Cioppino with a Carla Twist

I went to the Seafood Market today in WillowPark and walked out with so much seafood. Had to come home and make this favorite seafood stew :)

Cioppino is a fish stew derived from the various regional fish soups and stews of Italian cuisine. Cioppino is traditionally made from the catch of the day, which in the dish's place of origin is typically a combination of dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and fish with fresh tomatoes in a wine sauce.

Ingredients Needed:
1 pound mussels washed
1 pound clams washed
1 pound shrimp (I used tiger prawns)
1 1/2 pounds scallops
1 1/2 pounds crab legs (I like the shells on)
3 fillets of orange roughy fish (my favorite white fish, but you can use any fish you'd like) cut in large pieces
3-4 chorizo sausage cut in large pieces
juice of one lemon
1 small shallot finely chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic finely minced
some fresh seafood herbs (I always use, dill, tarragon and cilantro)
4-5 cups fish stock
approx. 6 cups tomato based sauce
1/2 tsp. olive oil
fleur de sel or sea salt to taste (not much needed if any due to the satltyness of all the seafood)
pepper to taste

Tomato Base

Tiger Shrimp Deviened

Scallops

Orange Roughy

Mussels rinsed really well (make sure to discard any open ones at this point)

Clams rinsed really well (make sure to discard any open ones at this point)

Crab Claws with shell on

Fleur de Sel (can be found in your seafood shop or specialty kitchen stores)

In a large skillet, add 1/2 tsp olive oil and saute the shallot and minced garlic

When the shallots and garlic are soft and transparent, add the chorizo sausage and cook until no longer pink. (this just helps with the cooking process once it's placed in the pot with the other ingredients which don't take long to cook)

In the meantime, place the 6 cups of tomato based sauce, along with the 4-5 cups fish stock (depending on how thick you like the soup), salt and pepper to taste in a stock pot to simmer

Add the chopped fresh herbs, excluding the cilantro and the juice of one lemon into your tomato based soup and stir

To the simmering stockpot, begin adding the ingredients depending on cooking time.

First add the sausage, shallot and garlic along with the clams and mussels. Simmer for about 5 mins.
Then add the crab and scallop and simmer for about 5 mins. Gently stir as ingredients are added so not to break up the delicate meat.
Next add the shrimp and fish (in this case Orange Roughy)
Simmer on low with lid on for approx. 10 mins. Shrimp and crab meat should be pink, & shell fish should be open. If any shell fish have not opened, discard and do not serve.

Serve in a large bowl, garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and a lemon wedge for added flavor.

Have some pieces of grainy type bread or crusty bread for dipping into the delicous tomato soup. You can't miss out on that. That's where all the flavor is!!

A great dish for any night. And it doesn't take long to make regardless of the amount of ingredients needed. The one good thing about seafood, is that it really doesn't take that long to cook. And don't worry if you don't have fresh on hand. Frozen seafood works just as well. Remember to thaw it out in the refrigerator the night before.

I know I didn't give the ingredients for the tomato base I used in this recipe. It's another of my recipes and I promise to post it tomorrow afternoon. I like to have this base for things like this. Freezes really well too :)

Until we cook again! Enjoy

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