Aletría Murciana

Aletría Murciana belongs to Murcia, and it is cocina de cuchara, spoon food: fine fideos cooked in a brothy guiso with costillejas, small pork ribs, potato, saffron, and the deep red murciano touch of ñora. It is not a dry fideuà and it is not a soup with noodles thrown in at the end. The noodles finish in the broth and drink its flavour. That is the dish.

The step that decides it is the sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base. Cook it low until the onion turns dark gold, the tomato loses its water, and the oil comes back red and glossy around the edges. Rush it and the stew tastes thin, however good the ribs are. Give it the time and the saffron has somewhere to land.

If you are far from Murcia, use thin fideos or broken vermicelli, no hace falta haber pisado España. For the ñora, use a small dried sweet red pepper if you must, but add a little sweet pimentón de la Vera and know the flavour will be less round. Costillejas are simply chopped pork spare ribs. Ask the butcher to cut them small, because this is a spoon dish, not a knife-and-fork lunch.

The noodles cook quickly, so have the table ready before they go in. They should be tender but still loose in a golden-red broth, not swollen into paste. My Margin has only one warning here: fideos wait for nobody. Serve it as soon as it rests its few minutes. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.