San Francisco Cioppino

Cioppino is a tomato-based seafood stew that may have crab, cod fish, scallops, shrimp. mussels.  clams and maybe scallops.

I know what you are thinking.

This is definitely NOT a plant-based dish. However, it is something I always wanted to try, and it was a special occasion.

For what it’s worth, I left out any butter and oil. I made my own stock and selected wild caught seafood.

What is Cioppino?

A French bouillabaisse has a seafood broth seasoned with saffron and they add tomatoes to the soup.

A Cioppino has a tomato and seafood broth.

Otherwise, they are the pretty much the same.

Despite all of the seafood, this is a very light dish.

San Francisco Cioppino

I selected wild caught seafood for this recipe. Most of the time is spent cleaning the seafood. I suggest doing that a day ahead of time. It actually comes together very quickly once the seafood is prepared, and the stock is finished.

The clams and mussels were steamed and cleaned. The shrimp was deveined with the head and back fin left on. The crab was already cooked when I got it and just needed to be shelled.

Print Recipe

Prep Time1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time20 minutes minutes

Stock time1 hour hour

Servings2 people

AuthorSnap Pea Sheep

Cost$65

Equipment

• 6 QT Stickpot I actually used two pots.
• Lobster cracker
• Streamer
• metal colander Ideally this should fit over the stockpot and the lid can sit on it.

Ingredients

Stock

• 3 qts water Enough to cover everything
• 1 Large carrot
• 1 Onion
• 3 Stalks celery
• 1 Stem of fennel bulb
• 2 Bay leaves
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp Herbes De Province
• Parsley stems, fennel fronds If available, use them to impart flavor.
• Cleaned crab and shrimp shells Whatever you have available. Clams and mussels can be gritty so don't use them in the stock.

Seafood

• 8-9 Mussels I found frozen cooked mussels, so I only had to clean them,
• 6 Cherry stone clams Try to get all the same size, don't accept any that are open or have cracked shells.
• 8-9 Wild shrimp 9-12 or colossal
• 1/2 Lb Shelled sea scallops May be previously frozen
• 8 oz Wild cod or halibut Any fleshy white fish
• 1-2 Wild snow crab cluster

Soup

• 18 oz Dice tomatoes I use the whole jar of Jovial tomatoes.
• 4 oz Tomato paste
• Strained stock The stock will cook down based on cooking time. Use what you have.
• 1 Cup Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot noir Red or white wine to preference. Do not use "cooking wine".. Optional.
• Water Water or purchased broth as needed to cover the vegetables. A trick is to pour it over the stock ingredients and use the strained water.
• 1 Red bell pepper I used 1/2 red and 1/2 yellow.
• 2 Tbsp Fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp dried.
• 2 Tsp Fresh Thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 4 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp Calabrian chili Optional. May also use cayenne or red pepper to taste.
• 1 Tsp Fennel seeds
• 1/2 Tsp Black peppercorns
• Himalayan salt to taste Taste after all seafood is added and add salt to your preference.
• 1/4 Cup Fresh parsley, chopped. for garnish
• 2 Slices Preserved lemon (rinsed) or lemon.
• 1 Clove garlic, minced.

Instructions

Stock

• Clean the vegetables but there is no need to peel them.
• Cut the fuzzy root from the onion and rough chop into 6 or 8 pieces. Skin ok.
• Place vegetables, spices, shells and water in a large stock pot and turn on medium high heat. Once it comes to a boil, turn it down to simmer. Let the stock sinner for 30 minutes to an hour while doing other things.

  You can add the shells halfway through the cooking process if they are not available,
• Turn off the heat after an hour and let it cool. It is easier to strain when it is not boiling hot.
• When the stock has cooled enough to handle. Place a colander over a large stock pot and ladle the vegetables into it. When it gets closer to the bottom, pour the rest of the contents into the colander. Let the liquid drain into the pot. use a spoon to turn over the vegetables to get any trapped liquid.

Seafood

• All seafood must be cleaned and ready to add to the pot. Keep seafood in water with ice while preparing other seafood.
• Wash clams with a brush on the outside. Place clams in a bowl of cold water for about 1/2 hour. Depending on size, they will need to steam for 5-7 minutes until they open. Do not overcook. Discard any that do not open within 1-2 minutes of the last one. As each open, remove them from the steam and place in cold water.
• Once the clams have cooked and are cool enough to touch, coax them open enough to snip them away from the shell. Flood the clam with water to remove any grit. Rinse the shells very well.

  Almost every recipe says to cook the clams in the broth. It is very difficult to remove the grit so don't do it in the broth.
• Mussels follow the same instructions as the clams but take a shorter time to cook. About 3-5 minutes. The mussels should be cut away from the back hinge of the shell.
• put clams and mussels in cool water until time to assemble the soup.
• Use a lobster cracker to remove shells from the crab. Ideally you did this first so you could add the shells to the stock.

  Bend each leg in the middle, then at the hinge to get the meat out easier.

  Place in icy cold water until ready to assemble soup.
• The cod should be fileted and clean. Rinse and cut into large chunks - or two portions.

  Place in icy cold water until ready to assemble soup.
• Rinse and pat dry the scallops. They can be placed in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the soup.

Soup

• Make the gremolata: Chop parsley, garlic clove and lemon together. Set aside for garnish.
• Peel and dice onion. Add to strained stock.
• Dice peppers and add to stock.
• Add tomato paste and diced tomatoes (with liquid) to the stock.
• Add seasoning and herbs (except parsley) to stock.
• Add wine to the soup so it can cook down. Red imparts a richer flavor than white. It is your choice.
• Heat the stock and vegetables over medium heat. Once the onions are getting soft and translucent, add shrimp and scallops to the stock, place a colander with the clams and mussels over the stock pot and put the lid over. This should not be more than 3-4 minutes.

  Turn up the heat to get the soup very hot.
• Be prepared to plate. This is dinner so 2.5 qt bowls are best.
• Place crab and cod in the bottom of two large soup bowls. Quickly ladle the shrimp and scallops into the bowl and ladle the soup over the seafood.

  Arrange the clams and mussels on top and ladle on more of the soup broth.

  The heat from the soup broth will cook the cod and warm the crab.
• Top each with the gremolata. Serve with garlic bread, crusty bread or sour dough.

Notes

This is a Snappy Sheep recipe.

 

This was my first time making this dish. I adapted an authentic San Franciso recipe to my taste. Basically, I omitted the butter and oil, added Old Bay and Calabrian chili. 

I also wanted some vegetables, so I added the peppers and onions. I regretted not adding the cook carrots from my stock but in retrospect would have diced a carrot and some celery to add to the dish. 

The original recipe also called to chunks of fennel bulb, but I opted for fennel seed. Fennel, as well as star anise can quickly overpower a dish and one or both may be called for, 

The dish seemed to be screaming for potatoes but there was a lot going on with the seafood. 

I left head and tail on my deveined shrimp for presentation. It was messy to eat them, Feel free to shell them completely. 

Frankly, I overcooked the clams and they were gritty despite my cleaning of them. If you do not know how to prepare them properly, leave them oot. They don't lend that much to the dish. 

The only mussels I could find that were not farm raised were precooked and frozen. I only had to wash them and de-beard them. (Cut them away from the shell). I just let them get a minute or two of the soup steam and then finish heating from the soup broth.

My cod was cut into 1" pieces and cooked just find from the heat of the soup, it takes about 3-4 minutes. If you have a large piece, you can add it in with the shrimp and scallops. It's just a lot to fish back out after 3-4 minutes. 

Replace the seafood with hearts of palm, mushrooms and artichokes for a vegan experience.