Hola amigos. What a nice day today! Manzanilla will bring a gift to pasta lovers from all over the world, a dish named Fideua de marisco, or Pasta Valencia with seafood. And, especially I will use the ready-to-be-picked ingredients of Harbor City Gandia I have just bought this morning.
About the dish
Any fan of Spanish cuisine must already know how admired and popular paella or mixed rice is. And Fideua de marisco is probably the Valencia Pasta version of this dish; the pasta is also soaked in seafood broth and boiled like rice. This is an interesting alternative, certainly bringing a fascinating experience for the eaters but still keeping the traditional taste of this Valencia Bay, with the alive-caught ingredients.
Preserving the tradition of paella, fideua de marisco will also be served in one and only a great pot so that everyone can enjoy the meal together. This is a lovely trait of Spanish cuisine, which can be seen in many regions such as Gachamiga from the South,…
As for me, I really love to enjoy the dish in this way since the atmosphere is gonna be cozier and closer than ever; cheering together with cups of beer and being free to pick food according to your own taste. You have a distaste for squids? Well no problem, serve yourself, make your meal really fit your taste. I will insert the size of a traditional paella pan to suit the number of eaters right here:
In addition, fideua de marisco also has a black version, in which the pasta is soaked in squid ink; unfortunately, I can’t find any raw squid during the físhing trip, so I will only use prepared ingredients. See amigos on another occasion with this second version!
Ingredients
Fish Broth
- 3l Water
- Monkfish head
- Monkfish spine
- Rock fish
- Chopped onion
- 2 grated tomatoes
- Leek
- 1 Celery stalk
- Salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Olive oil
Whole Dish
- 400gr Angel hair pasta (Pasta type 4)
- Ling fish
- Boiled Shrimp
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Sweet paprika
- 1/2 tbsp Paprika
- 3 grated ripe tomatoes
- Salt
- Color for Paella (Saffron for alternative)
- 1.5 liters of fish broth
Like any other seafood, the first priority must be the freshness of the seafood. It should be frozen and cautiously preserved at least, so that the dish will smell beautiful and reach the highest quality in taste.
The choices of ingredients are open since you can use squids, cuttlefish, or any seafood that you want to mix. I personally choose monkfish as the ingredients to cook fish broth as it may suit perfectly with this dish. The fish broth has a soft sweetness and there will be no fishy taste if carefully seasoned and preliminarily prepared.
Choosing the kind of pasta can be flexible, but I would like the dish to keep its traditional features of Valencia the most, so I advise that you should use Pasta type 4 or Angel Hair Pasta. Another choice to substitute for those ingredients above is to break the thin rice vermicelli noodles into pieces with a length of around an inch.
Fideua de marisco Step-by-step Instruction
With this seafood fideua, there will be 2 main parts: Making Fish Broth – the soul of the dish and Cooking Pasta and the topping of the dish, then finally serving.
Making Fish Broth
The first step is preliminarily preparing all of the ingredients. With onion and leeks, peel them all and give them a quick rinse with water, then dice them into small pieces. Put them in separate plates to prepare for the following stir-fry step. Slice the celery around 1 – 2cm so that it can be well done and release all the juice and sugar. About the tomatoes, grind them until well-kneaded enough to make the sauce for this dish.
Heat the olive oil till there are some bubbles on the surface. There is a small but mighty tip: when the oil is boiling, add a pinch of salt. This will prevent the oil from splashing during the stir-fry process, which may cause unwanted injuries.
Add chopped onion, leeks, and beautiful slices of celery to the pan, then stir. Evenly stir the mixture or else the onion will quickly be cooked.
When the mixture’s smell rises and so do the onion and celery, the vegetables start to release their juice, the texture becomes softer, add the prepared grated tomatoes and repeat the stirring process evenly so as not to burn the mixture. You don’t want any burning taste in a pan of fideua de marisco, not at all.
When the grated tomatoes release almost all of their juice, the mixture becomes condensed, then it’s time we seasoned a teaspoon of paprika in order to create a specific smoky taste of Spanish cuisine. Finish every step quickly and concisely so that we can continue stirring the mixture at no time to prevent it from being burnt.
When the paprika is totally mixed with the mixture, creating a mouthwatering beautiful dark red, pour some water. A tiny note is that when adding water, you should pour it little by little instead of suddenly adding a great amount of water to the pan. This can help us avoid the smoke and oil splash, which may cause mild burns.
