How to make Gambas Pil Pil
Prawns with garlic and chilli at home, also known as Pil Pil Prawns (shrimp). It's an easy and delicious Spanish tapas dish that you can rustle up in next to no time.
It really is worth buying quality peeled king prawns and of course, as long as you also like garlic and chilli what's not to like?
Gambas Pil Pil reminds me instantly of our holidays in Punta Umbria, Spain. Punta UmbrÃa is a town and municipality in the province of Huelva, part of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia.
Tapas bars are everywhere but the best one we found was when we went on a day trip to Seville; the capital of southern Spain’s Andalusia region.
Oh my goodness, I could have sat there all day eating tapas, drinking and watching the world go by.
We found the perfect bar among the winding, narrow cobbled streets of Santa Cruz; the central plaza where you'll find Seville’s mighty cathedral.
The colourful centre of old Seville is always packed with tourists but hasn't lost the small-town ambience that has defined it for centuries. There is a maze of narrow cobbled streets and some of the city’s best tapas bars.
But be warned, the first time you go there you will almost certainly get lost, but don't be put off it's an experience in itself!
Seriously, yes you will be disoriented due to the maze of cobbled streets but you will find your way (although we did find our way back so it can't be that bad)!
In any case, there are a lot of people around that you can always ask. Copy this text into your phone, show it to someone and you'll be fine.
Hola, ¿puedes decirnos el camino a la catedral? which, translated means hello can you tell us the way to the cathedral?
Once you are back at the Cathedral you'll know where you are again!
Seville
My top tip if you visit Seville is don't be wearing heels for goodness sake because believe me, you will, as sure as eggs are eggs, fall over!
The weather in Seville has the hottest summer weather in continental Europe - seriously it is baking hot!
Anyway, we found this seriously cute looking tapas bar and ordered so much food we were stuffed.
So there we were, sat at a table with two of its legs propped up with wedges of wood to get it kind of straight because of the hill we were on we sat looking at the menu wondering where to begin.
But the food was so good you just had to keep on eating till it was all gone.
We had loads of time before our coach would leave to take us back to our hotel in Punta Umbria; so no worries we were just glad of the much-needed shade.
It was actually this tapas bar shown in the picture below. But I didn't get a full picture since there were people sitting at the tables and it's not the done thing to take pictures of people so close up.
Gambas Pil Pil in that Tapas bar was the best ever had and so yesterday I had a go at making it myself. Armed with prawns but without a recipe, I knew what it should taste like so I aimed for that.
Success. Yep, this was pretty much perfect, even if I do say so myself. Paul (the husband) will not eat prawns, so what's a girl to do other than eat them all 😊
With that said, I actually only cooked 4 because as you can see these prawns were huge.
Check out my recipe post for Seared Scallops with Serrano Ham it's a recipe by Rick Stein and is truly delicious.
You need raw prawns to cook any prawn dish really because if you use ready-cooked ones they are being cooked twice and will just be tough and horrid.
Raw prawns, even this size, take just a couple of minutes to cook. If you've never cooked prawns before you'll be surprised at how quick they are ready.
Raw prawns are kind of blue in colour but when cooking pretty much as soon as they turn pink they are done; trust me. Too much longer and they'll be overcooked.
Gambas Pil Pil is an easy and delicious Spanish tapas that you can rustle up in next to no time; you might want to buy tapas dishes.
To make 1 x tapas you will need
4 - 6 Raw King Tiger Prawns (deveined)
2 tablespoons of Olive oil - I used
Morocco Gold
1 big fat Garlic clove - very finely chopped (I use a garlic press)
2 teaspoons
Pimenton Picante (Hot) Paprika (as used by Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay)
a good pinch of Dried Red chilli flakes
Fresh Parsley leaves - finely chopped
Plus some nice fresh crusty bread for dipping and mopping
Method
Pat the prawns dry with kitchen paper - be sure to devein if they haven't been done for you. Get the rest of the ingredients and tapas dish at the ready as the prawns will cook really fast.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the Pimenton Picante (Hot) Paprika. Now add the prawns and cook for a minute and add in the garlic and chilli flakes.
Turn the prawns in the oil and cook for a further minute or so; pretty much as soon as they turn pink they are done.
Serve immediately in a tapas dish (or any other small dish) and sprinkle over the chopped parsley.
It you're looking for tapas recipes you might like this Padron Peppers recipe.
Gambas Pil Pil
Ingredients
- 4 - 6 Raw king tiger prawns (deveined)
- 2 tablespoons of Olive oil
- 1 big fat garlic clove - very finely chopped (I use a garlic press)
- 2 teaspoons Pimenton Picante (hot) paprika
- a good pinch of dried red chilli flakes
- freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
- Nice fresh crusty bread for dipping and mopping
Instructions
- Pat the prawns dry with kitchen paper - be sure to devein if they haven't been done for you.
- Get the rest of the ingredients and tapas dish at the ready as the prawns will cook fast.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the Pimenton Picante (Hot) Paprika.
- Now add the prawns and cook for a minute.
- Add in the garlic and chilli flakes.
- Turn the prawns in the oil and cook for a further minute or so; pretty much as soon as they turn pink they are done.
- Serve immediately in a tapas dish (or any other small dish) and sprinkle over the chopped parsley.
What's your favourite Tapas dish? Do let me know by leaving a comment below.
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Jan