TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
FideuàSeafood Fideuà
A dish of short noodles and seafood rooted in the coast of Gandia. The noodles absorb stock made from fish bones and trimmings, joining monkfish and shell-on prawns in a shallow pan.
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Fideos (short dried noodles)Equivalent to no.4 thickness; cooking time 10–12 minutes320 g
- Shell-on prawnsHeads and shells on500 g
- Monkfish flesh400 g
- White-fish bones and trimmings600 g
- Japanese long onion (white part)100 g
- Tomatoes200 g
- Garlic10 g
- Olive oil70 ml
- Sweet paprika3 g
- Saffrona little
- Water1.5L for stock and 200ml for adjustment1700 ml
- Salt7 g
Method
Prepare the seafood and cut the vegetables
- 1 Keeping the heads and tail shells on 500g prawns, make a shallow cut along their backs and remove the veins.
- 2 Cut 400g monkfish into 3cm cubes.
- 3 Remove the gills and blood clots from 600g fish bones and trimmings and rinse under running water.
- 4 Cut 100g long onion into 3cm lengths, finely chop 10g garlic and grate 200g tomatoes, leaving the skins behind.
Ready when
Continue when the prawn veins and blood on the fish trimmings have been removed.
Make the fish stock
- 1 Put the fish bones and trimmings, long onion and 1.5L water in a pot; bring to a boil, skim and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
- 2 Strain through a fine sieve and measure 900ml; if needed, top up using no more than the 200ml water reserved for adjustment.
- 3 Add 0.15g saffron and keep warm.
Ready when
Continue when the clear stock has taken on the aroma of the fish.
Sear the seafood and cook down the tomato
- 1 Heat 70ml oil in a shallow 32cm pan, cook the prawns over medium heat for 1 minute on each side, then remove.
- 2 Cook the monkfish for 3 minutes and remove, then add the garlic and tomato and cook down for 8 minutes.
- 3 Reduce the heat and stir in 3g paprika.
Ready when
Continue when the tomato’s moisture has evaporated and a little oil separates.
Let the noodles absorb the seafood stock
- 1 Add 320g fideos to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes, then pour in 900ml warm stock and add 7g salt.
- 2 Return the monkfish and simmer over medium heat for 6 minutes.
- 3 Arrange the prawns on top and cook over medium-low heat for another 4–6 minutes without stirring.
Ready when
Continue when the noodles have no firm core, the prawns are opaque at the centre and most of the surface liquid has disappeared.
Rest the noodles and serve
- 1 Turn off the heat, rest for 5 minutes and serve in the pan.
Ready when
The dish is ready when the noodles have absorbed the remaining liquid and no large pool remains on the bottom.
About this dish
An anecdote about the origins of fideuà is set aboard a fishing boat from Gandia. A local culinary association recounts how, in the early 20th century, the boat’s cook found there was not enough rice and broke up the noodles at hand to cook with seafood.
This dish, in which short noodles absorb fish stock and finish cooking in a shallow pan, is appreciated as a speciality of Gandia. The origin story also reflects the connection between the port’s seafood and meals aboard fishing boats.
Gandia’s fideuà competition began in 1974 and became a platform for presenting the dish within Spain and abroad. Both the fishing-boat story and the event where cooks compete continue to be passed on alongside this representative dish of the town.
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