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["Clean the octopus. This involves, if necessary, cutting out the beak and the eyes, cleaning out the head sack and brushing the suckers with your finger to make sure they are clean. Starting from the head, peal off as much of the thick outer skin as you can. No need to get too compulsive about it, you'll never get it all off and it isn't tough or in any way inedible.", "Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. The water should be quite salty, ""like the sea,"" I was taught.", "Once the water has achieved a rapid boil, holding the octopus from the head side, dip the tentacles in the boiling water and hold it there for about 10-15 seconds, then pull it back out again. Let the water return to a rapid boil, then repeat, for a total of three times. This is meant to help you achieve an attractive curl on the ends of the tentacles.", "Finally, ease your octopus all the way into the rapidly boiling water and leave on a hard boil for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the octopus sit in the water for an additional 15-20 minutes.", "Remove the octopus from the water and let it cool for a few minutes so that you can handle it. Then slice it into bite-sized pieces. For the tentacle, the small tips can be left longer, but most of the tentacle you will slice into 14-3/8"" rounds.", "Arrange the octopus in a single layer on a serving platter (a wooden dish was traditionally used, but I find white porcelain to be quite pretty). Drizzle over the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and dust with the pimenton."]
