Among the ubiquitous ceviches, ramen, sushi and guacamoles, fewer and fewer gourmets are clear about what fideus rossejatseven a seafood dishtypical of the fishing boats, which returns every summer (without actually leaving) to Catalan houses, especially at the hands of grandmothers, experts in this traditional recipe.
With many territorial variants in the preparation of noodles in Catalonia, either to the cassolawith galleys, blacks, rossejats or at castanyolathis paste is an important foundation of the Catalan diet, like much of the Mediterranean, especially in the heat.
The charm of these noodles, which also have a rice version, is their technique of rossejatwhich leaves them slightly dry and crunchy. Gourmet Jaume Fàbrega already described it as a technique of browning rice (in this case the noodles) with oil before boiling them in broth.
That is to say, the base of this dish is, as its name indicates, the rossejatwhich would be the equivalent of brown in a fat (oil in this case) rice or noodles, he claimed.
These types of noodles are very typical of Tarragonaspecifically in the Baix Camp, Baix Ebre, Baix Penedès, Montsià, Ribera d’Ebre and Tarragonès regions, with a seasonality that really lasts all year but is more intense in summer.
Despite being a typical seafood dish, the fideus rossajeats they have become popular to the inside. There are those who in the last moments of cooking add some prawns, langoustines or stewed cuttlefish with some peas.
Simple recipe but with technique
His recipe is simple and this process is key. First, its ingredients go through a medium onion, two ripe tomatoes, a quarter kilo of galleys, 200 grams of crabs and 600 of rock fish. Also, 400 grams of thick noodles (if possible the ones with holes), six garlic cloves, olive oil, fish stock and salt.
Reserving the previously made sauce of garlic, onions, fish and water, it is important to brown in a iron pot the noodles in a drizzle of oil. You have to let them brown slowly so that they adopt a uniform color.
Then the broth is added and they are cooked until they are dry. There are those who finish the job with a touch baked.
In fact, to control the cooking of the noodles and that they remain dry, it is usually done medium high heat cooking and the other half inside the oven. In addition, you can make a small mince with garlic and saffron or alloli.
museum piece
The Fishing Museum includes this dish in the article Seafarers’ recipes as museum pieces, by Miquel Martí, Glòria Ñaco and Alfons Garrido. Its authors emphasize that it is a historically very common dish in the fishing boats.
In these boats the classic diet has always been a fish broth, which allows cooking two dishes at the same time: a soup, and a rossejat. “A rossejat or some fideus rossejats second, cooked with the broth of the first”, they detail.
“It has been the regular menu on boats: austere in the forms, economical in spending, fast in the elaboration and tasty in flavor”, they highlight.
The experts emphasize that cooking recipes are one more vehicle to understand the life conditions of the fishermen and an expression of their changing way of life.
Conditions on the trawling boats made it necessary to cook on board for the crew. “The small kitchen dimensions of these boats and the exhausting work days largely define the diet of the fishermen, sober and direct”, they detail.
In addition, it is a kitchen that is highly conditioned by schedules, space and the ingredients available, apart from requiring a balance with work and sway of the shiptotally influencing the way he prepares and even eats the dish.
Fàbrega defined the kitchen on board as a functional kitchen designed to feed the crew, “without licenses, complex preparations or culinary baroques”. It is, in short, a poor kitchen in the middles, fast preparation, satiating, nutritious and energetic.
The controversial aioli
Besides, this fideuá is usually served with aioli, although these authors regret that if it is too strong “it is able to mask all the nuances of the broth”.
In this area, experts regret that symbolic practices are stronger than common sense, and the traditions transmitted at the table are sometimes they are detrimental of the dish that is intended to enrich, they regret.
But opinions there are many. The vade mecum of Catalan cuisine Catalan cuisineby Josep Lladonosa, recommends cooking this recipe in the oven with a liter of broth for its final touch, and suggests accompanying the dish with a portion of aioli to accompany it.
gastronomic days
This dish is now the protagonist of the Fideus Rossejats Gastronomic Days in L’Ametlla de Mar, to value the traditional preparation of this recipe and his roots in all seaside towns.
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Between the 2nd and the 6th of June, these conferences are also the showcase of the products of its market, and a sample of the best recipes from restaurateurs in the area. Specifically, on the occasion of this day, recipes with blue fish from the Costa Dorada are proposed.
Photos | Jornades Gastronòmiques de l’Ametlla de Mar, Agustin Piñero/Pexels, Núria Farregut/Flickr and Karolina Grabowska/Pexels.
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