As a result of our puppy, I have had little time to cook, let alone post about what we have recently been cooking. Plus, I am sorry to say a lot of what we have been eating has been the same old boring, easy to make staple-including, which I am not proud of, lots of frozen dishes from Trader Joe’s! Hopefully in the upcoming weeks, we will have more time to try new things. Awhile back, I found a recipe on a blog for fideos and have been wanting to try it ever since. The time finally came this week!
Fideos is a traditional Mexican or Spanish dish. The name comes from the term fideo, which refers to a special type of noodle that is similar to vermicelli. The method of this dish is very similar to risotto in that the noodles are toasted and then finish cooking in a liquid. There is no limit to the variations that could be made on this dish.
Fideos (adapted from a recipe found on What Did You Eat?
4 to 5 cups stock, see below
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
12 ounces thin egg noodles
salt and freshly milled black pepper
1/2-1 cup crumbled queso (if you can’t find Queso use feta cheese)
1/3 - 2/3 cup grated Monterey jack cheese
Stock:
1 onion, chopped (can use red or yellow onion or a combination of the two)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T cumin (less if you are not as fond of cumin as I am!)
1.5 jalapeño chiles, seeded, veins removed, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained (preferably fire roasted)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
Garnish:
Fage Greek Yogurt/sour cream
chopped parsley or cilantro
For the stock, I chose to use the base of my tortilla soup, but you could use any stock you wanted adapting it to your desired degree of spiciness. To make the stock, saute onion, garlic, and jalapenos for 3-4 minutes in a large pot. Add cumin and mix well. Stir in reserved chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Using either a blender, cuisinart, or immersion blender, puree broth. Set aside.
Meanwhile, add the oil to a wide skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the noodles and cook, stirring and lifting constantly until the noodles are browned–about 3 to 6 minutes. Remove to paper towels.
Add 4 cups of the stock to the skillet and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and and simmer until most of the liquid has absorbed, and the noodles are no longer crunchy and cooked through, about 10 minutes. If they are still crunchy or the liquid boils away before they are cooked, begin adding more of the stock. Preheat broiler.
Season noodles with salt and pepper and sprinkle cheese on top. Broil until the cheese has melted. Garnish with sour cream and Parsley.
We ate it too quickly for a picture-Oops!
