Recipes

Garlic shrimps – Fried gambas al ajillo

Name: Garlic shrimps – Fried gambas al ajillo
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 500g fresh or thawed frozen shrimp; 3 garlic cloves, chopped; 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 3 tbsp olive oil; Small handful of fresh coriander, chopped; 2 tbsp cognac (or similar spirit), for deglazing

Gambas al ajillo in 10 minutes — shrimp, garlic, olive oil, a splash of cognac. A tapas-bar classic that fails only if you crowd the pan.

13 Dec 2018 — 2 min read

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Garlic shrimps – the actual demystification

We all like seafood. Most of us never actually cook it — shrimp feels fussy, it's not cheap, and one wrong move gets you rubber.

There are two ways to tackle this: go to a supermarket nearby and buy some pre-packaged, deveined, and cleaned shrimp, or go to a fish market and buy them fresh. The fresh route is always better and tastier but takes a little extra effort. Garlic shrimps work with both.

If you get fresh shrimp, bear in mind that they tend to go bad very easily, so at this point, your nose is your best friend.

IF shrimp smells funny (funny = ammonia in food) THEN NO GO.
Fresh shrimps have a very robust built – so if they are extremely soft and slimy – that's another no-go situation.
If you are buying it in a supermarket – 9 times out of 10 – they are frozen fish which are thawed – so unless you will use it immediately, just go for the frozen ones

For all the other cases make sure that you buy frozen ones. Let them defrost under runny water and it will take just a couple of minutes. Clean them up really well – you do not want any seafood slime left. If they come with the shell it is up to you what you do with it, but if you de-shell them, on their back you will see a black line – take a knife, make a little cut, and take it out.

Once they are clean and ready, you have to prep everything. As shrimps cook really fast, we want to make sure that we have everything at hand so that they do not get all gummy. Once everything is ready, open up a bottle of white or chilled rose wine, and let's get to cooking! Here are some other shrimp recipes.

Depending on how this plate comes out for you, you can integrate some sort of additions to the dish. Eating it as is, works – but getting a bottle of wine and eating the shrimp with it, works as well.