It's all about the Fish and Seafood! Part 1

So on Sunday we had our Canadian friends over and since Gen is a veggie, I decided to do an all seafood meal. In Spain, lunchtime is the big meal of the day and when you go to restaurants or anywhere, they usually have a Menu del dia. The Menu del dia always included a first and second dish.

For the first dish, I decided to go with a twist on the Paella: Fideua. Fideua is a small macaroni but with a smaller whole allowing it to absorb a lot of the flavors from the dish. Paella and Fideua both originated from the Valencia province and have many different varieties now. Here is the seafood one.

Fideua de Marisco

Ingredients:

500gr shrimps
1 kg mussels
500gr berberechos (shellfish similar to clam. Mario Batali calls it the mix between scallop and clam)
2 squids
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsps of grounded tomato
100gr of frozen spinach or peas
2 cups of fideua pasta
1/2 cup of white wine
5 cups of fish broth (made from fish bones and shrimp skins)
salt
saffron
parsley
oil

Soak the berberechos in a large bowl of water in order to remove the extra sand. Leave them in there for about 1 hour, changing the water and moving the shells around.

I always make the broth homemade. It is really easy to make and the taste is all worth it.

Peel the shrimps and keep the skins and heads aside (I like to keep 5 or 6 complete for presentation). Place 6 cups of water in a large pot. Add the fish bones and shrimp skins and heads. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 20 mins.

Some people make the paella or fideua adding all the shellfish and shrimps directly to the paellera (large pan used to make the paella) without cooking some of them first. Since I actually prefer to not have to peel the shrimps full of rice and broth and just eating them directly, I prepare the seafood before hand but always keep some apart to add to the dish. Makes a great presentation, but doesn't overcrowd the paellera. To each their own method :)

Clean the squid and cut it into rings.

Clean the mussels and remove the beards (pull them out of the shells). Take about half of the mussels (I like to take the big ones in order to keep the smaller ones to put directly into the dish) and half the berberechos, and vapor cook them in a large pot with a bit of water. Once they open, they are ready and remove from heat. Do not overcook them as they will continue cooking in the paellera. Once they cooled down, remove from the shells and keep the meat aside.

All seafood ready (actually got some clams in this picture but they were for the second dish ;) ):

So, the long part is done. Prepping the seafood is the long part. The rest goes by like a breeze :)

Heat oil in the paellera. Dice the onion and sweat for a few minutes. Add the tomato sauce.

Once the tomato has cooked for a few minutes and reduced, add the squid.

Add the wine and let reduce a few minutes. I just like adding wine as it gives it a nice fruity tangy taste but most people make this dish without it.

Add the fideua mixing well to cover it with the sauce. Add the shellfish.

Add the broth, shrimps, saffron, minced garlic and parsley.

Add the spinach (I decided to add spinach but usually people use peas). Mix well. If your stovetop is large enough for the paellera for the heat to cover completely the bottom, keep it cooking on the stovetop. If you paellera is too big, cook it in the oven at 180C degrees in order for it to cook evenly. Works great. So I added the whole shrimps, popped it in the oven, after about 20 mins and the broth was basically all consumed, remove from oven. Fideua is done.

Serve and enjoy this delicious meal!