I love tortilla de Patatas!

Here we go with another tapa. In this case, I must say we should call it ración. The names change is due to the fact that gambas won’t normally come for free with a drink in bar. You should order gambas al ajillo, therefore they would not be eligible to be a tapa (tapa’s rules here). Therefore, it’s better to say ración for this (literally translated as portion of food), which means a plate with food to share with others.

Now you will say, why are gambas al ajillo as a wednesday tapa? Well, gambas al ajillo are here because when you go on tapeo, you also order raciones (plural of ración) to share with your friends plus some free tapas. It’s a messy concept, right? I know.

Moreover, this is a dish my mother makes a lot as an appetizer (tapitas (small tapa) she says) for a sunday lunch. They are usually served in the ceramic plates you can see in this picture.

The recipe? It is very simple, I don’t put quantities because everything is approximate and depends on cook’s taste.

Ingredients for Gambas al Ajillo

Raw shrimps

Sliced garlic cloves to your taste

A handful of fresh parsil (chopped)

Salt

Olive oil

Dried mini cayenne pepper (1 is ok)

Steps

This dish is normally cooked in the same ceramic dish, but for safety purposes, I suggest you to cook them in a normal pan and then transfer them to a ceramic plate or wherever you like. With safety purposes I mean that not all ceramic dishes are all kinds of cooktop safe because they were meant to be only for gas cooktops. Also, ceramic dishes need a special treatment prior cooking with them and so on…

1. Put oil  in a pan, oil enough to half cover its surface will suffice. Heat the oil at medium – high heat.

Please, be careful here with the heat. If oil is superhot garlic will burn in seconds. Therefore, it is necessary to control properly the oil temperature. 

3. Let shrimps cook both sides, it will take them around 5 – 7 minutes.

4. Transfer to a plate, spread with fresh parsil and mix it well.

5. Serve immediately.

Be patient to start with this dish if you don’t want your mouth to get burnt ;) 

Happy wednesday to everybody!

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