Name: Fideos with Mussels
Cook time: 1 1/2 hr
Total time: 2 hr (includes making stock)
Yield: Makes 6 main-course servings
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 10 ounces fideos; 1 1/3 cups chopped onion (1 large); 2 teaspoons minced garlic; 2 (14- to 15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes in juice; 1 teaspoon salt; Pinch of sugar; 1/2 cup finely chopped Spanish chorizo (cured spiced pork sausage; 2 oz); 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf; 1 cup dry white wine; 5 cups white fish stock; 3 pounds mussels (preferably cultivated), scrubbed and beards removed; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

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Fideos with MusselsRomulo Yanes

Fideos, pasta nests that are often toasted in oil, are popular on the eastern coast of Spain. Here, the sauce is enhanced with a sofrito, a concentrated mixture that imparts a deep tomato flavor. The browned fideos slowly absorb the seafood-based sauce as they cook.

Cooks' notes:

· You can substitute 10 ounces of spaghetti, broken into 2-inch lengths, for fideos.
· Pasta can be browned and cooled 1 day ahead and kept, loosely covered, at room temperature.
· Sofrito can be cooked 1 day ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered.

Recipe notes

Sofrito Bolognese

An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.

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This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.

Smothered Italian Sausage

This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.

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XO Sauce

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