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Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo) are a classic Spanish tapas dish. Â Succulent shrimp in a spicy garlicky sauce that you will need to dip your bread into!
I am so excited to share another tapas dish with you today! Â As I mentioned a few weeks ago when I posted my first tapa, I was asked by Fred Meyer to develop a Spanish recipe to celebrate their Taste of Spain event. Â They only asked me to do one recipe, but I was so into it that I ended up thinking of several that I wanted to try out. Â The good news is that the Taste of Spain event is officially ON right now, from April 3rd-16th in Fred Meyer and ALL Kroger stores! Â So if you want to explore some Spanish cuisine, now is the time!
Actually, I discovered something really funny that I had to share with you all. Â When I did this photo shoot, I wanted a bottle of Spanish wine for the photos. Â I stood in the wine aisle in Fred Meyer for…let’s just say awhile, trying to pick out a bottle and I finally settled on the Marque de Caceres Rioja. Â The wine didn’t make it into most of the photos (the above photo is the only one that it ended up being in), but it is still there, lending its ambiance. Â As I was going through my study abroad photos from my time in Spain in 2004, I noticed that in a few of the photos of my last dinner in Spain, the same exact wine that I bought for my photo shoot was on the table! Â I didn’t remember the wine at all when I bought it, but I ended up buying the same exact wine for my photo shoot 12 years later. Â How funny is that?? Â I may be overly excited about it, but I made you a collage to show you the wine that I bought a few weeks ago for my Spanish recipes and the two really bad photos I found of the same wine in Spain in 2004. Â Also please excuse the terrible quality of the photos, as I said it was 2004 – no smartphone, and I didn’t even have a digital camera. Â I think I had my point and shoot camera on a nighttime setting that made all the photos blurry. Â That or I had too much wine. Â Probably both.
ANYWAY, you are probably not as excited about this as I am, so let’s get back to the garlic shrimp, or Gambas al Ajillo as they are called in Spain. Â This is a simple tapa dish that is garlicky and spicy. Â One thing to note is you really are going to want some nice bread to serve with this to dip into the garlicky, spicy sauce that the shrimp are in.
This garlic shrimp is a simple tapa dish that is garlicky and spicy.
Shrimp cook very quickly, so be sure to have all of the ingredients ready to go. Â This one comes together in a few minutes, and it is by far the easiest of the tapa I have posted so far. Â I liked serving this as part of a tapas spread, in this case I served it with patatas bravas and ham croquettes.
Have a tapas party!
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Garlic Shrimp (Gambas al Ajillo)
Ingredients
- 1 pound large raw shrimp
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 4-6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon spanish smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste
- salt
- pepper
- chopped parsley for garnish optional
Instructions
- Add butter, olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes to a sauté pan and heat over medium heat.
- Sauté for about 1 minute or until garlic becomes fragrant, being careful not to burn it.
- Add the paprika, lemon juice and shrimp and sauté for 2-3 minutes, until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
- Season with salt and pepper, and pour shrimp and oil into serving dish. Top with parsley if desired and serve with crusty bread for dipping.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you make this recipe don’t forget to tag it @foxandbriar and #foxandbriar on instagram and facebook! I really love to see what you make and you may be featured in our weekly Reader Feature!
Too funny about your wine deja-vu 🙂 I’m so excited to make these shrimp; easy enough, and I LOVE seafood <3
-Clarissa @ The View From Here
Thanks so much Clarissa! It is super easy, I hope you love it!
These look SO amazing. Pinning to my must make board!!
Thank you so much Tracy!
This garlic shrimp looks so yummy oh my gosh! I only recently realised I actually like shrimp, so been looking for good recipes – will need to try this for sure!
Thank you Michelle! This is a great starter shrimp recipe, it is fast and easy!
Tapas are so much fun! And smoked paprika is incredible, and with garlic prawns? <3
such a random coincidence with that bottle of wine though! x
I am totally in love with smoked paprika right now, I don’t know how I ever lived without it 🙂 Thanks you Caludia!
I love the blurry wine photos 🙂
Haha, thanks Pam!
I’m having some mad photoshop ideas with the blurry photo — the background looks so cool, you should use it somewhere on your blog or as the background for an ad or something! Vintage 😉 This shrimp recipe reminds me of one we used to eat in Hawaii. Just drenched with garlic and lemon, they’re often sold in a truck on the side of the road by the popular beaches. Looks delicious! Pinning 🙂
Oh I ate at one of those shrimp trucks when I was in Hawaii once! So good! Thanks so much for pinning, Katy!
I don’t eat shrimp nearly enough, and this garlic spicy version sounds amazing.
Thank you Nicole!
Absolutely in love with this tapas dish! I just love the gorgeous color of this dish! Looks awesome. That wine story is beautiful! Pinning!
Thank you so much Anu! And thank you for pinning!
A tapas party is my kinda party! Love the wine story – I’m so bad at keeping track of what wines I’ve tried and which ones I like. Sometimes a label looks familiar, but I can’t remember if it was good, bad or indifferent! At least you have photographic records now 🙂
Haha, Liz, me too! That is why I have a few standard wines that I almost always buy, because I know they are good. That is why I was so stumped in the wine aisle!
Such a classic recipe, love the pictures too!
Thank you so much!
I love your story about the wine! I am always intrigued when there are connections of any kind…even to the past! This garlic shrimp looks so tasty. I’m pinning this for later!
Thanks Kathy, I’m glad you liked the wine story! And thank you so much for pinning!
lovely Meghan!! Garlic shrimps are my personal fave and these look so so good. Pinning!
Thanks so much Swayam, and thank you for pinning!
That’s a nice thing with the wine, shows that each of us is attracted to certain kind of things. I love those shrimps, I could eat the whole bowl right now.
Thanks so much Adina!
Yum, I love how fast and easy this is! And I think your story is pretty exciting. It’s “coincidences” like that that make me believe we actually remember a lot more than we think!
Thank you Megan! I agree, I think there are lots of memories floating around in there just under the surface!
Quick good eats!
Thanks! 🙂
I’m loving this tapas theme that you’ve been doing lately, Meghan! And any dish that has a sauce, especially a garlic one, I love dipping some nice crusty bread into. I always do that if I have mussels. Absolutely delish! Pinned 🙂
Thanks so much Dawn! I agree, dipping the bread in is probably the best part 🙂
I LOVE shrimp and this recipe sounds absolutely amazing!
Thanks so much Julie!
I love garlic, I love shrimp, and I loooove spicy. So basically, I’m totally head over heels for this recipe! Meghan, I always enjoy exploring new cuisines so I am totally digging how you’ve developed multiple Spanish tapas recipes! 🙂
Thank you so much Ashlyn! This recipe is right up your alley!
Yeah I’m SURE it was the settings on the camera, Meghan. But it’s an extraordinary coincidence and I love stories like that. This dish is making my mouth water and your photos (aside from the ones from Spain) are stunning. I am now officially more excited than ever for my trip to Barcelona. And that is saying something.
Haha, well at least I know my photography has improved! I have to tell you that Barcelona was my favorite part of my trip to Spain, it is BEAUTIFUL! You will love it.
I love tapas! It’s really my favorite way to entertain and even to eat out… and I don’t blame you at all for the excitement over the bottle of wine 🙂 I would be too! I loved this post!
Thanks so much Tamera! I am the same way, I love tapas when going out too!