When cooked slowly and carefully, octopus achieves a tender yet substantial quality unlike any other seafood, and once you’ve braised it in its own juices using the method below, you can finish it on a barbecue for a smoky char, fry it in a bit of olive oil to crisp it up at the edges, or keep it in the fridge and use it as a protein ingredient as and when. My method is adapted from Anna Hansen’s recipe in her book The Modern Pantry, which is in turn adapted from Giorgio Locatelli’s method in Made In Italy: Food and Other Stories. I use the softened garlic and chillies cooked with the octopus, and the wonderfully flavourful juices released during cooking to make a punchy dressing for this salad of beans and avocado. It’s worth eating it with bread to mop up the dressing.