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10th Jul 2014

Tapas at home; Gambas Pil Pil (Prawns in sizzling chilli and garlic oil)

Want to prepare a cracking feast of tapas at home for the lads? You have to have some chorizo sautéed in red wine.

JOE

Want to prepare a cracking feast of tapas at home for the lads? You can’t leave out these fiery explosions of flavour.

Don’t let anyone tell you that tapas are not a real meal. The sheer wealth of options that are presented to you either in Spain or in a tapas restaurant mean that you have zero excuse to not only find many, many delicious things to eat, you should also be stuffed to the gills afterwards too.

And while you may be more than willing to try tapas when on a weekend city break in Spain, you may be more reluctant to try to recreate that Spanish vibe at home. We’re here to tell you there is nothing to be afraid of, and it is easy to prepare a feast fit for a night when the lads pop over to watch the football.

The great thing about tapas is that they can be as sophisticated (fine cheeses beautifully displayed on a plate) or as basic (big chunks of meat on a plate) as you want but the one thing they all have in common is strong, bold flavours. And a dish that packs some of the biggest and boldest in the business is this week’s tapas to try at home, Gambas Pil Pil, or sizzling prawns covered in garlic, chilli and olive oil.

And, just like our previous recipes for Pimientos de Padrón or Chorizo in red wine it is so easy that you’ll wonder why you having been knocking this up for years.

First get yourself a bag of prawns, the fresher the better. Peel the littel fella but leave the tails on, you’ll need to have them later so you can eat them without incinerating your fingers in hot oil. Heat some oil, roughly 10 per cent of the prawn total (500g of prawns = 50ml of oil etc) and butter in an ovenproof dish on the hob.

When it starts to foam up, lash in a couple of roughly chopped cloves of garlic and a few, or a lot depending on taste, dried chilli flakes. After a minute, lash the prawns in for about three minutes. Sprinkle some paprika over the top and serve immediately.

It really is so simple. Make sure you have some bread on hand to mop up the delicious, fiery, garlic oil and you’re golden. For speed and deliciousness Gambas Pil Pil is hard to beat.

And don’t forget, when you have a bash at this at home we want you to take a picture of the finished product and post it to Instagram. Just use the hashtags #campoviejo and #tapasenvy and check those out to see how everyone else is getting on with making tapas at home.

For further information check out the Campo Viejo Facebook page where your tapas pictures can win you some sweet prizes.