Gambas al Ajillo with Chickpeas
Sliced garlic brought up slowly in a lot of olive oil, then chickpeas blistered in it and prawns cooked for barely two minutes.
Why it works
Garlic goes into cold oil and heats with the pan, so it perfumes the whole lot on the way up instead of burning in the first thirty seconds. Drying the chickpeas before they hit the oil is what lets them blister and take on colour rather than steam in their own moisture. The bread is toasted in the pan before any of that happens, because the garlic oil left at the end is the best part of the dish and something has to carry it.
Method
- Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high and toast the bread in two batches, about 1 minute a side. Drag the halved clove cut side down over each hot slice and pile them on the board.
- Take the pan off the heat for a minute to lose its fierceness, then add the remaining oil, the sliced garlic and the chilli and set it back over medium. Let it come up slowly for 3 minutes, until the garlic is the colour of straw and the oil smells sweet. Coming up slowly is what stops it catching.
- Add the chickpeas, paprika and a pinch of salt. Fry 3 minutes, pressing some against the pan base with the back of a spoon, until their skins blister and split. Add the tomatoes and let them soften for 1 minute.
- Lay the prawns in one layer and salt them. Cook 1 minute, turn, then 1 minute more — they are done the moment they have turned pink and curled loosely, opaque right through at the thickest point. Any longer and they tighten.
- Pour in the sherry. Let it hiss and reduce for 30 seconds, scraping the base so nothing is left behind, then fold the spinach through in handfuls until it just wilts.
- Off the heat, add a good squeeze of lemon, the parsley and flaky salt. Bring the pan and the stack of toast to the table while the oil is still bubbling at the edges.
For the toddler
The chilli goes into the oil at step 2, so theirs comes out before that — a spoon of chickpeas, a few tomatoes and three prawns cooked in a small pan with plain oil and a flattened garlic clove for two minutes. No paprika, no chilli and no flaky salt at the end. Crush the chickpeas, quarter the tomatoes lengthways, chop the prawns small, and keep the olives from the side plate off theirs.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Squid rings instead of prawns — 90 seconds, no more. Butter beans in place of chickpeas.
Peeled prawns and drained chickpeas straight from the fridge takes prep to 2 minutes.
Oranges with olives and a pinch of cumin, or padrón peppers blistered in the pan before the bread goes in.
The chickpeas keep 3 days and are good cold. Eat the prawns the same day.