Fideo Seco Jarocho

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles
• •Blender
• •Wide clay cazuela or 12-inch heavy skillet with lid
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile chipotle and chile ancho for 15 to 25 seconds per side, just until they soften and smell deep. Do not blacken them. Burned chile turns the whole pot bitter, and this is a quick dish, so there is no time to hide mistakes.

2. 2

   Soften and blend

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 10 minutes. Drain them and blend with the jitomates, the quarter onion, garlic, and salt until smooth. The sauce should be brick red, not watery pink. If the jitomates are weak, the fideo will be weak. Start at the market, not the stove.

3. 3

   Toast the fideo

   Heat the oil or lard in a wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium. Add the broken fideo and stir constantly until the noodles turn an even golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Some pieces will darken faster than others. Keep them moving. This toasting is the flavor of fideo seco. No me vengas con atajos.

4. 4

   Fry the aromatics

   Add the chopped onion to the toasted fideo and cook for 2 minutes, stirring so the onion softens without burning the pasta. Add the bay leaves and Mexican oregano. The smell should shift from toasted wheat to tomato and laurel. That is the Veracruz part beginning to speak.

5. 5

   Fry the sauce

   Pour the blended jitomate sauce into the cazuela. It will hiss and tighten around the noodles. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring gently, until the raw tomato smell is gone and the sauce darkens slightly. Frying the sauce before adding broth gives the fideo body. Skip it and the dish tastes boiled.

6. 6

   Braise until dry

   Add the warm broth, olives, and capers if using. Stir once, taste for salt, then lower the heat and cover. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until the noodles are tender and the liquid has been absorbed. The bottom should be moist but not soupy. Fideo seco means dry fideo, not pasta swimming in tomato water.

7. 7

   Rest and finish

   Turn off the heat and let the cazuela rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the fideo gently with a fork. Spoon Mexican crema over the top, scatter queso fresco and cilantro, and serve with lime halves and black beans. Bring the cazuela to the table. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

Chef Tips

• •Use ripe jitomate de bola. If the tomatoes are pale and hard, buy canned whole tomatoes from a good brand instead. That is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it is better than pretending bad tomatoes have flavor.
• •The chile chipotle should be dried if you can find it. Canned chipotle in adobo will work in a hurry, one small chile only, but it brings vinegar and sweetness that change the sauce.
• •Do not over-stir once the broth goes in. Stirring breaks the noodles and turns the cazuela pasty. Move it once, cover it, and let the heat do its work.
• •Olives and capers are not decoration here. Veracruz cooking carries the history of the port. Use them lightly so they season the tomato, not so they take over the dish.
• •Serve with black beans, not pinto. In Veracruz, the bean pot is black beans with epazote or hoja santa when the cook has it. That plate will make sense.

Advance Preparation

• •The jitomate and chile sauce can be blended one day ahead and refrigerated. Fry it fresh with the fideo so the sauce keeps its brightness.
• •Fideo seco is best right after resting. Leftovers keep for two days, but reheat with a spoonful of broth or water because the noodles continue absorbing liquid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)