Cioppino
A heavily simplified version of the San Francisco / Italian-American classic. Generally, this is made with all kinds of fresh seafood, often including dungeoness crab. For simplicity, I just used frozen assorted seafood (but obviously, you could use fresh seafood too). This dish looks impressive but it's surprisingly simple and scalable; you could even shorten down the broth simmering time if you're really in a rush. At its core, cioppino is very similar to bouillabaisse, both in origin and and recipe -- Italian fishermen in SF would make this stew with whatever miscellaneous seafood they had on hand. The main difference is the much heavier usage of tomatoes in cioppino, and the usage of saffron in bouillabaisse. Of course, a bowl of cioppino would not be complete without the obligatory sourdough bread, which soaks up the soup. This picture was not the most aesthetic, but this dish was super delicious and friendly for a large group or a weeknight dinner.
Active Time: 40 min
Total Time: 1 hr
Ingredients
> fennel (1 bulb, thinly sliced)
> onion (1, diced)
> (optional) bell pepper (1/2, diced)
> garlic (3 cloves, minced)
> red pepper flakes (1 tsp)
> tomato paste (2 tbsp)
> tomatoes (14 oz can)
> white wine (1 cup)
> fish stock (2 cups)
> bay leaf (1)
> seafood (~2.5 lb)
> salt, pepper, olive oil
> sourdough bread
> parsley, for garnish
Instructions
1. In a large pot, saute fennel and onion over medium heat until translucent, or about 10m.
2. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Continue to saute for ~2m.
3. Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, white wine, fish stock, and bay leaf. Cover and bring up to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for ~30 minutes.
4. Add the seafood, and cook until each component is perfectly cooked.
5. Adjust for seasoning if necessary. Ladle into soup bowls, garnish with parsley, and serve with bread, ideally toasted sourdough bread. Enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> The cioppino that my parents make is less of a soup and more of a thick-ish sauce -- they add much less liquid and therefore the stew achieves a much thicker consistency. It's a pretty different experience -- I like it with frozen seafood but with fresh seafood I'd go with the traditional, more soupy consistency to let the seafood shine.
> Feel free to substitute fish stock if you can't find it. Make it yourself with water and fish bones, or just use chicken stock.
> I've seen some recipes which call for white wine, others which call for red wine. White wine will lend itself to a lighter flavor, while red wine will lead to a bolder flavor. Either works honestly, take your pick.
> Any kind of seafood works! The main suggestion I have is to make sure that you add the seafood into the pot according to how long it cooks, so that everything finishes cooking at the same time. When in doubt, err on the side of slightly undercooking since the liquid will continue to heat through the seafood. A firm whitefish, shrimp, mussels / clams are great; dungeoness crab or scallops are lovely too.