Best California Coastal Cioppino Recipes

CALIFORNIA CIOPPINO

California Cioppino image

I found this recipe in the newspaper about 15 years ago. I modified it a bit and have served to my very best friends. Absolutely the best. Rather expensive but worth it!

Provided by Randy Molitor

Categories Halibut

Time 2h30m

Yield 6 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 17

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
28 ounces canned tomatoes
15 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons mixed Italian herbs
12 small fresh clams
12 fresh mussels
1 1/2 lbs halibut fillets, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 lb prawns, shelled and deveined
1 lb crab, cleaned and cracked
1 teaspoon salt

Steps:

Saute onion and garlic over moderate heat in olive oil until soft but not browned.
Add parsley, tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine, water, vinegar and herbs.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes.
(Basic sauce can be made ahead, cooled, covered and refrigerated. Heat sauce before adding to seafood.)
While sauce is simmering, rinse all fish and seafood in cold water.
Scrub clams thoroughly.
Layer all seafood in large kettle, placing clams and mussels on top.
Pour hot sauce over all.
Cover tightly.
Cook over low heat about 20 minutes, or until clams and mussels open and prawns turn pink.
To serve, ladle hot sauce and some seafood into soup plates or large soup bowls.
Lot of sour french bread.
Enjoy.

CALIFORNIA COASTAL CIOPPINO

California Coastal Cioppino image

Provided by Food Network

Categories main-dish

Time 2h15m

Yield 6 servings

Number Of Ingredients 53

Ingredients

2 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
4 anchovy fillets
1 1/2 cups roughly chopped onions
3/4 cup roughly chopped celery, and a few leaves
3/4 cup roughly chopped carrots
12 basil leaves
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Pinch chili flakes
Cheesecloth sachet, filled with 1 rosemary sprig, 1 oregano sprig, 1 thyme sprig, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 1/2 quarts peeled, seeded ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups red wine
2 cups white wine
Pinch saffron threads, crushed
3 cups fish stock
6 cups tomato sauce base
Spot Prawns and Seafood
10 cups cioppino base
18 (1-ounce) medallions white sea bass
2 dozen manila clams
2 doze black mussels
6 claws, 6 legs Dungeness crab, cooked
12 spot prawn tails, vein removed
18 tentacles, 3 small tubes calamari, cleaned, tubes cut in 1/2-inch pieces
Rice bran oil
12 spot prawn heads
Potato starch, for dusting
Pinch kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups French bread cubed, no crust
1/2 cup cold fish broth
6 livers from shrimp heads, lightly sauteed
1/2 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon togarashi spice (also known as Japanese 7 spice)
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce (recommended: Sriracha)
1/2 teaspoon yuzu juice
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 thick slices sourdough bread
1 clove garlic, cut in 1/2
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped parsley leaves
Pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cioppino Sauce
Cooked Seafood
Rustic Crostini
Pinch chopped Italian parsley leaves
6 lemon halves
Spicy Shrimp Rouille

Steps:

Tomato Sauce Base:
Heat a large saucepan and add olive oil and anchovies. Stir anchovies into hot oil to dissolve. Add onions, celery and carrots and begin to cook until they begin to brown. Add basil leaves, garlic and chili flakes and sweat to release their aromas. Add sachet and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 45 minutes until vegetables are tender enough to easily crush with a fork. Remove sachet and pass sauce through a fine food mill. Reserve for Cioppino Base.
Cioppino Base:
Combine wines and saffron. Reduce wine by half. Add fish stock and tomato sauce, bring to a simmer to combine flavors. Check seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
Spot Prawns:
Place Cioppino Base.in a large straight-sided pot. Heat to just below a simmer. Add fish, clams, mussels, crab and shrimp tails to pot. Cover and steam/poach briefly to cook and heat through each item. Clams and mussels should be now open; fish and shrimp should turn opaque. Add calamari for the last minute of cooking. Discard any clams or mussels that do not have beautiful plump meats.
Main Dish:
Heat about 6 inches of oil to 365 degrees F. Clean back apron of shrimp head and clean inside tail end of head. Dredge shrimp heads in potato starch lightly and fry 3 minutes until very crisp and golden. Drain briefly, split in 2 and season with salt and pepper. Hold warm for service.
Spicy Shrimp Rouille:
Soak bread cubes in fish broth and place all ingredients except oil in blender. Puree ingredients into a paste. Pour in the oil slowly, while blending, to make a thick fluffy mayonnaise sauce.
Rustic Crostini:
Rub bread with cut garlic clove and brush with melted butter and olive oil. Sprinkle with
parsley, salt and pepper and toast to golden brown in oven or toaster oven.
Cioppino Assembly:
Ladle Cioppino sauce into hot serving dishes. Arrange fish items on each dish from the back of the dish to the front. Lean crostini against 2 pieces of sea bass. Arrange 3 split fried shrimp heads against crostini and face forward and upright. Add 1 mussel shell and mussel meats, and 1 clam shell and clam meats. Add peeled shrimp tails, last piece of fish, calamari and peeled crab legs. Top with chopped parsley, cover and serve. Serve with lemons and Spicy Rouille sauce on side.