Californiacioppino Recipes

SAN FRANCISCO CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Make the stew base. Heat a large stew pot or Dutch oven over medium heat with the olive oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits in the pot. Simmer the wine until reduced by about half. Add the tomatoes, peppers, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf and cook for 5 minutes. Add the stock or broths; bring to a boil, then adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook the base, with a cover slightly ajar, for 30 minutes. (The base may be prepared ahead up to this point, refrigerated for 1 day or frozen for 1 month).
• Finish the Cioppino. Bring the base to a simmer. Add the basil and the clams, and cook covered, over high heat, for 5 minutes, or just until the clams open. Add the crab and cook for 1 minute. Add the mussels, shrimp, squid, and scallops. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mussels open, the shrimp curl, and squid and scallops are just firm, about 3 minutes. Serve in large heated bowls with plenty of crusty bread.

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Over medium-low heat melt butter in a large stockpot, add onions, garlic and parsley. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until onions are soft.
• Add tomatoes to the pot (break them into chunks as you add them). Add chicken broth, bay leaves, basil, thyme, oregano, water and wine. Mix well. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
• Stir in the shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels and crabmeat. Stir in fish, if desired. Bring to boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer 5 to 7 minutes until clams open. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with warm, crusty bread!

CHEF JOHN'S CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Combine butter and olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat.
• Stir in onion and celery with a pinch of salt; cook until onion is soft and golden, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• Stir wine into onion mixture; increase heat to high and bring to a simmer.
• Stir in tomato puree, water, bay leaf, oregano, red pepper flakes, and Worcestershire sauce. Reduce heat to low and simmer 35 minutes.
• Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Stir in lemon and cod, return to simmer, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in crab, shrimp, and mussels. Cover and simmer until all mussels are cooked and open, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in fresh parsley and basil; season with salt and pepper to taste.

CALIFORNIA COASTAL CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Tomato Sauce Base:
• Heat a large saucepan and add olive oil and anchovies. Stir anchovies into hot oil to dissolve. Add onions, celery and carrots and begin to cook until they begin to brown. Add basil leaves, garlic and chili flakes and sweat to release their aromas. Add sachet and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 45 minutes until vegetables are tender enough to easily crush with a fork. Remove sachet and pass sauce through a fine food mill. Reserve for Cioppino Base.
• Cioppino Base:
• Combine wines and saffron. Reduce wine by half. Add fish stock and tomato sauce, bring to a simmer to combine flavors. Check seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
• Spot Prawns:
• Place Cioppino Base.in a large straight-sided pot. Heat to just below a simmer. Add fish, clams, mussels, crab and shrimp tails to pot. Cover and steam/poach briefly to cook and heat through each item. Clams and mussels should be now open; fish and shrimp should turn opaque. Add calamari for the last minute of cooking. Discard any clams or mussels that do not have beautiful plump meats.
• Main Dish:
• Heat about 6 inches of oil to 365 degrees F. Clean back apron of shrimp head and clean inside tail end of head. Dredge shrimp heads in potato starch lightly and fry 3 minutes until very crisp and golden. Drain briefly, split in 2 and season with salt and pepper. Hold warm for service.
• Spicy Shrimp Rouille:
• Soak bread cubes in fish broth and place all ingredients except oil in blender. Puree ingredients into a paste. Pour in the oil slowly, while blending, to make a thick fluffy mayonnaise sauce.
• Rustic Crostini:
• Rub bread with cut garlic clove and brush with melted butter and olive oil. Sprinkle with
• parsley, salt and pepper and toast to golden brown in oven or toaster oven.
• Cioppino Assembly:
• Ladle Cioppino sauce into hot serving dishes. Arrange fish items on each dish from the back of the dish to the front. Lean crostini against 2 pieces of sea bass. Arrange 3 split fried shrimp heads against crostini and face forward and upright. Add 1 mussel shell and mussel meats, and 1 clam shell and clam meats. Add peeled shrimp tails, last piece of fish, calamari and peeled crab legs. Top with chopped parsley, cover and serve. Serve with lemons and Spicy Rouille sauce on side.

OLD-STYLE SAN FRANCISCO CRAB CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Using a TALL 8-10 quart pot, cover the bottom of the pot with a good virgin olive oil, about ¼ cup. Add the chopped onion, sage, garlic, parsley and celery and sauté slow and stirring often until tender, approximately 20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add a little more olive oil. Add tomato sauce and cayenne pepper. Reduce to lowest simmer and cook for approximately 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it gets too dry, add a little water.
• Add 10-12 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Begin adding the seafood. Raw crab first (if not raw, then cooked is an ok substitute.) If you get raw crab, cleaned and chopped, it will be much better). Return to a low boil, then lower to low-medium heat for 15 minutes.
• Then add clams and mussels. Continue to simmer 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and scallops, simmer for 10 minutes, along with a cheese glass of white wine (6 oz.) before serving. Ok if this sits on low heat for 15-20 minutes. Add the fish 5-7 minutes before you are ready to serve. Any longer than that, take it off the heat and reheat gently before serving. Ladle into large bowls and have a few extra bowls on the table for shells.
• Have plenty of garlic and olive oil basted sourdough bread, finished with shredded parmesan cheese and your favorite California Chardonay. Offer the usual complement of crab tools, crackers, pickers, etc.
• Left-overs should be refrigerated and eaten next day or two. After eating, offer your guests a warm hand towel with fresh lemon squirted on it, with a little water, microwave on high for 30 seconds.

CALIFORNIA CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Remove legs and claws from crab. Break body in half, reserving as much of the mustard-colored center as possible. Set crab pieces aside and force the crab butter through a sieve, set aside. Place clams in a pan, add one cup of wine, steam covered for 4-6 minutes or until clams open. Remove clams and discard ones that don't open. Strain stock and reserve. In heatproof 8 qt. pot, heat oil. Add onion, garlic and green pepper, saute until soft. Add tomatoes, paste and remaining 2 c. of wine, pepper, herbs and clam stock. Partially cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add fish, scallops, shrimp, crab and mustard. Simmer about 5 minutes or until all seafood is cooked. Add clams and simmer one minute. Serve immediately with parsley sprinkled on top.

GRANDFATHER'S CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, parsley and garlic; sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes with their juices; simmer 10 minutes. Add red wine, red wine vinegar, canned clams with juices, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, crushed red pepper, allspice and cinnamon. Simmer 30 minutes.
• Add water, white wine and cherrystone clams to stew. Simmer until clams open, about 10 minutes (discard any clams that do not open). Add crabmeat, sea bass and shrimp and simmer until fish and shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Ladle into large bowls and serve.

CALIFORNIA CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Saute onion and garlic over moderate heat in olive oil until soft but not browned.
• Add parsley, tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine, water, vinegar and herbs.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes.
• (Basic sauce can be made ahead, cooled, covered and refrigerated. Heat sauce before adding to seafood.)
• While sauce is simmering, rinse all fish and seafood in cold water.
• Scrub clams thoroughly.
• Layer all seafood in large kettle, placing clams and mussels on top.
• Pour hot sauce over all.
• Cover tightly.
• Cook over low heat about 20 minutes, or until clams and mussels open and prawns turn pink.
• To serve, ladle hot sauce and some seafood into soup plates or large soup bowls.
• Lot of sour french bread.
• Enjoy.