Gambas al ajo

This dish is served in the region of Spain where I live as a racione (rath-i-o-nee) or a plate full, although in other places it is often served as a tapas. It usually is served in a brown earthenware bowl that it has been cooked in.

Although the ingredients vary from place to place, the Gambas al Ajo is a simple dish, Gambas being prawns (shrimp) and Ajo being garlic.

You can make this dish with fresh peeled and cleaned prawns or with frozen peeled prawns, if you are going to use frozen, defrost them first in cold water and dry them before cooking.

For a 6 inch bowl use a handful of prawns, probably 10 to 15 fresh ones or 20 t0 25 smaller frozen ones.

finely slice four cloves of garlic, more if you like garlic a lot.

Other ingredients:

• Olive oil, enough to cover the bottom of the bowl a quarter inch deep
• sweet cayenne pepper (pimento dulche)
• chilli either chopped fresh or dried, or Tabasco sauce, approximately a quarter of a tea spoon, more if you like hot chilli.
• a little chopped parsley to garnish
• a tablespoon of sherry

Method:

Heat the olive oil in the earthenware bowl, and add the sliced garlic, cayenne pepper, and chillies, and fry for a minute, add the prawns and the sherry, if the prawns where fresh, cook them until they have turned pink on both sides. If they where frozen cooked prawns cook for another two minuets, add the parsley to garnish and serve with lots of fresh crusty bread,

Be careful as the dish is very hot, as it has come straight off the stove, and the oil will be boiling, in fact the prawns will continue cooking even after they have reached the table.

This is a perfect dish to share with friends on a hot afternoon around the pool