Seafood and Noodles (Spanish Fideuà)

This is an authentic Spanish seafood fideuà recipe from Valencia. Loaded with so many great flavours, easier to make than you think and done in 45 minutes. If you have ever visited Spain's Mediterranean coast, you surely have had a taste of fideuà, popular thoughout seaside restaurants. If you're not familiar with fideuà, it's like a seafood paella, except it doesn't use rice, it uses very thin pasta noodles called ¨fideos¨ (similar to vermicelli). Outside of Spain you can usually find these noodles at hispanic markets, but you can also use any thin pasta to make this dish. I also used monkfish which is very traditional in fideuà, if you can't find monkfish in your area you can substitute scallops. So what´s the catch to making a great seafood fideuà? It's all very simple. Besides the obvious of using a paella pan and using high-quality ingredients, it's the order in which you cook your ingredients. First the fish, then the vegetables, then the noodles so they soak up all the flavours and finally the broth.

3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tube squid, cleaned and cut into 1" squares
1 tail monkfish
12 raw jumbo shrimp
¼ cup extra-virgin Spanish olive oil
½ tsp. sweet smoked paprika
½ cup tomato purée
½ tsp. saffron threads
2 cups fideuà noodles (250 g)
2½ cups fish broth
sea salt
black pepper, freshly cracked

Garnish:
fresh parsley, chopped
lemon slices

Finely mince 3 cloves of garlic, finely dice 1 small onion, cut 1 cleaned tube of squid into small 1" squares, grab 1 tail of monkfish and cut two fillets by running your knife through the line of the bone and cut each fillet in 1" pieces, season 12 raw jumbo shrimp with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Heat a paella pan with a medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Wait 2 minutes and season the oil with sea salt and add the squid, mix with the oil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the squid from the pan and set aside.

Using the same pan with the same heat add the pieces of monkfish and cook for 5 minutes, turning them occasionally, after 5 minutes make a well in the middle and add the diced onions. After 2 minutes make another well and add the minced garlic, 30 seconds later, add smoked paprika and mix everything together. Then add the tomato purée, season everything with sea salt, add saffron threads, add the squid back into the pan and mix it all together. Then add fideua noodles and mix together until well incorporated and cook for 2 minutes.

Next add fish broth and gently mix to evenly distribute the noodles, once it comes to a boil add the shrimp into the pan, at this point don´t mix anything, just give the pan a quick shake once in a while, 10 minutes after adding the broth lower the fire to a low-medium heat and simmer. Wait 3 minutes, or when there is very little broth left, remove the paella pan from the heat and cover with a dish towel and let it rest for 5 minutes. Uncover the pan and garnish with parsley and a couple slices of lemon.

Makes 2 servings.