Now, let’s see the main ingredients of the dish – the raw fish that are carefully preliminarily prepared (scrape the scales, take off the guts, rub them with salt, and wash carefully to remove the fishy smell before processing). I have 3 rockfish, the head and spine of the monkfish I have just bought from Lonja de Valencia market this morning. They cautiously do the preliminary preparation, so I will just have to do my job – cooking, which is very nice. What is better than having discovered fresh and carefully preliminarily prepared ingredients on the spot, right guys?
Boil the mixture of fish broth until boiling, then add seasonings so as to suit your family’s taste as much as possible. As for me, I would like my broth to be slightly salty and spicy, so a pinch of salt and black pepper will be perfect. After that, let the mixture boil for 15 minutes before coming to the next step.
Like every kind of broth or any other stew, when the soup comes to the boiling stage, there will be foam and impurities on its surface. Use a small strainer to filter all of them, therefore preserving the dish’s attractiveness and leaving no dregs while enjoying.
Pheww, 15 minutes has gone and you can’t imagine how fragrant the fish broth is right now. The combination of the oceanic flavor and the specific smoky smell of paprika that is indispensable for any Spanish dish, such a beautiful dish I must say.
Prepare another pot with a strainer above, we will want to filter out the pure fish broth to a separate pot and keep the rockfish and monkfish in the first pot for anyone who demands to enjoy, for instance, me. When using the strainer over the second pot, use a wooden spoon to stir evenly; we won’t expect any (tinh hoa) of the broth to be left over even the least, especially when it’s fish broth from raw seafood.
So we have finished cooking the fish broth, what an easy task, isn’t it? The ultimate key is undoubtedly the premium ingredients, which can create a pot of fish broth with the equivalent quality.
Making Pasta and Topping
Done with the fish broth already, now we will move to the second part of the cooking process.
To preserve the traditional soul of Spanish food and paella, afford a paella pan with a suitable size for the number of eaters if you have a chance.
The first step is heating the olive oil, of course. Pour enough olive oil just to use in order not to make the pasta too fatty and cook at medium heat.
When the olive oil boils, let’s begin our journey again. Put scalded shrimp in the pan and start to fry. Remember to season the shrimp and prawn with a pinch of salt to make sure they are appetizing when served with pasta and a cup of wine
When the olive oil absorbs the stir-fried shrimp’s flavor, use this olive oil to continue cooking. After having stir-fried the prawns within 5 – 7 minutes, put the shrimp in a separate container; basically, these shrimp and prawns are done and edible. We will need to put them on top of the pasta to decorate the dish and keep the crunchy texture of the fried shrimp and prawns even when mixed with sauce.
Put chopped onion and mince garlic in the olive oil pan. You can see that sautéed onion will beautifully turn brown-red, resulting from the previous stir-fried shrimp and prawns. When the mixture is sautéed and starts to rise the specific smell, also the onion is softened and turns caramel, then it means the onion and garlic are perfectly cooked.
Right now, put the grated tomatoes and evenly stir. Keep going until the grated tomatoes evaporate water, thickening the mixture, then add the ling fish that are carefully preliminarily prepared and chopped into pieces that fit the mouth, and stir them with other ingredients.
Evenly stir-fry the fish meat and the mixture of grated tomatoes until softened. Season it with a teaspoon of paprika and immediately stir so that the fish meat can absorb the seasonings and prevent the paprika from being burnt.
The following step will use the main ingredients of Fideua de marisco – Angel Hair Pasta type 4. I am cooking for 5 people, so I will use about 500gr; you should adjust to your own family’s demands. Stir it with the mixture in the paella pan in just a minute so that the flavor of fried shrimp and fish, the scent of garlic and onion can soak into the pasta before pouring the fish broth in.
And we are going to reach the final steps of this journey. The pot of pure fish broth is still there, and it’s time we pour it in that wonderful-smelling paella pan.
In case you serve more or less than what I am instructing here, I will recommend a perfect pasta-fish ratio for the fideua de marisco. It’s 1 for the pasta and 3 for the fish broth; for example, I am using 500gr of pasta and 1,5l of fish broth together.
