Squid Ink Seafood Fideos

(4 servings)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes

We just absolutely had to add this fideos recipe to Spanish cuisine month. This is one of my favorite dishes to cook though time consuming. The first time I made this dish was when Chloe’s mother sent us a package from France with a bottle of squid ink as she knew I was so totally into cooking! It’s been one of our favorites ever since. This dish I would say is a sister of paella but takes lesser time to prepare. A lot of recipes keep fideos a little soupy but I prefer it dry almost similar to a paella with the socarrat slightly burnt, crispy bottom.

Ingredients:

• 400g Capellini
• 2 large tomatoes (chopped)
• ½ large red onion (chopped)
• 1 red bell pepper (sliced)
• 1 large garlic clove
• 100g Chorizo
• 1 Lemon
• 8 Shrimp
• 1 Squid
• 8 Manila Clams
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 2 cups chicken/beef broth
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon squid ink
• 6 saffron threads
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Method:

Rinse and pat dry shrimp, squid and clams. Cut squid in rings and set aside. Break the capellini by hand into two to three inch pieces.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add about a quarter of the capellini to the pan and fry until it turns brownish and you can smell a nutty fragrance (~3-4 min). Set aside and do the same for the remaining capellini.

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a cast iron skillet on a medium flame. Add onion and fry till golden brown. Add 1 tsp. of salt to the onion and let the onion sweat. Frying the onion for a total of about 5 minutes should do it. Add in the garlic and fry about a minute. Add in the tomato, paprika & squid ink and fry 10 minutes or until the tomato is well cooked and the liquid dried up. Now add the chorizo & bell pepper and fry about 4 minutes before adding in about a cup of the broth. Drop in the saffron threads and bring to a low boil.

Now comes the fun part. Slowly start adding in the capellini and spread evenly across the skillet. The capellini I got had a cook time of ~7-8 minutes. Having fried the capellini in advance further reduces this cook time but don’t worry too much about overcooking the pasta. The key is not to stir once the capellini is spread and allowing the pasta to be partially submerged in the broth. Once the pasta is spread place shrimp, clams and squid evenly across the skillet.

Increase the flame to a high and allow most of the broth to evaporate. Regularly move the skillet over the frame so that broth from the edges of the skillet also evaporate and you get an even cook. Add in additional broth if needed and add and slowly add in more capellini if desired and adjust salt and pepper for taste.

The aim is to end up with a fideos with a crispy ‘socarrat’ bottom and crispy tips on some of the pasta to vary texture of the bite. Top with coriander, slices of lemon spaced evenly, a squeeze of lime juice and serve!