She Strengthens

Savoring the Flavors of San Francisco: A Classic Cioppino Recipe

Origins of a Beloved Dish

Cioppino, a hearty Italian-American seafood stew, has its roots in San Francisco’s fishing docks of the 1930s. Legend has it that fishermen would combine their daily catch with a medley of ingredients to create a nourishing soup. While some claim the name “cioppino” originated from Italian-American slang for “chip in,” its true roots lie in the Ligurian soup called ciuppin, meaning “chopped.”

A Recipe for Endless Possibilities

This cioppino recipe serves as a foundation for experimentation, encouraging you to incorporate your favorite seafood and flavors. The base of the stew is a rich, garlicky tomato broth infused with white wine and herbs. Feel free to customize with crab, lobster, or other seafood options, aiming for a total of about 5 pounds.

A Flavorful Broth

To create the perfect broth, sauté chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, then add tomato paste, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, and crushed red pepper. Next, pour in white wine and simmer until reduced by half. Combine the mixture with canned San Marzano tomatoes and fish stock or clam juice, allowing the flavors to meld together for 30 minutes.

Adding the Seafood

Once the broth has reached its full flavor potential, add clams and mussels, covering the pot to cook for 5 minutes. Then, introduce shrimp, scallops, and firm white fish, gently simmering for an additional 5 minutes or until the seafood is cooked through.

Serving Suggestions

Serve your cioppino with crusty garlic bread or toasted sourdough, perfect for sopping up the flavorful broth. You can also prepare the broth ahead of time, refrigerating it for up to a day before reheating and adding the seafood just prior to serving.

Yield and Preparation Time

This recipe yields 6 servings and takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

• 1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano plum tomatoes in juice
• 2 cups fish stock or bottled clam juice
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 pound Manila or littleneck clams in the shell, scrubbed
• 1 pound mussels in the shell, scrubbed and debearded
• 3/4 pound large sea scallops, tough adductor muscles trimmed from sides if necessary
• 1 1/2 pounds firm white fish like halibut, snapper, cod, or sea bass (or a mixture thereof), skinned, deboned, and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped (optional)
• 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste