Easy Fideuá —Seafood Paella’s cousin made simple
It has been over 11 years since I posted the recipe for fideuá. Coincidentally, I think it was also my very first blog post on Mama Ía! Time has flown ever since, and I cannot believe there are over 200 recipes now on the blog.
Riding around Torreblanca
I make paella and fideuá very often, and you can find some of those recipes in this blog. However, I’ve been told a few times that people get intimidated when it comes to making them. I have mentioned before that, as with many of the things in life, practice makes perfect, and the more paellas and fideuás you make, the more confident you will become about making them.
El Convento de las Carmelitas, Onteniente
I also thought, though, that you may want to start with something easier to make. Something where you can take some shortcuts, and even though I think that the best fideuás and paellas are made with love and with the best local ingredients and stocks (either chicken or seafood), today I want to show you a way to make fideuá with simpler, store-bought ones. Once you master making it this way, you will feel more confident preparing your own basics, like your own stock (I promise you it’s way easier than you think, and you can find some stock recipes in this blog) .
Inside the Church of Santa Catalina, Valencia
El Palacio Ducal y la Arciprestal de Santa María, Onteniente
The elements for an easy fideuá
Noodles:
For today’s recipe I am using fideuá pasta bought at Delicias de España in Miami, but if you cannot get the fideuá noodles, I’ve made fideuás with regular fideo cut pasta that you can find at many supermarkets (see photos).
Seafood:
If you don’t have access to fresh seafood and shellfish, I have found some shortcuts: I can buy the frozen seafood medley from Trader Joe’s, large shrimp from Costco and also, when they’re available, fresh mussels from Costco.
For the shrimp I mentioned, I buy the large, uncooked whole shrimp, because I use the heads and shells to make stock and freeze it for future dishes, but you can buy the headless and shelled kind, since you will be using store-bought seafood stock.
Summer evenings at our beach town
Seafood stock:
As for the seafood stock, you can find it at specialty supermarkets (I use this one by Aneto from The Fresh Market) and through Amazon (it comes in a lot of three packs here).
Ñoras:
Ñoras are a kind of Spanish dry pepper that give a delicious flavor to the sofrito (click here for more information about ñoras and other peppers. You can find different brands of them through Amazon (any one of these here, here and here).
Paella pan:
Start with a smaller size, so you have better control of the cooking process. I used my 15 inch enameled paella pan for this recipe, which you can find here. When you get the hang of making it you can start making larger paellas or fideuás and invite your friends over (more information about the pans that I use more often can be found here).
If you’re familiar with Mama Ía blog, you know that I have a whole section dedicated to PAELLA here where you can dig deeper into the dish.
Also, you’ve probably noticed that I order many of the ingredients and utensils that I use from Amazon. Being subscribed to Amazon Prime allows me to have the items that I need as early as the next day. It’s definitely a great value and I highly recommend it (you can try if free for 30 days here).
I promise that I will post the recipe for an easy seafood paella. The process is similar to fideuá, with a few small but key differences. I personally find fideuá easier to make, because getting the right consistency is a bit touchier with rice than it is with pasta, that’s why I decided to start with the recipe and process for fideuá.
No excuses anymore to avoid making Valencia’s dish and one of Spain’s most beloved and well-known worldwide!
Appropriately, I thought I’d accompany this post with sunny photos taken this summer at my home region of Valencia, Castellón and Alicante, which make up the Comunidad Valenciana, my happy place.
FIDEUA
Ingredients
- 3 cups fideuá pasta or fideo cut pasta
- 6 + cups store bought seafood stock
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 dry ñora pepper
- 1 tomato
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp Pimentón de la Vera
- A pinch of saffron
- 2 cups frozen mixed seafood thawed
- 6 or more large prawns shelled
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat the stock in a saucepan and add the saffron. Keep it warm.
- Place the paella pan on the stove and heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat, Sauté the whole ñora pepper on all sides for about 1 minute. Remove from the pan.
- In a small food processor, process the ñora and the tomato. Reserve.
- Season the prawns with sea slat, add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and sauté the prawns, about 30 seconds per side. Set aside.
- Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and sauté the mixed seafood, about 5 minutes. Season with sea salt. Remove seafood from the pan and set aside.
- Add the garlic thinly sliced and sauté for about 1 minute. Add the pimentón de la Vera and the tomato and ñora mixture. Add the noodles and mix with all the ingredients. Sauté for 1 or 2 minutes.
- Add 6 cups of stock and raise the heat to high. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring to distribute all the ingredients. Add the seafood mix, stir to distribute in the pan and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes at medium heat to high, until the stock is almost absorbed. Distribute the reserved prawns on the pan and cook for another minute or two, without stirring (if necessary, you can add more stock by the tablespoon).
- Remove the pan from the heat source and let rest for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- In my aim to make things easy for you, I recommend you use an enameled steel paella pan (the black type), which is easier to clean than the carbon steel kind
- I find the frozen seafood medley at Trader Joes, but you can find it at other stores like Kroger
- I find ñoras, pimentón de la Vera, fideuá noodles and seafood stock easily on Amazon
- Elbow macaroni are NOT recommended for fideuá. If you can't get fideuá noodles, use fideo cut noodles
