Gambas al ajillo (Spanish garlic prawns)
25 min · 42 g protein · 366 cals / serving
Plump prawns sizzled with a whole head's worth of sliced garlic, dried chilli and smoked paprika, splashed with dry sherry and showered with parsley. The pan juices turn into a garlicky, brick-red sauce you will want to mop up with crusty bread. Served as a dinner with a salty tomato and onion salad, the way you would order it in a Madrid tapas bar.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb shrimp, large, peeled and deveined, tails on
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
- 10 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 small dried chili peppers, guindilla or other dried chillies, or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp paprika, sweet smoked (pimentón)
- 3 tbsp sherry, dry (fino), or dry white wine
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Tomato salad
- 4 medium tomatoes, in wedges
- 1/2 head romaine lettuce, in ribbons
- 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
To serve
- 3 small slices French bread, crusty, to mop up the juices
Steps
- Pat the prawns very dry and toss them with half the salt.
- Put the oil, garlic and chillies in a large skillet or a cazuela and set it over medium-low heat. Let the garlic sizzle gently for 3–4 minutes, until pale gold and fragrant; do not let it brown, or it turns bitter.
- Turn the heat to high, add the prawns in one layer and cook 1 1/2 minutes without moving. Turn them, sprinkle over the paprika, pour in the sherry and let it bubble 1 minute more, until the prawns are pink and opaque through (145°F) and the juices have turned into a sauce. Off the heat, add the lemon juice and parsley.
- Toss the tomatoes, lettuce and onion with the vinegar and the rest of the salt. Bring the pan to the table sizzling, with the salad and the bread for the juices.
Good to know
Is two tablespoons of oil enough?
Yes. A tapas-bar cazuela holds the prawns half-submerged in oil; here the sherry, prawn juices and lemon make a garlicky sauce instead, so the bread still has plenty to soak up.
Shell-on or peeled prawns?
Peeled with tails on is easiest to eat. Shell-on prawns are juicier and more flavourful but messier; cook them a minute longer.
Can I serve it as tapas?
It feeds 6 as one of several tapas. Skip the salad and serve straight from the pan with toothpicks and bread; without the salad it scores about 67 instead of 74.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 77
- Protein
- (47%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (27%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (26%)
- 5 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 172 mg
About 80% of the alcohol remains after cooking; the label counts only that.
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1098 kcal goes into the pot and 1595 g of ingredients comes out as about 1430 g of food: 77 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.