Grandma Lees Cioppino Recipes

Steps:

• Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large (12-inch) heavy pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium heat. Add the fennel and onion and saute for 10 minutes, until tender. Stir in the garlic, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, stock, wine, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. The stock will be highly seasoned.
• Add the seafood in the following order: first the cod, then the shrimp, scallops, and finally the mussels. Do not stir! Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until all the seafood is cooked and the mussels are open. Stir in the Pernod, being careful not to break up the fish; cover and set aside for 3 minutes for the flavors to blend. Discard any mussels that have not opened. Ladle into large shallow bowls, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot with Garlic Toasts.
• Warm the oil in a medium pot set over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery and cook for 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add 1 1/2 quarts water, the wine, tomato paste, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for one hour. Strain through a sieve, pressing on the solids. You should have approximately 1 quart of stock. If not, add enough water or white wine to make 1 quart.
• Cool completely, transfer to containers, and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Slice the baguette diagonally in 1/4-inch-thick slices. Depending on the size of the baguette, you should get 20 to 25 slices.
• Lay the slices in one layer on a sheet pan, brush each with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until browned and crisp. As soon as they're cool enough to handle, rub the top of the toasts with a cut side of the garlic. Serve at room temperature.

Steps:

• In a large pot over medium heat, melt together 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the carrot, leek, onion, red bell pepper, fennel, green bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 15 minutes.
• Scoop half of the matignon (sautéed minced vegetables) from the pan and set aside. Stir the tomato paste, basil, oregano, thyme, and cayenne into the remaining vegetables and cook until the tomato paste starts to brown, about 10 minutes.
• Next, add half of the white wine to deglaze the pan, stirring to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
• Add the fish stock, crushed tomatoes, and bay leaves. Stir together, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Season all of the seafood with salt and pepper.
• Add the scallops to the pan and sear the first side until golden brown, 3 minutes. Flip and sear on the other side for another 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Wipe out the pan if needed.
• Add more olive oil as needed, then add the shrimp to the pan and cook for 3 minutes on one side. Flip and cook on the other side for 3 minutes more. Set aside.
• Add more olive oil and the squid to the hot pan and sauté until cooked, 5 minutes.
• Add more olive oil and the halibut to the hot pan, along with the crushed garlic and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Sear the halibut on one side, then flip and cook on the other side for 3 minutes. Baste the fish with the melted garlic butter as the second side cooks. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the clams and mussels to the pan, pour in the remaining cup of white white, then cover the pot and steam for 5 minutes, until the shellfish pop open. Remove the pan from the heat.
• Transfer all of the cooked seafood, along with the leftover shellfish steaming liquid and reserved matignon, to the simmering stew; or plate the seafood and reserved matignon artfully in wide bowls and pour the hot stew over the top.
• Serve with grilled sourdough bread and garnish with parsley.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• 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.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the anchovies, bay leaf and red pepper flakes and cook until the anchovies begin to dissolve, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, onions and some salt and pepper. Saute until the onions are translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and parsley and use a wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes into bite-size pieces. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to blend the flavors.
• Season the fish fillets and scallops with salt and pepper. Raise the heat under the skillet to medium. Add the mussels and clams and gently stir to combine. Cover and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Add the fish, shrimp and scallops and gently stir to combine. Cover and cook until the seafood is cooked and the shellfish are open, an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and serve immediately.

Steps:

• 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). Remove bay leaf. Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Steps:

• In a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients. Cook, covered, on low 4-5 hours., Stir in seafood. Cook, covered, until fish just begins to flake easily with a fork and shrimp turn pink, 20-30 minutes longer., Remove bay leaf. Stir in parsley.

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, parsley and garlic; sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes with their juices; simmer 10 minutes. Add red wine, red wine vinegar, canned clams with juices, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, crushed red pepper, allspice and cinnamon. Simmer 30 minutes.
• Add water, white wine and cherrystone clams to stew. Simmer until clams open, about 10 minutes (discard any clams that do not open). Add crabmeat, sea bass and shrimp and simmer until fish and shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Ladle into large bowls and serve.

Steps:

• Toast the star anise by stirring frequently in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
• Make the marinara base: Add the onion, garlic cloves, bell pepper and olive oil to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. (Or, finely chop the vegetables by hand, then add to the pot along with the oil.) Add the mixture to a large pot and cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until soft, translucent and light golden in places, about 5 minutes. Add the Bloody Mary mix, canned tomatoes and juices and tomato sauce. Get every last drop from the cans by swirling a splash of water into each one and tipping the remnants into the pot. Add the toasted star anise, oregano, basil, thyme, sugar and bay leaf, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring often so the bottom of the pot doesn't burn. (Makes 7 1/2 cups; see Tip.)
• While sauce simmers, roast the garlic: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the whole garlic heads in half crosswise. Divide garlic, cut-sides up, between two pieces of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap the garlic up like two presents. Drizzle with olive oil, then wrap tightly. Set the foil packets on a baking sheet and roast for 1 hour, until the garlic is light brown and tender all the way through.
• Make the garlic butter: Once cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic cloves out, discarding the skins. (You should have about 1 cup of roasted garlic.) Add to a food processor along with the softened butter and pulse until smooth and creamy. Or, smash the garlic to a paste and mix with the softened butter. (Makes 1 1/2 cups; see Tip.)
• Make the garlic bread: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread 1/2 cup garlic butter on the cut sides of bread and season with salt and pepper. Set the bread, buttered-sides up on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until toasted and golden in spots, about 15 minutes. As soon as the garlic bread comes out of the oven, sprinkle it with dried oregano and the Parmesan. Cut into large pieces, then wrap the foil from the baking sheet around them to keep warm.
• While the bread bakes, make the cioppino: In a large Dutch oven or wide, heavy pot, add 4 cups of the marinara sauce, plus the clam juice, thyme sprigs and red-pepper flakes. Season generously with salt and pepper and heat over medium-high until simmering, about 5 minutes.
• Separate the legs and claws from the crab bodies. Once the sauce is simmering, gradually add the seafood, starting with the crab bodies. Cook for a couple minutes, then add the crab legs and claws to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
• Add the clams, nestling them into the sauce around the edges, like numbers on a clock, cover with a lid and cook for about 6 minutes. Give the mixture a stir then add the mussels, in the same fashion as the clams. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes. Once the clams start to open, add the fish, gently nestling it into the sauce, and set the shrimp right on top to let them steam gently. Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic butter, put the lid back on and simmer until the fish cooks through and the shrimp get plump, about 5 minutes.
• To serve, transfer the cioppino to a deep serving bowl, being careful not to break up the delicate cooked fish. Perch the crab legs and claws on top and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with warm garlic bread on the side.