Small plate · Spain
Garlic shrimp
Shrimp sizzled in oil with garlic and chili, the Spanish gambas al ajillo.
About the dish
Gambas al ajillo, shrimp with garlic, is a classic Spanish tapa. It is usually cooked and served in a small earthenware dish called a cazuela, brought to the table still sizzling, with bread to mop up the oil.
A generous pool of olive oil is warmed with sliced garlic and dried chili, often the small Spanish guindilla. The garlic should turn fragrant and pale gold; if it browns too far it tastes bitter, so the oil starts gently. Then the heat goes up and the shrimp go in. They need only a minute or two and turn rubbery if cooked longer, so they are taken off the heat as soon as they turn pink and curl.
A pinch of salt, chopped parsley and sometimes paprika or a squeeze of lemon finish it. The flavor is heat and salt over the richness of the oil, with the natural sweetness of the shrimp. The oil, now full of garlic and chili, is half the dish.
Written from general cooking knowledge, as background on a dish from the game’s recipe book. It is not a tested recipe.
The flavors it leans on
Garlic shrimp in Night Kitchen
In the game, Garlic shrimp is a small plate in the recipe book. A plate is named Garlic shrimp when it holds these cards and is cooked with exactly this technique, with at most one extra ingredient.
Ingredients
- Shrimp
- Garlic
- Chili flakes
Technique
- Fry
How those cards taste
Cooked from just these cards for an average ticket, before tonight’s mood and quirks, it would please Lou (3 stars) most.
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