Cioppino for the Seafoodie

This Cioppino is a take on Giada’s recipe. I’ve adjusted the flavors a bit and changed up the seafood as well as adding some Powerful Peppers to the mix to give it a nice kick. This is a great recipe for a group of people and you can go as expensive or mundane with the types of seafood you use as you want. For me the shellfish really make the dish so find a good fishmonger that can find you some good clams and muscles.

Cioppino for the Seafoodie

Prep Time 30 minutes • Total Time 1 hours
Difficulty Level:

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Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, shallots, and salt and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and some powerful pepper flakes, and saute 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, fish stock and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
  2. Add the clams and mussels to the cooking liquid. Cover and cook until the clams and mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams are completely open, stirring gently, about 5 minutes longer (discard any clams and mussels that do not open). If you are using lobster or crab or any of those things add them at the very last second and let them cook with the heat off for 3-5 minutes until just cooked through. Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes if it needs it.
  3. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with some leftover fennel fronds and serve.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
  • 1.5 onions, sliced
  • 3 large shallots, sliced
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon powerful pepper powder (cayenne, habanero, ghost, etc.)
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
  • 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
  • 5 cups fish stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • A dozen cherrystone clams, scrubbed
  • A bag of mussles, debearded
  • 1 lb. large shrimp peeled and deveined
  • 2 lbs fish fillets, I recommend a white fish and an oily fish ex. A pound each of snapper and mackerel
  • Other seafood you like - Crab, Lobster, Squid, Octopus etc.