I’m crazy about seafood soups and stews. They taste so fresh and involve a multitude of beautiful flavours. I tasted cioppino for the first time many years ago. Cioppino is a fresh seafood stew created by the Italian community of San Francisco. It did not originate in Italy, but I’m sure stews like it have been made in Italy for hundreds of years. This is a recipe I developed, based on my first cioppino and the seafood available in Newfoundland
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) canola oil
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- ½ tsp (2 mL) salt
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 carrots, diced
- ½ cup (125 mL) white wine
- 1 cup (250 mL) tomato sauce
- 4 cups (1 L) bottled clam juice
- 4 cups (1 L) water
- ½ tsp (2 mL) red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup (60 mL) fresh basil, chopped
- ½ tsp (2 mL) thyme leaves
- ¼ cup (60 mL) fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- 2 lb (1 kg) cod or other white fish, cubed
- 24 fresh clams, in their shells
- 5 jumbo shrimp, peeled and cleaned
- 4 raw lobster tails, shelled and cut in threes
- 24 fresh mussels, in their shells
How to Make It
- Heat oils in large soup pot on medium high. Add onion and salt. Cook until onion is translucent. Add garlic and carrots, and cook until garlic begins to turn golden. Stir in white wine. Add tomato sauce, clam juice, water, red pepper flakes, and herbs. Stir thoroughly.
- Add cod, clams, shrimp, lobster, and mussels. Bring pot to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 20 minutes. Serve seafood with some of the liquid in large bowls.
