Garlic Shrimp

One of the things I retained after reading Michael Pollan’s article, Unhappy Meals, was the part about how Americans should pick one ethnic diet, any ethnic diet, and convert.  It’s probably better than what we’re eating right now.

I think this idea stayed with me mostly because it seemed like a free ticket to ingest burritos composed of 50% guac and 50% sour cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Maybe hit the local Taco Bell and stock up on whatever the hell it is they sell.  Tacos?

Or maybe he meant authentic ethnic cuisine as it’s served in its country of origin.  But, I’ll bet most people wouldn’t recognize real Mexican food if Quetzalcoatl served it up himself.  And let’s just say that Quetzalcoatl doesn’t take kindly to taking a dish back because there’s not enough Monterey Jack melted all over it.  He and the vengeful Montezuma are like this.  Plus, he knows a virgin when he sees one.

But I figure there’s got to be something in it for me, so I’ve decided to follow Michael Pollan’s advice.  And I’ve picked my ethnic food of choice.  You’re probably guessing Mexican, but no, that was a close second.  I’m picking Spanish.  Why?  Because, so far as I can tell, it involves the most frying.  And, as I think I’ve mentioned before, I like fried stuff. 

For the first happy week, I’m eating nothing but this:

 

Gambas al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp)

½ cup Spanish extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic (or more!), peeled and thinly sliced
½ lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 Tbsp. Sherry
5 shakes paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Crusty bread

Heat oil and garlic in a medium frying pan until just sizzling.  Remove from heat and let sit and infuse until ready to cook shrimp (a couple of hours, whatever).

Reheat oil over medium heat until hot.  Fry shrimp until pink and cooked through.  Add Sherry, paprika, salt, and pepper.  Remove from heat and serve immediately.  Mop up the oil and garlic with plenty of crusty bread.  Die happy.

 

Translation:

Oye, tengo un hueso de tocar contigo, amigos.  Vivia en Madrid por un ano, y masticaba mucha comida.  La mayoria de la comida era frita.  Frita y muy deliciosa.  Calamari.  Tortilla Espanola.  Gambas al ajillo.  Legumbres, hay poco.  En el supermercado, si hay, pero en las restaurantes, no.  Ensalada, si, pero con aceite y sal, nada mas.  Fruta, si, pero verdura, no.  Son champinones legumbres?  No se.

Entonces, mi pregunta es: por que toda la gente es muy flaca.  Pero muy flaca.  Pues, antes de una edad la gente es flaca, pero bueno, despues de esta edad, nadie le importa.  En la comida, que me gusta mucho, hay mucho grueso.  Flan, si.  Mucho flan.  Queso, si, si, si.  Mayonesa por todas partes.  Se come mucho pescado, es verdad, pero joder, tenemos pescado aqui tambien.  No somos flacos.

Solo puede ser una explicacion.  El aceite.  Tienes un tipo de aceite especial que no nos compartes.  No me dices aceite de oliva porque ya lo tengo.  No esta trabajando.  Que secretos se guardan?  Que pasa durante las siestas de veras.  Creo que no duermes.

Think you know how to speak Spanish?  Wrong.  Let Google show you how it’s really done.

Comments

[Karen]

What could be bad?

[Lisa]

I'm so with you.. Spanish, Mexican - Oh. Yeah. Baby. I could live on the sizzlin shrimp in garlic. *swoon*

In the "translated" portion of today's post, I found these particular sentences to be the most revealing about the author - We have many things in common, such as I enjoy much heavy in my food as well..

"In the food, that I like much, there is much heavy. Flan, if. They flan much. Cheese, if, if, if. Mayonnaise throughout. Much fish eats, is truth, but to joder, we have fish here also. We are not skinny."

[Julie]

This posts couldn't have been better timed for me. I spent a good amount of time yesterday perusing cookbooks looking for a good ethnic cookbook. I'm trying to get away from the food I've been eating all my life and branch out into sassier and healthy foods. Thanks for the push.

[squeezyB]

I am so coming over to eat, and staying forever to eat some more. Bringing one big-eating small boy, one big-eating medium-sized husband, and two cats prone to brawling. Be there by dinner.

[Sally]

The whole problem with this "eat ethnic" thing is that, even within the country you choose to cook from, the various regions have different cuisines and methods of cooking. Look at Italy for example. So you want to cook Spanish - ok - from where? Northern Spain? Southern Spain? Perhaps closer to Portuguese? I'll just keep cooking Midwestern (i.e. stealing recipes from everywhere and using a LOT of cream of mushroom soup.)

[Tammy]

So true, Sally. There's the whole regional thing, plus various cultural lifestyle factors, not to mention the unknowns related to genetics. But, heck, I'm just looking for an excuse to OD on garlic shrimp. (As if I needed one.)

SqueezyB, you're always welcome to join our circus.

Julie, sassy, definitely. Healthy? We'll see. It seems to work for the Spanish.

Lisa, it's important to get your recommended daily allowance of heavy.

Karen, you're right. There's absolutely nothing bad about it!