San Francisco's Cioppino

Last weekend I got a craving for a good seafood stew, such as a French Bouillabaisse from Marseille, but wanted to keep it a bit simpler. So I looked into the Italian Cioppino and thought it was perfect for a Sunday evening dinner. And it was!

It is actually a very simple, healthy dish and very easy to make. I know the original recipe calls for Halibut and Dungeness Crab, but since Halibut is a tad more on the expensive side these days, I substituted Red Snapper for it. Great choice, in my opinion. As far as a whole crab goes, I used fresh crab meat, available at your Grocer's seafood department.

A little history on the Cioppino...

"Italian fishermen developed this Ciopinno recipe in the mid 1800's. There are two versions of where the name "Ciopinno" came from. Most believe it's based on an Italian soup called "ciuppin."

A more colorful version is that the fisherman used to gather after the day's work was done and all throw different pieces of fish and seafood into a communal pot for supper. They would call out to each other in broken English "chip in," "hey you, chip in," and this was the actual root for the word Ciopinno."

And yes, I know, that's my stove in the background of the picture. Couldn't crop it out. I served it with a blue cheese, parmigiano reggiano garlic bread and red wine.

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 rib celery, chopped
* 1 onion, diced
* 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-oz)
* 2 cups clam juice or fish stock
* 2 cups white wine
* 5 cloves crushed garlic
* 1 lemon, juiced
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 teaspoons dried basil
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 Dungeness crab (about 2-lbs), cracked and cleaned, or 1 lb crabmeat
* 2 pounds red snapper, cut into bite-size chunks
* 15 large prawns, peeled and de-veined
* 15 mussels
* 15 clams
* 1/2 bunch Italian parsley, chopped

Preparation:

1. In a large pot, on medium-low heat, melt the butter with the olive oil and saute the celery and onions until soft, about 10 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the seafood and fresh parsley. Simmer on low, uncovered, for one hour. Add a splash of water, clam juice or white wine (or all three), if the sauce gets to thick. Taste for salt and adjust if needed.

2. Add the crab, shrimp, and halibut, and simmer covered another five minutes. Add the mussels, cover the pot and simmer for 3 minutes more, or until the mussels open. Turn off the heat, and stir in the Italian parsley.

Ladle the Ciopinno into large bowls and serve with lots of sourdough bread and red wine.

This is great for a romantic dinner and/or the entire family.

Enjoy!