Cioppino and bouillabaisse are often thought to be the same dish as they have similar ingredients. While thought to be an Italian dish, cioppino actually traces its roots back to San Francisco in California.
When I cooked this for the first time my hubby and my father-in-law loved it so much that they requested that I cook this once a week! Here is my version of this Italian-American dish.
Cioppino
- 1 head garlic, chopped
- 2 tbsps cooking oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup packed fennel, sliced
- 1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 kilo squid or octopus (slice the tentacles)
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 cup seafood stock or water
- 3 tbsps flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup clams (soaked in water for 1 hour)
- 1/2 kilo tail-on shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 1 pack local scallops
- 1 kilo mussels (scrubbed and de-bearded)
- 1/2 kilo skinless flaky white fish such as cobbler, Pangasius, halibut or cod (cut into 1-inch pieces)
- 1 baguette, sliced and lightly toasted
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Mince the garlic. In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion, fennel, celery, salt, and pepper, chili flakes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes.
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Continue to cook, stirring constantly, don’t burn the garlic and onions.
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Reduce heat to medium-low and add the squid. Cook, stirring occasionally until squid is opaque and tender and the released juices reduce 15 to 20 minutes.
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Add tomato paste and oregano and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
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Add the mussels, scallops, and clams.
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Add wine, raise heat to medium-high, and cook until cooking liquid is reduced by half, 5 to 7 minutes.
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You can also add tomatoes with their juice, bay leaves, water or stock.
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Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, covered in 30 mins.
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Add the shrimps to avoid overcooking it.
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Sprinkle the parsley leaves
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Arrange the fish on top of the stew, cover, and simmer until shellfish opens and fish and shrimp are firm and opaque, about 5 minutes more. Discard bay leaves and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley.
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Serve cioppino immediately in large soup bowls with bread.
Always taste your dish before adding more salt.
You can always have 3 varieties of seafood.
I bought the mussels in Säntis, local Scallops are available in S&R and Unimart. You can always buy seafood at any wet market, for me the best place to buy seafood is at Farmer’s Market in Cubao.
