Fun with Fideua (Guest Blogger: Joanne Weir)
I am crazy about Spain right now. I am so crazy about it that I’ve been cooking anything Spanish for weeks. It all started with a visit to Murcia. I was there doing research for one of my cookbooks “From Tapas to Meze,” traveling, seeing and tasting as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. It was just another day of work! (Did I tell you I love my job?)
Mamen, Marisol and Lelis, three sisters and good friends of mine, are always fun to hang out with. Mamen is the oldest sister and the mother of the group. She’s also a doctor, so very busy and her time is precious. Marisol is like a burst of sunshine, gorgeous smile and perfect in the travel business. Lelis is the baby of the three and also an attorney. She keeps the girls straight. But all three of them make me laugh!
On Sunday they invited me to lunch by the sea where their family has a summer house. Eating with them is always a treat. They know food and love it. You would never know by looking at their skinny little perfect Spanish bodies! But we put all that aside, this was a day of celebration, a day to feast! Their friend, Ignacio, the chef, had made us their favorite dish, fideua!
Imagine a paella pan filled with the creamiest noodles and jumbo prawns scented with shellfish broth baked on a paella burner until the bottom has a crust. For hours we spooned big mounds onto our plates and topped it with a pungent allioli or garlic mayonnaise, and watched it melt over the noodles.
Valencians are crazy about cooking and also pretty disagreeable on the origins of fideua. Some say that in the harbor region of Gandiá, the fishermen came up with the idea when they wanted paella but didn’t have rice on their fishing boat. They had lots of fish and dry noodles and this is what they came up with. Or, supposedly a few hikers from the mountain forgot paella rice at home and had noodles instead. Whoever came up with it, doesn’t matter. It’s an ingenious dish and honestly once you start eating it, you can’t stop.
Click for the recipe.
Fideua with Prawns
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
Large pinch of saffron threads
2 cups peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
4 cloves garlic, minced
Large pinch of cayenne
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
1 pinch thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine - Sauvignon Blanc
3 pounds clean white fish bones
9 cups water
Salt and freshly ground pepper
12 ounces dry 100% semolina fidelini, linguine or fine spaghetti
1 1/2 pounds fresh jumbo prawns, shells removed, deveined
1 recipe Allioli
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over low heat and cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until onions wilt and just begin to turn golden, 40 minutes. Warm a small dry frying pan over medium heat and add the saffron. Shake the pan for 30 to 60 seconds until the saffron begins to shiver but do not let it take on color. Add the saffron, tomatoes, garlic, cayenne, paprika and parsley to onions and continue to cook 10 minutes. Puree in a blender. Transfer to a stock pot. Add bay leaf, thyme, wine, fish bones and water. Bring to a boil and simmer slowly uncovered for 35 minutes. During the cooking, crush bones with a wooden spoon occasionally. Strain fish stock and season with salt and pepper.
Place one-third of the pasta in a rolled up towel and holding both ends, one in each hand, with gentle force, slide the rolled up pasta across the edge of the counter to break the pasta into 1-inch pieces. Repeat with the remaining pasta.
Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a 12-inch paella pan or shallow skillet until very hot and the oil is rippling. Remove from the heat and add pasta, salt and pepper and mix well. Place pan back on medium heat and stirring constantly, cook pasta uncovered until light golden-brown, 3 minutes.
In a saucepan, heat the fish stock to a low simmer. Slowly add 6 cups stock to the pasta and stir quickly. Add the prawns and stir again. Let cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir again and add hot water if needed. Continue to cook without stirring until the noodles are tender, 7 to 12 minutes, adding additional water if needed. The cooking time depends upon the pasta you are using.
Note: This dish can be done 2 hours ahead of time to this point. It should be room temperature before it is baked the final 10 minutes.
Serve pasta directly from the pan accompanied by a bowl of garlic mayonnaise.
Serves 6
ALLIOLI OR GARLIC MAYONNAISE
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup unflavored oil, sunflower, safflower, canola, vergetable or corn
1 egg yolk
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a liquid measuring cup with a spout, combine the olive and unflavored oils. In a medium size bowl, whisk the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of the combined oil together until an emulsion is formed. Drop by drop, add the olive oil to the emulsion, whisking constantly. Continue to do this, drop by drop, in a steady stream, whisking, until all of the oil has been added. Do not add the oil too quickly and be sure that the emulsion is homogeneous before adding more oil. Add the garlic and lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons warm water to the mayonnaise, whisking constantly. This should be used the same day that it is made.
Makes about 1 ¼ cup
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