Fideuà

Valencian Seafood Noodles Cooked Like Paella

Take a seafood paella and replace the rice with short, thick noodles. They drink up the fish stock in under ten minutes and the ones on top curl and crisp. It is quicker and more forgiving than rice, and it is always eaten with a spoonful of garlic mayonnaise stirred in.

The Spanish recipe read fries monkfish, cuttlefish and prawns separately, builds a base of garlic, grated tomato, paprika and saffron, toasts the noodles in it, adds fish stock and cooks for seven to eight minutes. The fish goes back in, the prawns go on top and the pan rests, covered, for two minutes. It is served from the pan with alioli.

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 200 g monkfish fillet, cut into 3 cm cubes
  • 300 g cleaned cuttlefish or squid, cut into 2 cm pieces
  • 16 raw king prawns, peeled
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 4 ripe plum tomatoes, halved and grated, skins discarded
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • A pinch of saffron threads
  • 400 g fideuà noodles or short thick fideo pasta
  • 1 litre hot fish stock
  • Fine sea salt
  • Alioli (garlic mayonnaise), to serve

Method

  1. Fry the seafood Heat the oil in the pan over a medium-high heat. Season and fry the monkfish for 2 minutes until lightly coloured, then lift out. Fry the cuttlefish for 3 minutes and lift out. Sear the prawns for 30 seconds a side and set them aside separately.
  2. Make the base Lower the heat, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the grated tomato and cook for 5 minutes until thick and dark. Stir in the paprika and saffron.
  3. Toast and cook the noodles Add the noodles and stir for 1 minute to coat them. Pour in the hot stock, add 1 tsp salt and return the cuttlefish. Cook over a medium-high heat, without stirring, for 7 to 8 minutes, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
  4. Finish Tuck in the monkfish, lay the prawns on top, cover with a lid or foil and take off the heat. Rest for 2 to 3 minutes; the residual heat finishes the fish and prawns, which should be opaque throughout.
  5. Serve Bring the pan to the table and serve with alioli.

Food safety

Prawns and fish are cooked when opaque all the way through. If the alioli is home-made with raw egg, use British Lion-marked eggs.

A few minutes under a hot grill at the end makes the top noodles stand up and crisp, a common finish that is not in the recipe read.

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