Recipes from an Islandmix. Chef Guillermo Ramírez. Gran Canaria.

How to make the recipe for fried octopus with Gáldar cream of sweet potato and Thai mojo sauce

INGREDIENTS AND COOKING METHOD
Ingredients for two servings

Fried octopus
1 octopus leg weighing approximately 200 gr.
20 gr wheat flour
Clean out the octopus leg, sucker by sucker, with a tooth pick. Vacuum-pack inside a bag and cook in a steam oven at 95º for an hour and twenty minutes. Leave to cool. Lightly flour and fry.

Recipe for fried octopus with Gáldar cream of sweet potato and Thai mojo sauce

Cream of sweet potato
50 gr Gáldar yellow sweet potato
2 gr butter
8 gr cream
Salt
Boiling water.
Boil the sweet potato in salt water. Once thoroughly cooked, drain and save the cooking water. Place the sweet potato in a blender together with the butter, cream, and 40 grammes of the cooking water. Blend to a creamy texture. Add more salt if required.

Thai Mojo sauce
1 bunch of coriander
10 gr cashew nuts
1 tea spoon of Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic
10 gr extra virgin olive oil
100 ml coconut milk
3 gr green curry paste
Salt
Split the coriander leaves and place them in the blender together with the mustard, the clove of garlic (without the seed), the cashew nuts, oil and salt. Mash all the ingredients into a fine paste.
Heat up the coconut milk in a pot and add the green curry paste. Once diluted, add the mojo sauce and blend in together without boiling.

Download recipe [PDF - 909 KB]

THE CHEF’S INSPIRATION

Guillermo Ramírez explains how his idea came about: "This is a simple but highly contrasting recipe, in which I wanted to give the octopus from our coasts the recognition it deserves. Thoroughly cooked and then fried octopus meat is a delicacy for the palate, and has an exquisite taste. It gives us the flavour of the seas, together with the flavour of the land, thanks to the yellow sweet potato from Gáldar, which has its own sweet nuances, together with the slightly spicy Thai mojo sauce, with its subtle coriander and coconut flavour. This whole mixture creates an exquisite dish with a unique flavour.

I love to mix flavours, be they sweet, salty, bitter or spicy - for me that mix of sweet and spicy is great! The philosophy at my restaurant is "sharing is living", and a little bit of cheekiness, too ;)"

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Who is chef Guillermo Ramírez?

Guillermo Ramírez tells the story of his professional career as he turned his restaurant ‘Pícaro' into one of the most successful entries in the Gran Canaria’s capital’s restaurant portfolio: "I studied cooking at the Hofmann School in Barcelona. When I finished my studies I sent an email to the 30 best restaurants in the world offering my services to them. I was admitted to the prestigious Danish restaurant Noma, where I learnt the philosophy of our profession: hard work, hours of dedication and commitment. At Noma I also learnt "less is more". I nurtured myself with their cuisine, based on seasonal produce, fermentations and the traditions of Nordic cuisine.

After that, I moved to the restaurant Pier 51 in Stuttgart, where I worked with the person I consider to be my mentor, Philipp di Mineo. I worked there as head of the meat department for eight months and took part in events with several Michelin star chefs. With Philipp I also learnt pastry making. I then made the leap to the Asian continent and went to work at the Gaggan restaurant in Bangkok, a two Michelin Star restaurant, where I learnt Thai and Indian cuisine.

From there I returned to Gran Canaria, and after a few months working at restaurant De Cuchara, the idea came to be to open Pícaro, my own restaurant. The cuisine I develop in Pícaro is contemporary and at the same time traditional, with influences from many other cuisines of the world. Speaking English and German opened the doors for me to be able to move freely around the world, and to travel and enrich myself with other cultures".

All that learning around the world, plus the efforts and dedication that he put into his profession, were rewarded in 2019, when Pícaro obtained the BIB GOURMAND mention from the 2020 Michelin Guide, an award that rewards and recognises restaurants offering good value for money.

Social media:

Instagram: @restaurantepicaro

Instagram: @willy.picaro

31º 'Dish-enhancing' secret ingredient

Gáldar sweet potato

The Gáldar sweet potato is another of the products offered by the nutrient-rich soil at the north of the island. Its sweet taste makes it a great ingredient in traditional Canarian dishes, from sancocho to XXXX. The Gáldar sweet potato is also one of the tasty ingredients commonly used in the region’s rich confectionery, wherever the imagination takes it, featuring in anything from ice-cream to artisan trout.

*Visiting Gáldar? Check out the region’s full culinary flavours at Gáldar Farmers' Market.