Pilaf-Style Noodle Soup

I do not know why, but in Mexico pasta is generally browned in hot oil or butter before the liquid is added—the same technique as for the French pilaf de nouilles—whether the dish is to be eaten pilaf-style or as a soup. In this soup (which I must have eaten a thousand times while I was growing up and love as much now as I did then), the pasta that is used is a kind of thin noodle sold in little nests under the name of fideos. If you cannot find them in Latin American stores, look fo