Gambas al Ajillo

This recipe for gambas al ajillo (Spanish garlic shrimp) is far more complex than the short ingredient list and rapid total time (just 15 minutes) might suggest. The key is adding garlic in two stages. First, you’ll marinate raw shrimp in grated garlic (plus paprika and chile flakes). The second dose is sautéed in olive oil until fragrant. The shrimp hits the pan next, sending the garlicky aromas into overdrive. Finished with sherry vinegar, fresh parsley, and black pepper, it’s the kind of appetizer you could make a meal of.

You can use fresh or thawed, frozen shrimp. Just be sure that they’re peeled and deveined before cooking. If you have trouble finding sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar makes a noble substitution. Don’t use cooking sherry, a very different product that doesn’t offer the same acidity and is often quite salty.

A staple of tapas bars in Spain, this quick-cooking shrimp recipe could serve as a weeknight dinner all on its own—serve it with a big green salad and some crusty bread. You could also go the route some choose for its Italian cousin, shrimp scampi, and toss with pasta. Or you could make it for a Spanish tapas party alongside a Gilda-inspired salsa, our favorite gazpacho, and potato chip tortilla Española.