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Cioppino

Cioppino is a hearty seafood and tomato stew first invented in San Francisco by Italian fishermen. Today, Cioppino is made in many different ways across the country. In many recipes, the seafood is all just added to the pot to simmer with the stew, but in the recipe, the seafood is individually seared so it can be plated beautifully.
Servings: 6
Author: Tasty

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil divided

Matignon

  • 2 large carrots peeled, trimmed, and minced
  • 1 leek white part only, trimmed, cleaned, and minced
  • 1 large yellow onion minced
  • 1 red bell pepper cored, seeded, and minced
  • 1 small fennel bulb trimmed, and minced
  • 1 yellow bell pepper cored, seeded, and minced
  • 2 stalks celery minced
  • 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic crushed
  • salt to taste
  • freshly cracked pepper to taste

Seasonings

  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon Piment d'Espelette

Liquids

  • 2 cups dry white wine divided
  • 4 cups fish stock
  • 2 15-ounce cans crushed Italian tomato
  • 3 bay leaves

Seafood

  • ½ pound sea scallop
  • ½ pound shrimp peeled and deveined
  • ½ pound squid sliced
  • ½ pound halibut fillet cut into large pieces
  • ½ pound manila clams scrubbed
  • ½ pound mussels scrubbed

For Serving

  • Sourdough bread grilled
  • ½ bunch fresh parsley chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Sauté the vegetables

  • In a large pot over medium heat, melt together 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
  • Add the carrot, leek, onion, red bell pepper, fennel, green bell pepper, celery, and chopped garlic.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • Stir and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 15 minutes. Make sure your veggies soften all the way.
  • Scoop half of the Matignon (sautéed minced vegetables) from the pan and set aside.

Add the aromatics and tomato paste

  • Stir the tomato paste, basil, oregano, thyme, and Piment d'Espelette into the remaining vegetables and cook until the tomato paste starts to brown and gets deeply caramelized, about 10 minutes.

Add the liquids and tomatoes

  • Next, add half of the white wine to deglaze the pan, stirring to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Fully reduce the wine before adding other liquids.
  • Add the fish stock, crushed tomatoes, and bay leaves.
  • Stir together, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Sauté the seafood

  • In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.
  • Season all of the seafood with salt and pepper.

Sear the scallops

  • Add the scallops to the pan and sear the first side until golden brown, 3 minutes.
  • Flip and sear on the other side for another 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  • Wipe out the pan if needed.

Sear the shrimp

  • Add more olive oil as needed, then add the shrimp to the pan and cook for 3 minutes on one side.
  • Flip and cook on the other side for 3 minutes more. Set aside.

Cook the squid

  • Add more olive oil and the squid to the hot pan and sauté until cooked, 5 minutes.

Sear the halibut

  • Add more olive oil and the halibut to the hot pan, along with the crushed garlic and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.
  • Sear the halibut on one side, then flip and cook on the other side for 3 minutes.
  • Baste the fish with the melted garlic butter as the second side cooks.
  • Remove from the pan and set aside.

Cook the clams and mussels

  • Add the clams and mussels to the pan, pour in the remaining cup of white wine, then cover the pot and steam for 5 minutes, until the shellfish pop open.
  • Remove the pan from the heat.

Finish and serve

  • Transfer all of the cooked seafood, along with the leftover shellfish steaming liquid and reserved Matignon, to the simmering stew; or plate the seafood and reserved Matignon artfully in wide bowls and pour the hot stew over the top.
  • Serve with grilled sourdough bread and garnish with parsley.

Notes

Here are some tips to nail this cioppino Everytime!
  1. Make sure your matignon (veggies) softens all the way before removing half for garnish.
  2. Deeply caramelize the tomato paste.
  3. Fully reduce wine before adding other liquids.
  4. Add more stock if you like it thinner.