Week 23: Cioppino

The last few times I have been out to eat I have ordered soup. Now for most people this is a stupid statement but for me it is quite profound because I never order soup out. Actually I really do not eat a lot of soup so it is kind of surprising that I would order it. What I have found though is that I have been having some super yummy soups so I decided that I wanted to try recreating this cioppino I had in North Van. 

I found a nice recipe on the Food Network website and made a few changes along the way. 

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
3 large shallots, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups dry white wine (I did not have any wine so I left it out)
5 cups fish stock (I used veggie stock and it was fine)
1 bay leaf

Here is what they suggested for seafood
1 pound manila clams, scrubbed
1 pound mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1 pound uncooked large shrimp peeled and deveined
1 1/2 pounds assorted firm-fleshed fish fillets such as halibut or salmon, cut into 2-inch chunks

I used
1 dungeness crab
1 lobster
1 lb of fresh BC spot prawns
1/2 lb of new potatoes


The nice thing about this recipe is that it was simple enough to make any night of the week. Start by sauteing the the onion, fennel and shallots in a heavy sauce pan for about 10 mins. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and continue sauteing for approx 2 mins. Now add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, wine, stock and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavours blend about 30 mins. Now I added the crab and lobster and let them cook for about 8 min. Finally I added the spot prawns for the last 2 mins.

Mark's thoughts: A very nice, hearty soup. I overcooked the lobster tail a little but but the rest was just right. Next time I will throw the lobster tail in a little later.


Jamie's thoughts: Messy but tasty.