Octopus Carpaccio

My instinct as a chef is to serve everything fresh, straight from the kitchen. It's the right way to treat great food, but it's also a guaranteed way to spend the whole evening at the stove while everyone else is having fun. That's why I've been leaning into dishes like this octopus carpaccio. It looks impressive, but every part of it gets done ahead, so by the time guests arrive, all that's left is to spoon a tomato salad on top and drizzle with olive oil.

Most supermarkets in Japan sell pre-boiled octopus legs so you don't even need to do any cooking. If you're not in Japan, try checking seafood markets or Japanese/Asian supermarkets. The only effort that goes into this is a bit of knife work to slice the octopus thinly. Octopus can have a firm, meaty bite, so thick slices will be chewy and stubborn.

The marinade is just lemon juice and salt, but it pulls triple duty. It seasons the octopus, it knocks back any of that low-tide smell, and the acid does something I never get tired of watching: the skin shifts from a muted purple to a vivid red right there in the bowl.

The topping is a refreshing salad of diced tomato, sweet onion, and a big handful of flat-leaf parsley, though cilantro, tarragon, or mint all work, and I flip between them depending on what I have on hand. A pinch of salt and a little sugar coax out the tomato's sweetness.

Like everything else here, the salad can wait in the fridge. Just drain off the liquid the salted tomatoes give up before you spoon them over the octopus, or it'll water down the plate.

To finish it off, it gets a drizzle of olive oil and a crack of red peppercorns (not red chili peppers). They're more fragrant than black pepper, but you can substitute in black or pink pepper as well. The octopus has a tangy, satisfying chew, the tomato salad keeps it fresh and bright, and the olive oil ties everything together.

I like to set the platter out as people are arriving and drinks are going around. It never lasts long.