Gambas al Ajillo
Gambas al Ajillo, or Spanish garlic shrimp, is one of the most popular dishes at Spanish tapas restaurants. It's simple to make yet absolutely delicious!
Active Time: 15 min
Total Time: 15 min
Ingredients
> Shrimp (1 pound, around 20/lb in size)
> Garlic, 4 cloves
> Parsley
> Dry sherry
> Olive oil (good quality)
> Salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne
> Bread
Instructions
1. Prep: Peel and chop garlic cloves into slices. Roughly chop parsley. Peel/devein shrimp, and season it with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne. Toast some bread and arrange it in a bowl.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat and add chopped garlic. Stir and cook until the thinner pieces are just starting to turn brown - we don't want much color.
3. Turn heat up to high and add shrimp. Continuously stir and cook for around 2 minutes, or until shrimp start to curl up but are still undercooked.
4. Add sherry. Continue to stir and cook for around 1 minute, or until shrimp is fully cooked.
5. Turn off heat, add some parsley and stir.
6. Pile the shrimp into the bowl with the bread. To finish, spoon over more of the wine/oil sauce. If desired, sprinkle some more paprika/cayenne, and top with more parsley. Enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> It’s really important to use a good quality olive oil. This recipe is simple, and the oil really shines through. I typically get something nice from Eataly specifically for dishes like this. And do not skimp on the oil — you will need a lot (probably around 1/4 cup).
> If you don’t have sherry, white wine works as well, which is what I typically do. I’d use somewhere around 1/6 cup for this recipe.
> Good quality bread is a really important pairing for this! The bread soaks up all that delicious wine/oil sauce and is otherworldly.