Turn up the heat high and simmer directly in the paella pan. To make the dish more good-looking, which means bringing a mouthwatering dark red, you can use a little bit of food coloring and saffron. However, it’s not a problem if you don’t have one.
Simmer over high heat for 8 minutes, and you still can stir them during the process, especially with the bottom of the pan in order not to burn the edge and make the food overcooked, which is really bad. Adjust the seasonings so as to suit your taste and add a little bit of salt.
When 8 minutes are gone, turn down the heat to medium to avoid the pasta and the fish meat being too soft.
This is the last step of the Fideua dish, it’s adding the stir-fried prawns, but remember to organize them into a certain design to make sure the dish is as beautiful as possible. I strongly oppose the idea that family meals are only for eating and there is no need of aesthetics. This way of thinking is disrespecting the effort that we put in the food right, and if you are able to do something, why don’t you do it?
I will arrange 4 big shrimp in a plus shape representing 4 people in a family, and fill the blank between them with small light pink prawns. Now the dish looks more fabulous, I love it xD
Keep simmering over medium heat until the fish broth evaporates around 80%, making pasta look sauced instead of served with consommé like sopa de galets. When the broth has gone, turn off the cooker and let the paella pan cool down a little bit before serving it. Cover the pan with a towel in order to keep the food warm and evaporate the remaining fish broth.
Serving Fideua de Marisco
And the moment of truth, the dish looks really nice since the pasta sticks together like paella, what a fascinating alternative but still has an extremely unique flavor. The pasta is not dry as the fish broth has entirely been absorbed in it, which is such a beautifully cooked pattern.
Serve the dish in the whole pan, prepare a set of plates and forks, and now divide the pasta for every member of your family to savor. As for me, this is a must-try dish that you shouldn’t skip, especially when your family can gather for lunch, and this will be an idealistic dish.
I believe once you eat fideua de marisco, it’s a mistake if there is no cup of white wine to balance the seafood’s flavor and the salty taste of fish broth. A little bit of bitter and sour white wine will be the icing on the cake.
And this is the step-by-step instructions for this dish, such a long post I must say. Anyway, I hope you will have a great time gathering with family around a yummy pan of fideua de marisco, if you wanna ask anything, don’t be shy to post a comment so that I can support you.
More Dish To Discover
Fideua de marisco
Equipment
- 2 Pot 1 for broth and 1 for straining
- Paella Pan
- Wooden spoon
- Plates
- Forks
- Grater
- Strainers
- Towel for covering paella pan
Ingredients
Fish broth
- Water about 3 liters
- Monkfish head
- Monkfish spine
- Rock fish
- Chopped onion
- 2 Grated tomatoes
- Leek
- 1 Celery stalk
- Salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Olive oil
Whole Dish
- 400 grams of Angel hair pasta
- Ling fish
- Boiled Shrimp
- 3 cloves of Garlic
- Sweet paprika
- Paprika half a teaspoon
- 3 grated ripe tomatoes
- Salt
- Color for paella
- 1.5 liters of fish broth
Instructions
Making Fish Broth
- Preliminarily preparing the ingredients needed
- Frying the chopped onion, leeks, and celery, adding grated tomatoes
- Seasoning and adding water
- Boiling the rockfish and monkfish, seasoning
- Boiling the fish broth for 15 minutes, removing the foam and impurities
- Separate the pure fish broth and the fish used into different pots
Making Pasta and Topping
- Prepare a paella pan
- Boiling olive oil, frying the shrimp and prawns in 5 – 7 minutes, putting them in a container
- Sauté onion and garlic with olive oil used to fry shrimp, adding grated tomatoes
- Adding ling fish, frying until softened, seasoning paprika
- Adding pasta, stirring in a minute
- Pouring fish broth, simmering and stirring at high heat for about 8 minutes
- Simmering at medium heat, adding fried shrimp and prawns
- Simmering till the broth evaporates 80%
- Turn off and let the dish cool down
Notes
- For the best experience, try to search for the rawest seafood and freshest vegetables
- Purchasing a paella pan is an ideal decision, and it can’t be more perfect if you are able to choose a suitable size for your family’s portion
- Adjust the amount of olive oil so as not to create a dish of fatty pasta
- Control yourself while adding seasonings to suit your individual taste as much as possible.
- If you want to ensure the beauty of the dish, food coloring and saffron are completely accepted
