SPANISH-STYLE SHRIMP

Steps:

• Combine the oil and garlic in a 10- or 12-inch skillet. Turn the heat to medium and cook until the garlic begins to sizzle, then add the cumin and paprika. Stir, raise the heat to medium-high, and add the shrimp, along with some salt and pepper.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are all pink, no longer; you do not want to evaporate their liquid. Turn off the heat, add the parsley, and serve.
• VARIATIONS
• Omit the cumin and paprika; use cayenne in place of black pepper. When the shrimp are cooked, stir in 2 or more tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
• Substitute peanut or vegetable oil for the olive oil and cook 1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger and 2 or 3 small dried red chiles (or to taste) along with the garlic; omit the cumin and paprika. When the shrimp are done, stir in 1 tablespoon soy sauce; garnish with minced scallion or fresh cilantro and serve with lime wedges.
• Almost all shrimp are frozen before sale. So unless you're in a hurry, you might as well buy them frozen and defrost them yourself; this will guarantee you that they are defrosted just before you cook them, therefore retaining peak quality.
• There are no universal standards for shrimp size; large and medium don't mean much. Therefore, it pays to learn to judge shrimp size by the number per pound, as retailers do. Shrimp labeled 16/20, for example, contain sixteen to twenty per pound; those labeled U-20 require fewer (under) twenty to make a pound. Shrimp from fifteen to about thirty per pound usually give the best combination of flavor, ease (peeling tiny shrimp is a nuisance), and value (really big shrimp usually cost more than $15 a pound).
• On deveining: I don't. You can, if you like, but it's a thankless task, and there isn't one person in a hundred who could blind-taste the difference between shrimp that have and have not been deveined.