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Spanish Shrimp in Garlic Sauce (Gambus Al Ajillo)
4 servings
This is a common Tapa served everywhere in Spain, but here in the US it’s often poorly made with shelled farm raised shrimp, much of the flavor comes from the shell. It is very important to use wild caught shrimp not farm raised, we use gulf shrimp. The garlic sauce is addictive, so have lots of crusty toasted bread to soak it all up. It is important to cook this dish in a Dutch oven on the stove, it retains the moisture in the shrimp. After everything is prepped it only takes a few minutes to cook, so be ready to serve it as soon as it’s done.
1 pound large wild caught shrimp U15 or 16-20 size.
Leave the shell on and cut them down the back and remove the vein.
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste.
2-3 tablespoons of dry sherry (sometimes called cocktail sherry)
2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
-Place the shrimp in a bowl and mix with some of the garlic, oil, paprika and crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside until you are ready to cook them.
-Heat the Dutch oven and add the olive oil, add half the garlic and all of the crushed red pepper flakes and cook for one minute.
-add the shrimp, bay leaves, paprika, and cook for 2 more minutes.
-add the rest of the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
-add the salt, pepper and the sherry (you can ignite this if you are comfortable doing it) cook for one minute and then add the parsley, cook for one minute and serve in the Dutch oven, with crusty toasted bread.
