How to make cioppino, or San Franciscan seafood stew – recipe | Food

This beloved San Francisco fish stew will look acquainted to anybody who’s dined on the Tuscan coast, and it isn’t 1,000,000 miles away from bouillabaisse, both – although, not like that French traditional, it’s simply tailored to the species out there in our personal waters. Richly tomatoey, with a distinctly Italian-American hand with the garlic and herbs, it’s a seafood showstopper with out a lot fuss.

Prep 25 min
Prepare dinner 1 hr 10 min
Serves 4

For the sauce
1 onion
1 crimson pepper
5 garlic cloves
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
½ tsp chilli flakes
50g tomato puree
100ml dry white vermouth, or wine
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
Sourdough, to serve

For the seafood
8 massive uncooked shell-on prawns, or 4 langoustines
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus further to serve
12 dwell mussels (about 160g), cleaned
200g white fish fillet
A couple of contemporary thyme sprigs
2 small brown crabs, minimize in half (ask a fishmonger to do that, if want be)
400g dwell clams
4 scallops
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to serve

1 A word on the seafood

Other than the prawns, which you might want to make the inventory, take the seafood listed within the components as merely a suggestion, and select your individual combine to go well with style and pocket (in reality, you would even skip the prawns, too, and use 400ml ready-made fish inventory as an alternative). You’ll want to regulate the cooking occasions accordingly, particularly for those who use precooked crab, which must be added simply on the finish to heat by way of.

2 Put together the soup base

Peel and finely chop the onion, trim and finely cube the pepper, and peel and crush the garlic. Put aside individually when you warmth the olive oil in a big saucepan on a medium-low warmth. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, and saute, stirring every now and then, till it begins to melt.

3 Saute the pepper and garlic

Add the diced pepper, and proceed to fry, stirring sometimes, till it and the onion are mushy however not colored. Tip within the crushed garlic, oregano, bay leaf and chilli, then fry, stirring so the garlic doesn’t catch and burn, for a few minutes longer.

4 Add the tomato and wine

Add the tomato puree and wine, stirring so the puree dissolves, then tip within the tinned tomatoes. Fill one of many now empty tins with water, swirl it round to rinse out the tin, then pour into the second tin and repeat. Add this tomatoey liquid to the pan.

5 Simmer till thickened

Carry to a boil, then flip down the warmth and simmer gently for about 45 minutes, till the combo has the consistency of a thick soup, slightly than a chunky sauce (decide when it’s prepared by the feel slightly than by the point taken, as a result of a lot will rely on the width of your pan and the energy of your hob). Season to style.

6 Now for the inventory

In the meantime, shell the prawns, setting apart the meat for now. Warmth the oil in a largish saucepan on a medium warmth (for those who’re utilizing your solely massive pan for the sauce, wait till that’s prepared, then decant it right into a bowl and use the identical pan for the inventory). Fry the prawn heads and tails within the oil for a couple of minutes, till they flip a vivid pink.

7 End the inventory

Pour 800ml water into the prawn head pan, stir to mix, carry to a boil, then simmer for half-hour. Pressure the inventory, discarding the prawn shells – you need to have about 400ml inventory (if not, make it up with water). Be aware that you would be able to make the recipe up up to now a day forward of serving; for those who achieve this, refrigerate the sauce and the inventory till you’re able to eat.

8 Put together the seafood

Pull the beards off the mussels and devein the prawns. Take away the pores and skin from the fish fillet, if vital, and minimize the flesh into massive chunks. Mix the sauce and inventory in your largest saucepan, add the leaves from the thyme sprigs and convey to a simmer. Add the crabs, if utilizing uncooked ones, cowl and prepare dinner for 5 minutes.

9 Ending touches

Add the clams and mussels to the pot, cowl and prepare dinner for one more three minutes. Lastly, add the scallops, prawns and fish, cowl once more and prepare dinner for 3 to 5 minutes, till they’re opaque and all of the mussels and clams have opened (discard any that don’t). Alter the seasoning to style, if want be, then divide between bowls, prime with the parsley and additional olive oil, and serve with the sourdough.