Seafood fideuà (pasta paella) recipe
If you’re a fan of paella, the vibrantly hued, saffron-infused rice dish that’s Spain’s pride and joy, you’ll love fideuà. This authentic variation on the Valencian classic uses crispy, thin pasta strands instead of rice, but is cooked following the same technique and with many of the same ingredients.
Spanish chef Omar Allibhoy’s easy-to-follow version of the dish is a seafood-inspired number that features in his latest cookbook, Paella: The Original One-Pan Dish: Over 50 Recipes for the Spanish Classic. A renowned chef and best-selling cookbook author, Omar is on a mission to make authentic Spanish dishes accessible to home cooks.
“Fideuà is essentially a paella made with pasta instead of rice; fideos is the short, thin pasta used for this, but you can make your own by breaking any long, thin pasta into 2cm (3⁄4in) pieces,” explains Omar.
The dish is usually cooked in a paellera – the same flat, round pan with two handles traditionally used to cook paella – however, Omar says this recipe also works well when made in a large frying pan.
Things to note:
Socarrat (the crispy layer of rice, or in this case pasta, that forms at the bottom of the paellera or paella pan) is the sign of perfectly cooked paella, and is viewed by many as the best bit of the whole dish. The goal is to create a crunchy and caramelised layer without burning it; to do so you need to carefully control the heat, and resist the urge to stir the dish during the final cooking stage.
Aioli is one of the most used condiments in Spanish cuisine. To make a quick and easy cheat’s version, mix garlic paste into homemade mayonnaise, using olive oil for an authentic Mediterranean flavour. Alternatively, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and the paste from 3 garlic cloves to 230g (1 cup) of shop-bought mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- 1 l fish stock
- 0.5 tsp saffron
- 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 400 g fideos (or other thin, short pasta)
- 1 dried ñora pepper
- 1 tomato, roughly chopped
- 500 g squid, cleaned and cut into strips
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- 10 prawns
- 1 pinch salt, to taste
- 1 large dollop of aioli, to serve
Details
- Cuisine: Spanish
- Recipe Type: Seafood
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 15 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Heat the fish stock in a saucepan over a low heat and crumble in the saffron. Keep warm on the lowest setting.
- Heat 50ml (scant 1⁄4 cup) of the olive oil in a paella pan over a medium heat and fry the pasta, stirring constantly, for around 2 minutes or until it turns golden. Remove the pasta from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the ñora pepper over a low heat for 2 minutes.
- Remove the pepper from the oil and transfer to a blender or food processor along with the tomato. Blend to a paste and set aside for later.
- Increase the heat to high, add the squid to the paella pan and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until golden. Season generously with salt.
- Add the garlic, closely followed by the paprika and the tomato and ñora pepper paste. Cook for about 2 minutes, until the oil starts to separate from the tomato paste.
- Add the hot stock to the pan. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then add the pasta. Give it a good stir and cook over a high heat for 3 minutes. Tip in the prawns (shrimp) and cook for a further 3 minutes, without stirring, until a crispy socarrat has formed over the base of the pan. Enjoy the fideuà with a good dollop of aioli.
Recipe adapted from Paella: The Original One-Pan Dish: Over 50 Recipes for the Spanish Classic by Omar Allibhoy (£18, Quadrille). Photography by Facundo Bustamante.
PAELLA The Original One-Pan Dish: Over 50 Recipes for the Spanish Classic by Omar Allibhoy
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