Cioppino Night

On Friday night, my family and I went to Roy’s Restaurant for Dallas Restaurant Week for my moms birthday. She’s 35 this year

Anyways, while we were at the restaurant, we had a long discussion about how much we like ciopinno. I’ve only had it once or twice, but it’s amazing. I know my mom and dad love it as well.

Naturally, I had to make it last night.

I used a recipe that I found on Food Network, but I changed the seafood that was used, skipped the fennel, and added fresh herbs on top. Other than that, I pretty much followed it exactly. Below are the changes that I made.

I probably should have found the recipe before I bought the seafood, but it still turned out great!

If I had tried to make this without a recipe, I probably would have failed miserably, considering I’ve only actually had it once or twice. Maybe in the future I’ll come up with my version…

But until then, here is the recipe!

Cioppino

Adapted From Food Network

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large shallots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
• 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
• Chopped fresh herbs (I used fresh basil)
• 1 pound manila clams, scrubbed
• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed, debearded
• 1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 1/2 pounds assorted firm-fleshed fish fillets such as halibut or salmon, cut into 2-inch chunks I subbed in lobster and calamari

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, shallots, and salt and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and sauté 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, fish, lobster, and calamari. 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.
3. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish with chopped fresh herbs.

Trust me, it was as good as it looks!  Guess what I’m having for lunch?

Do you like cioppino?

Tagged as: Cioppino, Recipe