A FANTASTIC RECIPE
FOR SPRING AND SUMMER
BY / JENIFER LANG
A couple of years ago I spent the summer on the Costa Brava, in a town called Tossa de Mar. As the name suggests, the town is on the sea, with a beautiful broad beach. The highlight for me was high on the cliff overlooking the ocean, flanking the medieval castle: a bronze almost-lifesize statue of Ava Gardner, in honor of the film she made in the sleepy fishing village in 1951. (She was married to Frank Sinatra at the time, and he was crazy jealous of her affair with a Spanish bullfighter, so he followed her to Spain.) Kooky.
My goal for the sojourn in Catalonia was to find and eat wonderful food, which I did, again and again. Of course, the Spanish serve paella constantly in restaurants, especially in those serving tourists, so we couldn’t avoid it. It was hardly ever bad, but when it was good it was very very good. So, of course I had to develop a recipe for the perfect paella when I came home. I decided to make the Catalonian version, a dish called fideuà, or paella made with noodles instead of rice. I was taught the technique by one of the best chefs in Barcelona, Toni Martin (pronounced mar-teen).
It’s a great dish for this season because you can make it outside, on the grill. I highly recommend getting a paella pan, though, because the dish cooks better and looks magnificent when it comes to the table.
