So we decided to get a bit fancy an make some seafood cioppino. We fell in love with the meal when we spent time on the west coast. For those that don’t know here’s an overview of the dish.
Cioppino is traditionally made from the catch of the day, which in San Francisco is typically a combination of Dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and fish, all sourced from the ocean, in this case the Pacific. The seafood is then combined with fresh tomatoes in a wine sauce. The dish can be served with toasted bread, either local sourdough or French bread. The bread acts as a starch, similar to a pasta, and is dipped into the sauce.
We make a similar version with our favorite seafood and oven roasted crispy garlic bread. First, we made the base. In a large pan over medium heat we added extra-virgin olive oil, onion, fennel and salt. We sautéed until the onion was translucent. Then we added red pepper, tomatoes, garlic, oregano and thyme to the pan and cooked it for several more mins.
hers the sauce boiling together which brings out all the aromatics and binds the sauce. This also allows time to prep all the seafood and grab an ice cold beer.
I find having a beer while cooking makes it more of an experience. It’s fun to find beers that pair well with meals. I love a good macro lager, but we have so many excellent craft breweries in my area that there’s always something cool to try. I honestly choose this beer because of the can I did not even look to see what the style was. It was delicious complex and refreshing beer. It was on the pricier side at $6/can, but it was still worth it.
After a few sips of beer and a little bit of time simmering we started to add the seafood. We started with shrimp. These take a few mins to cook and cook quicker than clams and crab so they when in first.
Next up was the crab, clams and white fish. These only take a few mins and you don’t want to over cook them. The clams add that sea flavor while the crab adds a luxurious flavor that can’t be recreated. The white fish adds the heartiness as you can’t buy too much crab or the other seas food due price. I won’t lie when I tell you this is expensive! We ended up spending $100 usd for the meal. If we would of bought it in a restaurant it would of cost 2-3 times that.
The bread is almost and import as the main dish. We ended up make the most garlicky and herby bread we could come up with. It’s an easy recipe garlic, butter and some herbs. Throw it in the oven until golden brown then you are good to go.
The finished product was beautiful with sprinkled parsley. I swam we each ate half a loaf of bread as we soaked up all the seafood goodness.
