Pintxos de txaka (Spanish seafood pintxos)

Name: Pintxos de txaka (Spanish seafood pintxos)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: Makes 6
Cuisine: Spanish recipes
Ingredients: 1 medium egg; 250g seafood sticks; 100g mayonnaise; Pinch smoked paprika; 6 slices baguette, cut at an angle; 3 pitted green olives, sliced (optional); 6 large cooked prawns (optional)

Portion size: Makes 6
Prep time 10 min. Cook time 10 min
Difficulty: easy

Dairy-free

Tom Shingler

Head of food, delicious.

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Learn how to make seafood pintxos with our easy and authentic recipe. This beloved snack from the Basque Country is perfect for an easy starter or nibbles with drinks.

Iconic dish: Pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) are a cornerstone of northern Spanish – but particularly Basque – cuisine. Much like tapas in other parts of Spain, what sets them apart is that they’re often served on top of bread with a toothpick in (‘pintxo’ means ‘spike’ – the toothpicks are important as they’re an easy way for the waiter/barman to work out your food bill).
Favourite combination: These seafood pintxos are, unsurprisingly, one of the most popular. One bite into this simple combination of mayonnaise and seafood sticks with grated egg on top, and you’ll see why they’re a favourite.
Easy swaps: You can add a pickled guindilla chilli as well as or instead of the prawn; decorate the pintxos with strips of roasted red pepper instead of olives, or go the whole hog and whisk up some homemade mayonnaise to make these snacks even fancier.

Discover more regional Spanish flavours with our traditional tapas recipes.

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Ingredients

1 medium egg
250g seafood sticks
100g mayonnaise
Pinch smoked paprika
6 slices baguette, cut at an angle
3 pitted green olives, sliced (optional)
6 large cooked prawns (optional)

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Method

Gently lower the egg into a pan of simmering water and boil for 10 minutes. Lift out and run under cold running water until cool. Peel and set aside.
Chop or shred the seafood sticks into smaller pieces – you don’t want any large lumps but some variation in texture is nice. Add to a bowl with the mayonnaise, paprika and a pinch of salt, then stir to combine.
Pile about one sixth of the seafood sticks mixture on top of each slice of bread. Finely grate over the hard-boiled egg and decorate the top with some sliced olives (if you like). Skewer each prawn (if using) on a cocktail stick, then stick in the pintxos.
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Nutrition

206kcals Calories
14g (1.3g saturated) Fat
5.7g Protein
13g (2.7g sugars) Carbs
0.5g Fibre
1g Salt

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Seafood sticks are made with surimi, a processed paste of minced white fish. Starches and other ingredients are added to this along with shellfish flavouring and then it’s shaped and coloured. They used to be called crab sticks but since they don’t contain any crabmeat they’ve been renamed in the UK.