Your guests would love these tasty Spanish inspired prawns and chorizo tapas, serve them on some crusty grilled bread and throw a big party
Christmas is over but New Year’s Eve is almost here!
Hope you all had a wonderful and safe Christmas with your family and friends with plenty of scrumptious things to munch on and drinks to down.
If you’re like me, cooking would probably be the last on your mind after hosting and preparing a mega Christmas feast. Post-Christmas day leaves me feeling drained out! Maybe because my husband Tomasi and my sister Nara don’t cook. That means it’s all up to me to run around and get the ingredients, then scramble around in the kitchen for the big day!
This Christmas we did host, but we kept it very simple. Because of the sudden spike in COVID cases, it was quite difficult to get specific ingredients. It didn’t feel right to drag my 2-year-old toddler, Kai, around with me into the busy Christmas crowd. He is too young to be vaccinated and there’s no way he would allow me to put a mask on him.
It’s going to be the same for us with this New Year celebrations, lazy, simple but tasty cooking. So let’s do some finger foods or if we want to be fancy, let’s call them canapes or hors d’oeuvres.
These Smoked Salmon Canapés with Caviar will definitely impress your guests! And you can’t go wrong with oysters, especially when they’re served with bacon Oysters Kilpatrick.
This year, let’s do some Spanish inspired Prawns and Chorizo Tapas! Thick slices of cured spicy Spanish chorizo with plump and sweet prawns cooked with olive oil, smoked paprika, chillies and dry sherry. Then squeeze on some fresh lime juice and throw on some coriander. Give it a quick toss and serve on top of grilled bread.
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Get your tapas on!
Let’s just say my eyes are always bigger than my stomach. Thanks to this weakness of mine, I sometimes order 2 or 3 entrees instead of the main dish when I’m eating out. Why choose when you can have them all! Don’t get me started on a degustation course because if I had the money I would have it every single night!
Imagine how delighted I was when I first discovered a Spanish restaurant offering tapas! Just like the sushi trains, it’s a variety lover’s dream.
Tapas are small share plates usually served on terracotta casserole dishes. In Spain, they serve tapas at bars as a light snack to have with drinks. The world caught on, and now we have many Spanish restaurants offering different varieties of delicious tapas.
I’ve had chorizo and prawn tapas a few times and it’s always different at each restaurant. It can range from being sweet and sticky to very oily and spicy. I like the idea of all these flavours combined and balanced into one dish.
Cured Spanish chorizo is quite fatty and salty, so to cut this down, I added some fresh lime juice, which also gave the dish a nice and subtle tang. I didn’t add any salt as the chorizo provided enough salt for the entire dish.
When serving this dish for guests, I like to place the prawns and chorizo in a shallow bowl in the middle of a large serving platter. I then scatter grilled bread and crusty fresh bread around the bowl so my guests can serve themselves.
More yummy chorizo and prawn recipes to try!
Prawn & Chorizo Pasta
Prawn and Pumpkin Curry
Creamy beans & Chorizo
Garlic Chilli Prawn Pasta
Ingredients for Prawns and Chorizo Tapas
Chorizo – Mexico and Spain have their own version of chorizos, raw and cured. Cured Spanish chorizo is easier to find here, so I used this variety. However, in saying that, the better quality chorizo you can get your hands on (usually at specialised delis), the better the taste. Supermarkets stock cured Spanish chorizo near the chilled bacon area.
Raw shelled prawns – I used fresh large shelled prawns that weighed approximately 500gm (18oz) in total. Already peeled fresh prawns or defrosted prawns would also work too, but you would only need 300gm (11oz). Devein and clean each prawn before using.
Dry sherry is a variety of dry wines with fruity and nutty flavours. Any variety of sweet reds, port and marsala wine would work great as a substitute for dry sherry.
How to make Prawns and Chorizo Tapas
Step-by-step guide with photos
Peel the prawns, leaving the tail intact. Slice a shallow slit along the back of the prawn and remove its intestinal tract (black line).
Slice the chorizos into approximately 0.5cm (0.20in) slices. Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Place the chorizo in a single layer into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side until slightly caramelised. You may need to do this in two separate batches. Place the chorizo on a plate and set it aside.
Using the same pan, heat the olive oil over medium to high heat. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant for 30 seconds, stirring regularly. Place in the prawns, paprika, chillies and sugar, cook until the prawns are almost opaque. Place in the chorizo slices and stir until heated through, then pour in the dry sherry. Cook for a few minutes until the alcohol smell dissipates.
Remove the pan from the heat, then add in the lime juice and coriander, stir to combine. Serve immediately with fresh crusty bread or toast.
Leftovers – Best served immediately. If there are any leftovers, place the prawns and chorizo in a sealed container and store them in the fridge for up to 2 days.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
I would love your feedback and support if you made this recipe. To do this, please rate this recipe and provide a comment by scrolling down this page or by clicking that green circle on the bottom left. An email address is required (for spam), but it won’t be published. I would also love to see your dish, so don’t forget to tag me on my Instagram account ‘3catsfoodie’
Cheers – Cat T
Watch my Easy Fettuccine Boscaiola video
Prawns and Chorizo Tapas
Ingredients
- 300 gm Spanish chorizo (sliced approx. 0.5cm/.20in) (NOTE 1)
- 1 tbsp mild olive oil (or light)
- 500 gm shelled raw prawns (or 300gm peeled) (NOTE 2)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 small red chillies (optional, thinly sliced)
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp brown sugar (or white, packed)
- ⅓ cup dry sherry (NOTE 3)
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- ¼ finely chopped coriander (or flat-leaf parsley)
Instructions
- Peel the prawns, leaving the tail intact. Slice a shallow slit along the back of the prawn and remove its intestinal tract (black line).
- Slice the chorizos into approximately 0.5cm (0.20in) slices. Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Place the chorizo in a single layer into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side until slightly caramelised. You may need to do this in two separate batches. Place the chorizo on a plate and set it aside.
- Using the same pan, heat the olive oil over medium to high heat. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant for 30 seconds, stirring regularly. Place in the prawns, paprika chillies and sugar, cook until the prawns are almost opaque. Place in the chorizo slices and stir until heated through, then pour in the dry sherry. Cook for a few minutes until the alcohol smell dissipates.
- Remove the pan from the heat, then add in the lime juice and coriander, stir to combine. Serve immediately with fresh crusty bread or toast.
Exactly what I was looking for! The most tastiest dish I had in awhile. Thanks Catalina for sharing this recipe
Hi Jamie,
Appreciate the lovely comment you left. Happy to hear you enjoyed this dish!!!
Easy, delicious recipe! I substituted a few ingredients and it still turned out awesome and delicious. It was well-received by the family! Thanks Catalina for sharing her wonderful recipe.
Hi Jessie,
You’re very welcome! Thanks so much for leaving this comment. Glad to hear your substitutions still resulted in a flavourful dish, and that your family enjoyed it x