Fideua de Valencia ne Gandia! Story of shore in Gandia!

Although all the steps involved in the recipe of preparing this dish seem long it is actually very straight forward and very forgiving! Here is a quick summary of the basic steps involved:

  • In a dry pan toast the noodles and saffron strands.
  • Add oil and fry ‘sofrito’ stewed vegetable base. Remove and reserve.
  • Brown fish and cleaned shrimp.
  • Add back in the noodles, saffron, stewed vegetables, paprika and hot stock.
  • Give it all a good shake. Add the raw whole shrimp in top of the noodles.
  • Simmer on medium/high for 10 – 12 minutes or so. Do not stir!
  • Turn whole shrimp half way through cooking.
  • When noodles are tender and moisture is absorbed remove from heat and place a clean dish cloth over the Paella pan and leave to rest for at least 5 minutes.
  • Once the cloth is removed the noodles on top should be ‘standing up’, pointing vertically and looking proud.
  • Serve and enjoy! Buen Provecho!

Seafood Noodle Paella

Seafood Noodle Paella

  • Cook Time: 1 hr
  • Persons: 8
  • Difficulty: Easy

  • Ingredients
  • 21 oz fine short noodles
  • 6 cups of hot seafood stock
  • 1 lb fresh monkfish fillet (or another fresh and firm white fish)
  • 1 lb raw shrimp (cleaned, heads and shells removed)
  • 8 raw whole shrimp (head and shell intact)
  • 1 onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp paprika (pimenton ahumado)
  • A very generous pinch of saffron threads
  • 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil 
  • 1 tbsp salt (added gradually through cooking process)
  1. Instructions
  2. For best results use a Paella pan that is 15 ” in diameter.
  3. Remove the heads and shells from the shrimp. With a sharp knife gently cut through the center of the shrimp and pull out the vein. Reserve the cleaned shrimp. 
  4. Then heat the Paella pan dry to medium and add the noodles. Keep them moving and toast until golden brown. Remove immediately from heat and reserve. 
  5. Now turn off the heat and add the saffron strands. Toast for only 30 seconds or so, until you smell the aroma and see the color darken. remove and reserve.
  6. Now prepare the ‘sofrito’ stewed vegetables, that forms the base for most Paella dishes.
  7. Wash the peppers and tomatoes, cut in half, remove the stem and seeds and dice.
  8. Peel the onion and garlic and dice.
  9. Heat the oil in the Paella pan to medium fry the onions and peppers with a pinch of salt for around 15 minutes or until soft and caramelized around the edges.
  10. Now add the garlic and fry for a further 3 minutes.
  11. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 5-10 minutes or until broken down.
  12. Remove the vegetables and reserve along with the toasted noodles.
  13. Now prepare the seafood. Cut the fish into 1 inch size pieces.
  14.  

Top Tips

  • If you’ve ever wanted to try preparing a traditional Paella, then make this first! Noodles are so much more forgiving than rice! 
  • If you don’t like nor fancy seafood then replace the stock with veggie stock and add your favorite seasonal, trimmed vegetables. No need to cook beforehand (depending on the type of vegetable and size cut of course!)
  • Serve ‘Fideau’  with Garlic Mayonnaise. A dollop of this, along with a squeeze of fresh lemon next to serving of this is not only traditional but divine!

Seafood Noodle Paella – Fideau

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