FLOWER POT KITCHEN: GAMBAS AL AJILLO

18 Oct 2021

GAMBAS AL AJILLO

Garlic Prawns (shrimp)

I was fortunate enough to experience a great many years in my younger adult (before children) life in Spain when my parents lived there for many years, they had their own traditional restaurant there, my husband and I being care free and young would just pop over all the time, sharing food is my families world and we have many great memories of great authentic local Spanish food.

This gorgeous Spanish tapas of garlic prawns (shrimp) is one of the most popular tapas on the Costas, sumptuous garlic, a whole fresh cayenne chilli pepper and white wine vinegar infused olive oil cooked prawns (shrimp) served bubbling hot to your bar stool with warm fresh crusty bread for mopping up all that wonderful infused oil I can confirm this is just divine. I like to be very generous with the portion of prawns allowing approximately 15-20 per person as this is one of those little dishes that in private will have you licking the bowl!

Cooking time 10 minutes / Optional Oil Infusing 30 mins - 1 day

Ingredients

(serves 2)

40 fresh cold water raw prawns

1 cup olive oil

15 cloves garlic sliced

2 small cayenne pepper whole chillies pierced
2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 fresh baked warm crusty baguette torn!

I like to infuse my olive oil with the sliced garlic a few days in advance for this dish, not essential but it really does ramp up the flavour. Heat the olive oil warm, not hot, add the sliced garlic and leave to infuse for 30 minutes or a few days. Strain the oil and reserve the garlic to one side, have everything ready to go as this is a fast cook around 2 minutes, have the crusty baguette warmed in the oven.

I cook this on a gas flame in our original terracotta dishes from Spain, place the dish directly on the heat, add the infused oil and bring to a safe bubbling simmer, add the prawns, garlic and whole pierced cayenne chilli, leave for one minute, stir to turn the prawns and cook for another 30 seconds, add the white wine vinegar, stir through and serve the hot terracotta bowl bubbling hot on a heat proof plate immediately with the warm crusty baguette to tear and soak up all the lovely garlic oil and enjoy.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.