Gambas al Ajillo — Spanish Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients

• 1¼ lb Shrimp
• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• ½ cup olive oil — a Spanish pour, not a drizzle
• 1 tsp chili flakes or 1 dried cayenne, crumbled
• 2 tbsp sherry or lemon juice
• Parsley
• Bread. So much bread.

Method

1. Warm the olive oil with the garlic over MEDIUM-LOW from cold — the slow start infuses the oil and keeps the garlic from leaping past golden into bitter.
2. When the garlic just turns blond and fragrant (2–3 minutes), add the chili flakes for 20 seconds.
3. Raise the heat, add the Shrimp, and cook fast — 90 seconds a side for shrimp, until pink and curled into loose Cs.
4. Splash in the sherry, let it hiss for 30 seconds, and pull the pan.
5. Parsley over, then straight to the table still bubbling, with bread for the oil — which, per Spanish law of custom, is the actual main course.