Cioppino (Italian Seafood Stew)
Photo: Kelly Sue DeConnick, CC BY-SA 2.0
Cioppino is a San Francisco seafood stew built on a tomato and white wine broth with crab, mussels, scallops and firm white fish. Genoese fishermen who settled in North Beach first cooked it aboard their boats, and the name traces back to ciuppin, a Genoese fish soup. Here the crab simmers in the broth for half an hour, so it flavors the base before the quick-cooking shellfish go in. Serve it with sourdough for the juices.
Instructions
Warm the olive oil in a very large pot over medium heat.
Add the fennel, onion, shallots and salt. Cook, stirring now and then, until the onion turns translucent.
Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the tomato paste.
Pour in the tomatoes with their juices, the wine and the water. Add the crab pieces, celery and bay leaf, cover the pot and bring it to a simmer.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes so the flavors come together.
Add the mussels, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until they begin to open.
Add the scallops and fish and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 10 more minutes. The fish and scallops should be just cooked through and every mussel fully open.
Discard any mussels that stayed closed and fish out the bay leaf.
Taste the stew and add more salt and red pepper flakes if it needs them. Serve with the bread.
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