Fideua Recipe Has Pasta, Seafood In Place Of Rice

Mention Spanish cooking to most Americans and they immediately think of paella. Indeed, a recent trip to Madrid revealed how firmly established this Valencian rice dish is in Spain’s culinary pantheon.

I sampled seafood paellas and poultry paellas; golden paellas emblazoned with saffron and black paellas darkened with squid ink; single-portion paellas served at tapas bars and jumbo paellas big enough for a whole neighborhood, cooked in pans five feet across.

But the most interesting paella I tasted on my trip wasn’t really paella at all. More precisely, it lacked the one ingredient most of us think of as essential to paella: rice. It goes by the name of “fideua” (pronounced fee-thay-WA), and it’s a paella made with pasta and seafood, not rice.

Once the province of homey seaside eateries, fideua has become the star attraction of the Sunday brunch at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid. Its preparation is the responsibility of a Valencian cook named Francisco Gonzales, who has worked at the Ritz for 20 years.

Fideua takes its name from “fideos,” the traditional pasta of Catalonia. Fideos look like short (1-inch long), curved pieces of spaghetti. They can be as fine as angel hair or as thick as buccatini.

Unless you live in an area with an Iberian market, you’ll need to use regular spaghetti and break it into 1-inch pieces. Don’t try to do this with the whole package at once; break a dozen or so strands at a time. You can also make fideua with orzo or even slender macaroni.

The next thing you’ll need is seafood. Legend has it that fideua was invented by thrifty fishermen as a way to use up unsold catch at the end of the day.

Today, most versions contain at least four types of seafood - shrimp, scallops, clams or mussels - and some sort of fish. I let my ingredient list be guided by what looks best at the market. Feel free to substitute other seafood for the items called for below.

You’ll also need fish stock, which Gonzales brews daily in a giant stockpot. But don’t let the lack of homemade fish stock stop you. I’ve made fideua with chicken stock and also with bottled clam broth (if you use it, cut back on the salt).

The last thing you’ll need is saffron, the hand-plucked stigmas of the intensely fragrant Iberian crocus that is the world’s most expensive spice (fortunately, a little goes a long way).

The cost makes it an easy target for unscrupulous vendors who sell adulterated or fake saffron at bargain prices. To make sure you’re getting the real McCoy, buy saffron threads, not powder. The merest whiff should set you dreaming about the Mediterranean.

Here, then, is Francisco Gonzales’s recipe for making Fideua. It’s the next best thing to dining at the Ritz.

Fideua (Spanish Noodle Paella)

10 ounces thick spaghetti or buccatini (about 2 cups of 1-inch pieces)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion (about 6 ounces), finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

12 small clams or mussels, scrubbed under cold water

6 ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined

6 ounces scallops (large ones cut into quarters, small ones cut in half or left whole)

8 ounces firm white fish, cut on the diagonal into 1/2-inch slices

2-1/2 to 3 cups fish or chicken stock or bottled clam broth, or as needed

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in 1 tablespoon warm water

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Holding a few strands at a time, break pasta into 1-inch pieces and set aside.

Heat oil in paella pan or large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent but not brown, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and paprika and cook until all liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Stir in clams, shrimp, scallops and fish and saute 1 minute. Add 2-1/2 cups fish stock and saffron and bring to boil. Stir in pasta and bring to boil.

Reduce heat and gently simmer until pasta is cooked, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If mixture dries out too much before pasta is completely cooked, add remaining stock. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve at once.

Yield: 4 servings.

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