When you order gambas al ajillo in Spain, it is usually served in a piping hot terracota dish with olive oil and pale Northern prawns, a tasteless crustacean that would’ve been better off swimming in the sea. To mask the lack of flavour, it’s covered with a mountain of garlic.
Therefore, the garlic oil is the star of the dish and only useful to dip your piece of bread into it. In other words, how to spoil a delicious and simple recipe.
Our chef puts the gambas in the spotlight. Beautiful big gambas, hand peeled, and only long enough in the oil so they are just cooked. A dash of chilli, paprika powder and a little garlic complete the dish. Something so simple, yet so delicious.
To complete this mouth explosion, you need a glass of fantastic wine, of course. Enough choice here at Vino&Co, but for this particular dish I picked an organic Albariño from Rías Baixas. Corisca is the name and it means tempest in the local dialect.
Corisca is a small bodega where, just like at our shop, father and daughter head the company and are responsible for the end product. The Corisca Albariño Ecológico is a non-intervention wine, meaning that they don’t or hardly make use of organic manure and organic pesticides and let nature do it’s thing. They also use natural yeasts and a spontaneous natural fermentation. There aren’t that many organic wines coming from the west coast of Spain, as mould and fungus thrive in these humid conditions, and farmers prefer to keep the option for spraying with chemical
pesticides. Bodega Corisca is situated in Condado del Tea, in the neighbourhood of the river Miño – the hills and mountains provide protection from the bad weather, creating a mild Atlantic climate which gives this winery the possibility to farm organically. The grounds are mostly granite, which gives a fantastic saline and mineral character to this top Albariño, and in combination with a touch of lemon zest and stone fruit, it makes the perfect partner to the Gambas al Ajillo we serve at our Wine Bar.
VINO&CO SHOP OPENING HOURS
Monday to Friday: 10.00 – 14.00 and 17.00 -23.00h
Saturday: 10.00 – 14.00
Sunday Closed
VINO&CO WINE BAR & BISTRO OPENING HOURS
Monday to Friday: 17.00 – 23.00h
