Spanish Fried Garlic Shrimp • Gambas al Ajillo

Or fried prawns with garlic, well it’s not so much a dish, even though some fried prawns with a nice loaf of Alentejo bread to dip in olive oil for me is a meal, but it’s considered more of a snack, super easy to make and delicious, it goes with practically every dish as a starter as well as being a versatile dish, the one I made is the most basic version but look at all the tips at the end, there’s no limit to the ways you can eat or modify this recipe.

Fried prawns with garlic – as the name implies – is frying shelled prawns in olive oil with plenty of garlic, it’s as simple as that, the garlic and olive oil give the prawns a delightful taste and sauce, let’s check the recipe.

Spanish Fried Garlic Shrimp • Gambas al Ajillo

Servings: 1
Time: 20mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
Print

Oh yeah experience the bold flavors of Spanish Fried Garlic Shrimp, or Gambas al Ajillo, a classic tapas dish that showcases succulent shrimp sautéed in fragrant garlic and olive oil.

Ingredients

Prawns – To taste (+/- 150gr)
Garlic – 6 cloves
Bay leaf – 1 leaf
Olive Oil – To taste
Pepper – To taste
Salt – To taste

Directions

I used frozen prawns, so I started by defrosting them, you don’t want small ones, you want big ones or medium prawns, prawns that are too small or too big are not ideal for this dish.
If you don’t have frozen and peeled prawns, start by peeling and cleaning the prawns, removing the head is optional but I prefer to remove everything so it’s easier to eat, season the prawns with a little salt and set aside.

Coat the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil and put the garlic cloves in. Let them fry for a while until they are golden brown.

Finally, add the prawns and the bay leaf to the frying pan and fry them quickly over a medium-high heat. Let the water evaporate and turn them over so that they are golden brown on both sides (but don’t fry them too much or they will lose their flavor and become rubbery), then remove from the heat and put everything on a plate or in a bowl (remove the bay leaf), season with a little salt and pepper and serve with some good rustic bread.

Notes: You can cook them with a little wine, whisky or chilli for a slightly different taste. Once done, you can add chopped coriander, a little lemon juice, butter or something spicy for a different touch. You can also serve them in a salad, with crotons or mixed into a spaghetti.

This recipe for Spanish Fried Garlic Shrimp • Gambas al Ajillo was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Camarões à la Guilho foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.