated. 

By the way, Sherry vinegar, although mellow in flavor, is actually more acidic (7 percent) than white or red wine vinegar (6 percent). If substituting one for another, add more or less, to taste.

Serves 3-4 as a main dish.

Soak onion slices in vinegar.

1 red onion

Salt

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 cup water

1 medium potato

1 carrot

1 egg

8 ounces grilled steak

4 tablespoons Sherry vinegar

Salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon crumbled oregano

1 clove garlic, crushed

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon drained capers

1 cup (3 ounces) diced cooked ham

1/3 cup finely diced celery

Chopped parsley

Salad greens, to serve (optional)

Peel the onion, cut it in half and thinly slice from root end to stem. Place the sliced onion in a jar or bowl. Combine 1 teaspoon of salt, the white wine vinegar and 1 cup water. Pour over the onions and macerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. 

Cut steak into strips.

Cook the whole potato, carrot and egg in boiling salted water until the potato is tender when pierced with a skewer. Drain and cover with cold water. Drain again.

Slice the steak into strips or cubes. Place in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the Sherry vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, the pepper and oregano. Let the meat marinate while preparing the dressing. 

In a small bowl whisk together the garlic, mayonnaise and mustard until smooth. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of Sherry vinegar and the oil. Stir in the capers.

Drain about ¼ cup of the red onions and add them to the macerated steak in the bowl. Peel the potato and carrot, cut them in dice and add to the steak. Add the chopped hard-cooked egg. Add the diced ham and celery. Stir the dressing into the meat and mix well. 

The salad can stand at room temperature for up to 30 minutes. If it is to be kept longer, cover and refrigerate.

Mix chopped parsley into the salad immediately before serving. Serve with salad greeens, if desired.

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To prepare octopus: Fresh, uncooked octopus must first be tenderized by freezing it for three days. Defrost before cooking. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with salt, bay leaf and a quartered onion. Lowering the whole octopus, tentacles first, into boiling water three times then drop it into the pot to cook. The initial hot water dip causes the appendages to curl and the skin to tighten so that it is less likely to split during cooking.

Figure about 10 minutes per pound cooking time. Test after 20 minutes by probing the thick part of a tentacle with a skewer. The octopus is done when the skewer easily pierces the flesh. If not tender, cook 5 minutes more and test again. 

Remove the pot from the heat and leave the octopus in the cooking liquid for 20 minutes before draining. Remove the beak—a hard bit in the center of the tentacles. Turn the head inside-out. Discard the eyes and all the viscera inside the head. The fleshy head and tentacles are now ready for cooking according to the recipe.

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More octopus recipes:

Grilled Octopus with Pimentón Mayonnaise.

Octopus with Tomato Sauce.

Galician Style Octopus and Potatoes.

Octopus with Chorizo and Chickpeas.

More steak and beef recipes:

Spanish-English Steak Glossary.

Steak Sandwich with Mushroom Ketchup.

Hash with Beef.