August 28, 2015

Fideuá in Washington DC

Natacha Sanz Caballero Rice, Grains and Pasta, Fish, Events & Travel fideos, fideuá, fish, lunch, shrimp, tapas, Washington DC

I thought by the time I wrote my first post on this blog, all the tabs in the navigation bar would be filled with information. But that hasn’t happened (yet), and I just couldn’t wait! I’ve been writing and collecting family recipes for years—of course also preparing them!—, and the many notebooks and binders where they now sit were starting to burst at the seams.

At the same time—and I believe this is a common phenomenon amongst expatriates—, with the passing of time I was longing for my roots, for a sense of belonging to something more than the here and now, for my personal history. It has been more than twenty years since I left my beloved Spain to start a new family and a new life in the New World, and unlike what one would think, the longing for my roots and the appreciation for my family history, and my homeland’s history, has only increased. Don’t get me wrong, I love America, for many more reasons that I could have ever imagined, and I’m very thankful for all the opportunities my family and I have been presented with in this welcoming nation. I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today hadn’t it been for those opportunities.

Since they were born, I’ve tried to instill in my sons a love for their country, but also for their heritage, their family history and the culture that makes up half of their genetic pool. The yearly trips to Spain have been, and continue to be, a way to not only immerse themselves in the culture and the traditions, but also to see, feel and live, if only for a few weeks, that they belong to a large family and another community beyond their Fort Wayne one. That cousins, uncles, aunts, second cousins, grandparents, friends, make up another community they’re part of, one they don’t see on a regular basis as they go about their lives in Fort Wayne, but that loves them and supports them.

However, it is a constant fear of mine that everything will get lost in the next generation. It wouldn’t be rare, but in fact possible and very natural, since my children were born in America. But at the same time, I would like for them, and their children, and their children’s children, to know that they belong to something bigger, deeper and wider. That they have a multicultural identity. That they should be proud to be American. And Spanish. And Canadian. That the world is their playground. That they belong.

That is one of the reasons for starting this blog, and sharing my recipes, of dishes I grew up eating in Spain, and that my husband and children enjoy today. As a place for them—and anyone!—to dig into another country, another culture, and another way of “seeing” the world. I’ve been seeing it through my multicultural eyes for decades now, and have longed to share it.

I’ll keep updating all the tabs in the navigation bar with relevant information about Spanish cuisine and culture, so I invite you to keep checking. But in the meantime, I want to start sharing the recipes of my homeland. I hope you make some, and let me know how they turn out. Once in a while, I will post a recipe that is not traditional or typical in the Spanish cuisine —the very welcomed consequence of having lived abroad for so long. I will always let you know.

A spring trip to Washington DC was the driving force in my decision to share my Spanish food blog now. Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, calling for an end to racism in the United States. His dream has been the dream of many for very long, people of many cultures and colors that make the United States the nation that it is today. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still much work to do.

Our dinner at Jaleo inspired my first post. Jaleo, chef José Andrés’ first restaurant in the United States, was in my bucket list of restaurants, not only because of José’s talent and delicious food, but because of my admiration for the man. José Andrés is possibly the first (and should I add best) ambassador of Spanish cuisine in the United States.

Tapas is one of the sections you will find under RECIPES in the navigation bar, and that is what we ate at Jaleo (click here for more on tapas, what I call a Spanish idiosyncrasy). It was a memorable dinner filled with laughter and jokes as we delighted in the wonderful dishes developed by José Andres based on the very traditional recipes that I remember from my home in Spain. Croquetas de jamón (ham croquettes), fideuá marinera (seafood fideuá), patatas bravas (fiery potatoes), are the very dishes my family enjoys when we are in Spain. Everyone there has their own recipes for these dishes. José’s are outstanding, and we delighted in every single one of them.

Many of the tapas we ate, I make at home. In fact, just a few days before our trip to DC I made a shrimp fideuá very similar to the one we ate at Jaleo. Granted, José’s fish broth was rich and delicious while here in Indiana we don’t get as much a variety of fish to make such a potent suquet, broth. But I’ve learned the ways to make the most from what I have. In fact, that is the essence of this blog, to show you how to prepare the most iconic Spanish dishes with the shortcuts and substitutions I have found to work well in the Midwest. My plan is to post at least weekly, and even though this is my first “official” post, you’re welcome to browse the site, where you will find a few other recipes. I welcome comments—and in fact, would love to hear from you!

Fideuá is my youngest son’s ideal “paella” —the one made with pasta. Fideuá is basically a paella where the rice has been substituted by fideos, 1-inch long spaghetti-like pasta. In Spain you’d buy pasta for fideuá rather than fideos, which are used in soups. But in the Midwest, fideos work very well, and you can now find them in the supermarkets, saving you from having to cut spaghetti to size. If you’ve read the section about paella in this blog (I encourage you to read the Tips and Notes before tackling a paella) you’ll know that paella doesn’t have onion. Fideuá, however, incorporates a sofrito base (click on the link for its recipe), and is therefore an exception to the rule—pasta is more forgiving than rice.

It is said that fideuá originated in Gandía, a coastal city in the province of Valencia, which incidentally, is located about 20 miles from my hometown of Onteniente. My family has long had links to Gandía, as it is the city where my grandmother lived for years, where my parents first met, where Dave and I celebrated our wedding, and where we keep going to visit friends and family and enjoy their outstanding marisco, seafood.

You can add calamari, monkfish, mussels and other seafood to fideuá, and I’ll show you how in future posts. The recipe I’m sharing today is of a simple shrimp fideuá, made with a rich seafood stock (click on the link for its recipe).

 

SHRIMP FIDEUA

Fideuá de Gambas

Utensils:

I used a 16-inch enameled steel paella pan (click here)

Ingredients:

1 lb fideo cut pasta

8 cups seafood stock

1 cup sofrito

1 small yellow or red pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

8 medium to large shrimp, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

 

In a pot, heat the seafood stock. In a paella pan big enough for 6 (click here for tips on the paella pan), heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat and sauté the shrimp peels for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the peels from the oil and discard. Add the shrimp, sauté for 2 minutes per side and remove from the pan. Add the pepper and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the pasta, stirring with a wooden spoon to mix with all the ingredients, and cook for about 5 minutes, making sure the pasta doesn’t brown. Add the sofrito and mix well, stirring, for one to two minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the seafood stock, which you’ve previously warmed. Add salt to taste. Lower the heat to medium and add the shrimp. Stir to arrange the pieces of shrimp in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed (if the pasta is still not fully cooked to your desired consistency, lower the heat and add a couple of tablespoons of broth at the time, until the desired consistency is reached). Remove the paella from the heat and let rest for a few minutes before serving.