I'm going to make ciopinno tomorrow, maiden voyage.

[EFerrari]

Does anyone have tweaks to this recipe?

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
* 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

Directions

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.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/cioppino-recipe/index.html

My mother in law used to make ciopinno for us but I never thought to get the recipe from her (it would have been a little sacrilegious, lol). But my mom and I were remembering Lady today and I thought I'd give it a shot.

[grasswire]

1. have a good loaf of sourdough bread on hand...

...and unsalted butter. Enjoy!

[Ohio Joe]

9. See...

I would go more with an Italian bread, 90% toasted and then rubbed with a few cloves of garlic, then topped with some mozzarella and baked the remainder of the way so the bread is done just as the cheese is melted.

But hey... You are on the right track by wanting bread with this :P

[grasswire]

10. I'm just recommending the San Francisco accompaniment to cioppino

A loaf of sourdough, never heated, and unsalted butter is traditional. Just for sopping up juices, ya know.

[Lucinda]

2. Looking forward to the results.

I've never made cioppino, but every recipe of Giada's that I have tried has been amazing.

[EFerrari]

5. That's good to hear. I've never tried one before.

:)

[The empressof all]

3. It will be lovely!

Don't skimp on that red pepper though....but I like it on the spicy side. I also prefer white fish rather than salmon in this. IMO Salmon has too strong of a flavor that doesn't meld as well with the seafood. I use Halibut or even cod. It goes fast at the end and you don't want to overcook the shell fish so keep an eye on it.

[EFerrari]

6. I was wondering exactly about that with respect to salmon.

Think I'll pass on it this time.

[Retrograde]

4. Heresy! You can't make cioppino without Dungeness crab

which means you can't make it until the cold months when the crabs are in season. And why are you using a recipe for cioppino, a San Francisco invention, from an southern California cook?

This may be a decent seafood stew, and there's nothing wrong with that, but cioppino it ain't.

Only four more months until crab season!

[EFerrari]

7. LOL! Good question.

My problem with seafood is that I can't kill anybody, it's just not going to happen. So unless I find fresh, already murdered corpses somewhere, I'm out of luck. Maybe someone around here has a bit of crab.

[LaydeeBug]

13. Lunacy!! *EVERYONE* knows there is no better crab than a Chesapeake Bay BLUE CRAB

it's raining cold, hard facts up in here.

[Retrograde]

14. I've had both

and I'll have to go with Dungeness. I've never had blue crab in Maryland, though, just other places in the east.

I think we'll have to agree that the best crab is the one caught closest to where you eat it!

[Zoigal]

8. Am almost drooling just reading your recipe...

Been a while since i made it, but agree that you must have
crab (preferably Dunguness as suggested) if you can find it.(Season starts
in October, i think). Didn't use fish stock, or fennel but both sound great. Always
better the second day IMO....Enjoy.....z

[LaydeeBug]

11. I'd add scallops and some capers, but that's just me. :)

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Anisette or Pernod or something similar

Trust me on this. There is a real affinity between the tomatoes, seafood and licorice-ish flavor.

Add enough to just barely be tasted. You want everyone to say "mmmmm . . . what's that taste?" Be sure to add it early enough to allow the alcohol and accompanying raggedness to cook out.

You could also use vermouth, but that's a whole other flavor profile.