Monday, November 10, 2014

PAELLA WITH PASTA (Fideuà)


                                                           FOOD

PAELLA WITH PASTA (Fideuà)


What it took for 4: (I doubled this recipe)

* 1 pound extra-large shrimp (21-25), peeled and deveined (save the shells!)
* 2 3/4 cup water
* 1 cup chicken broth or stock
* 1 dried bay leaf
* 3 Tbs. plus 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
* 3 cloves garlic, divided (two minced and one sliced)
* 1 small pinch crushed red pepper
* 1 pinch coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
* 8 ounces thin spaghetti
* 1 small white onion, finely diced
* 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
* 1 tsp paprika
* 1 tsp smoked paprika
* 1 tsp anchovy paste
* 1/4 cup dry white wine
* fresh parsley, for garnish
* lime wedges, for garnish

Place the peeled shrimp in a medium bowl. Add 1 Tbs. oil, the minced garlic, crushed red pepper and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss shrimp to coat. Cover and set in fridge while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Place the shrimp sells in another microwave-safe bowl. Add the water, stock and bay leaf. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 6 minutes. Pour the stock through a strainer into a bowl and discard the solids. You have shrimp stock!

Wrap the spaghetti in a clean tea towel. Fold the towel to close, and break the spaghetti against the edge of a table into 2 to 3-inch pieces.

Add 2 tsp oil to a large skillet and bring to a medium heat. Add the broken spaghetti and toast until it’s darker in color. Like peanut butter almost. I burned a few pieces of mine, so keep an eye on it! It will take 5 to 8 minutes in all. Just keep tossing in the pan so it evenly toasts.

Remove the spaghetti from the pan and set it aside in a bowl. Wipe the skillet clean.

Take the can of the tomatoes and drain the liquid through a mesh strainer. Really really drain it. Now finely dice the tomatoes on a cutting board.

Add the remaining 2 Tbs. oil to the pan and bring to a medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until they start to soften, 4 minutes. Add a pinch of salt.

Add the tomatoes to the onions and sauté another 3 minutes. Add both paprikas, the anchovy paste and the remaining sliced garlic. Reduce the heat if needed.

Add the toasted spaghetti to the pan and toss to coat. Pour the strained shrimp stock into the pan. Add the wine, and another pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer the mixture for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the spaghetti is mostly al dente.

Grab your marinated shrimp and nestle them into the pan.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to broil.

Slide the broiler-safe pan into the oven and broil for about 5 minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked through and the spaghetti crisps and curls up on its ends.

Allow to cool just a few minutes, for some last minute thickening.

Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon wedges!*

I made the Aioli, which took just 2 minutes and was well recieved by some [me, not so much]



MoSup hosted a dinner for school friends who were in town for the Annapolis Bridge Run.  After running through several recipes, she chose from my collection of Test Kitchen videos the Spanish-Style Toasted Pasta with Shrimp (Fideuà).  The dish is paella with the pasta replacing rice.  I chose to toss in some mussels along with the shrimp; they were largely ignored.  Should have used clams or scallops. I also added a pound of chorizo, sliced to 1" pieces, and fried just to being underdone, and added before going to the broiler.  Perfecto, that.

To solve the problem of finishing the dish under a broiler, I bought for $5 a large aluminum pasta pan from the supermarket, and served from it. 

If I make it again, I will likely skip the toasted pasta, which is time consuming, and go with fettuccine.  But, since MoSup can't eat shell fish anyway, this was probably a one off. 

PS- America Test Kitchen charges to watch it's YouTube recipes, but this (Season 13: A Taste of Spain) and others are on NetFlix.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where is the Safron?

Casca

Rodger the Real King of France said...

According to ATK, adding saffron had virtually no effect, and is super expensive. I actually have some saffron I've been saving for years, and forgot I had, or I'd have used it anyway.

DonM said...

Cooked this up last night. No saffron needed. Next time I will use an additional can of diced tomatoes and I will cook the Shrimp in the pan separatly and add it later. The spaghetti was perfect toasting with olive oil and butter. I just broke it up by hand and it was fine. Wonderful flavor. Thank you.

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