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This was my first time having cioppino. I often heard of it but never really knew what it was until I tried it from Bobby Flay’s Throwdown cookbook. It is so extremely delicious for real! Cioppino is an Italian-American stew/soup originated in San Francisco. Reading the history of it, cioppino was made by the fishermen on the boat using the catch-of-the-day, which are often seafood like crabs, mussels, prawns, fishes, scallops, squids, etc.
What makes the cioppino really delicious to me, besides the delicious seafood themselves, is the cioppino sauce. I absolutely love this sauce. My husband couldn’t have enough of it for sure. The sauce is tomato-based flavored by herbs and saffron. The most distinguished flavors are from the bay leaves and saffron, which I absolutely enjoy so much. The seafood are then cooked briefly in the sauce and serve this over pasta or with crusty bread and I seriously guarantee that you will make this again!! This recipe won over Bobby Flay’s cioppino in the throw down.
CIOPPINO / SEAFOOD STEW
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic , hopped
- 1 lb little neck clams
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 8 oz mussles , scrubbed
- 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- Pinch of saffron threads
- 8 oz medium shrimp unpeeled and deveined (You can use the peeled and deveined ones as well if you find them more convenient to do so)
- 8 oz cleaned squid tubs , cut into rings
- 8 oz firm-flesh white fish fillets , cut into 2-inch cubes
- 4 oz bay scallops
- 1 lb lump crab meat , preferably Dungeness
- CIOPPINO SAUCE:
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 medium onions , halved and thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic , chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
- 1 (28 oz) can peeled tomatoes with juice, crush by hand
- 1 (26 oz) can tomato puree
- 1 Tbsp clam base without MSG (optional)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp celery salt
- Dash of Worchestershire sauce
- Dash of ground cinnamon
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves, parsley, and basil, and cook for 1 minute: do not brown
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, 3 1/2 cups water, the clam base (if using), brown sugar, celery salt, Worcestershire, and cinnamon, Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 1 1/4 hours to 2 hours. Remove the bay leaves before serving
- Combine the olive oil, butter, and garlic in a wide, deep pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant but not browned, 2 minutes. Add the clams and wine, cover, increase the heat to medium-high, and steam until the clams start to open, about 5 minutes. Add the mussels, cover, and steam until the mussels just start to open, about 2 minutes. Discard any clams or mussels that do not open. I did not use any mussels in mine, so you won't see them in the photo 🙂
- Stir in the cioppino sauce, Worcestershire, and saffron, and bring to a simmer. Add the shrimp and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then gently stir in the squid, fish, and scallops, and simmer until they are all just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Gently stir in the crabmeat during the last minute or so of cooking time
