leftover fideo soup

I really love fideo. Growing up I would remember helping my mom make a simple noodle soup in a tomato and chicken broth.  This usually involved toasting small pieces of pasta in oil until they went from a yellowish color to a golden brown color, then adding grated tomato, water and some chicken bouillon. The special treat for me was always when my mom would take some of the pasta out before adding the tomato for me to snack on.  It is a simple soup, but I have so many great memories of sitting around the table enjoying this with a meat or beans on the side. We still do it to this day and I see my nieces and nephews enjoying it every time they are visiting abuelita.


I occasionally get a craving, but typically make it more of a bigger meal.  For last night's dinner I did a fideo using leftover ingredients from the lamb birria I made a couple of nights ago. I also used hot dogs as my meat as well as some cheese on top, drawing inspiration from the budae jjigae I have eating lately.

I began by frying sliced hot dogs and garlic in a pan.  I left this on low for a good deal of the cooking time to try to get some fat out of the hot dogs.  I then added my pasta and began toasting it in the fat.  Typically for fideo you want to use a smaller pasta that has a shape, like stars, or broken up vermicelli.  The pasta will begin to get slightly more opaque then begin turning a brown color.  Stir frequently to avoid getting burned pasta.


Once I got the pasta to the color I liked, I added my leftover lamb birria broth. I also added a can of pickled jalapeño and carrots to the pot (again I was thinking kimchi in jjigae) as well as some spinach. 


Any broth any broth will definitely work in this soup.  If using tomato, add the tomato puree first and let it fry in with the pasta as well to get more flavor, then add the broth.   Boil the soup until the pasta softens, and it is ready to eat!

To finish the soup, I topped with shredded Chihuahua cheese, corn, and sliced scallions.  The soup was spicy and the vinegar from the pickled jalapeño really gave it a bite.  The corn and scallion added a nice sweetness and crunch with was a nice contrast to the wheel shaped pasta.  The cheese and hot dog added a very enjoyable saltiness to the soup, definitely an easy and delicious midweek meal.