Gilda's recipe

The gilda is a perfect Spanish appetizer to serve at a tapas or pintxo night. It is an ideal accompaniment to a vermouth or a cold beer.

If you want to learn how to prepare the perfect gilda, read on.

What is a gilda?

Legend has it that the Gilda was created by the owner of the Bar Casa Vallés, a classic tavern in San Sebastián. Mr. Vallés was in the habit of serving olives, salted anchovies and gherkins to his customers when they ordered their vermouth or a glass of wine. When one of his customers skewered them all together on a toothpick, this classic pintxo was born.

They named the new pintxo after Rita Hayworth's most famous film character: Gilda.

Ingredients Gilda recipe (for 1 person)

The quantities are for preparing one gilda, so to calculate the ingredients for the gildas you want to prepare, simply multiply the quantities by the number of pintxos to be prepared.

• 1 small pickled gherkin
• 2 chilli peppers or piparras
• 1 pitted green olive, manzanilla if possible
• 1 Cantabrian anchovy
• Extra virgin olive oil

Gilda recipe step by step

1. Drain the olives and gherkins and remove the stems from the chillies. If the gherkins are very large you can cut them in half and use half a gherkin for each gilda.
2. Start by skewering the gherkin with a toothpick. Then skewer one end of the anchovy, followed by the chilli peppers.
3. Thread the other end of the anchovy, the anchovy should be wrapped around the chilli peppers.
4. Finish by threading the olive on top of the toothpick and dress the gilda with a little extra virgin olive oil.

In our olives section you can find chilli peppers in vinegar and manzanilla olives. You will also find very good quality Cantabrian anchovies in our anchovy section.