Quick Slap Dash Cioppino Recipes

QUICK AND EASY CIOPPINO

Steps:

• In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat; sauté onion, celery and red pepper for 3 minutes. Add garlic, salt and red chili flakes and cook one minute more.
• Pour in broth and bring to a simmer. Add shrimp, tomatoes and mussels or clams, cover and cook just until shells are open and discard any unopened shells. Sprinkle with basil.
• Ladle into shallow bowls with broth and serve with crusty bread.

QUICK CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat oil in large, heavy pot over medium-high heat.
• Add next 4 ingredients; saute 6 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, clam juice, and wine; bring to boil.
• Reduce heat to medium; simmer 18 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add all seafood and 2 tablespoons parsley.
• Simmer until seafood is opaque in center, about 3 minutes.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with parsley.

SHORTCUT CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat oil in large kettle over moderately high heat 2 minutes. Add onions, stir-fry mix, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, and basil and cook, stirring often, until onions are golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, salsa, clam juice, and wine; bring to simmering, adjust heat so mixture bubbles gently, and cook uncovered just until flavors meld, about 20 minutes.
• Add halibut and shrimp and cook uncovered just until shrimp turn pink and fish almost flakes, about 5 minutes.
• Remove bay leaves, season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve with rough country bread.

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• 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 3/4 teaspoon of red 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.
• 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). Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

QUICK CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook for 4 minutes. Add thyme, salt, pepper, and red-pepper flakes, and cook for 1 minute. Add wine, and simmer for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, juices, and water. Cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Add seafood, cover, and cook until shells open, 6 to 8 minutes. (Discard unopened shells and thyme sprigs.) Garnish with parsley, and serve immediately.

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!

QUICK CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add next 4 ingredients; sauté 6 minutes. Add tomatoes, clam juice, and wine; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 18 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add all seafood and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer until seafood is opaque in center, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, ladle into bowls, and sprinkle with parsley.

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.

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Toast the star anise by stirring frequently in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
• Make the marinara base: Add the onion, garlic cloves, bell pepper and olive oil to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. (Or, finely chop the vegetables by hand, then add to the pot along with the oil.) Add the mixture to a large pot and cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until soft, translucent and light golden in places, about 5 minutes. Add the Bloody Mary mix, canned tomatoes and juices and tomato sauce. Get every last drop from the cans by swirling a splash of water into each one and tipping the remnants into the pot. Add the toasted star anise, oregano, basil, thyme, sugar and bay leaf, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring often so the bottom of the pot doesn't burn. (Makes 7 1/2 cups; see Tip.)
• While sauce simmers, roast the garlic: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the whole garlic heads in half crosswise. Divide garlic, cut-sides up, between two pieces of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap the garlic up like two presents. Drizzle with olive oil, then wrap tightly. Set the foil packets on a baking sheet and roast for 1 hour, until the garlic is light brown and tender all the way through.
• Make the garlic butter: Once cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic cloves out, discarding the skins. (You should have about 1 cup of roasted garlic.) Add to a food processor along with the softened butter and pulse until smooth and creamy. Or, smash the garlic to a paste and mix with the softened butter. (Makes 1 1/2 cups; see Tip.)
• Make the garlic bread: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread 1/2 cup garlic butter on the cut sides of bread and season with salt and pepper. Set the bread, buttered-sides up on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until toasted and golden in spots, about 15 minutes. As soon as the garlic bread comes out of the oven, sprinkle it with dried oregano and the Parmesan. Cut into large pieces, then wrap the foil from the baking sheet around them to keep warm.
• While the bread bakes, make the cioppino: In a large Dutch oven or wide, heavy pot, add 4 cups of the marinara sauce, plus the clam juice, thyme sprigs and red-pepper flakes. Season generously with salt and pepper and heat over medium-high until simmering, about 5 minutes.
• Separate the legs and claws from the crab bodies. Once the sauce is simmering, gradually add the seafood, starting with the crab bodies. Cook for a couple minutes, then add the crab legs and claws to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
• Add the clams, nestling them into the sauce around the edges, like numbers on a clock, cover with a lid and cook for about 6 minutes. Give the mixture a stir then add the mussels, in the same fashion as the clams. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes. Once the clams start to open, add the fish, gently nestling it into the sauce, and set the shrimp right on top to let them steam gently. Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic butter, put the lid back on and simmer until the fish cooks through and the shrimp get plump, about 5 minutes.
• To serve, transfer the cioppino to a deep serving bowl, being careful not to break up the delicate cooked fish. Perch the crab legs and claws on top and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with warm garlic bread on the side.