Cioppino Recipe

Hey. Here is my cioppino (cha-pee-no) recipe. For those who don't know cioppino is an Italian seafood stew. This recipe should feed around 8-12 people depending on how much seafood you use.

-2 medium onions, diced

- 2-3 garlic Cloves, diced

- one bunch parsley, rough chop

-1 cup fish/seafood stock (clam juice works fine)

-2 cups canned diced tomatoes with juice. (Italian style is fine, but watch you seasoning)

-2-3 Bay leaves

-1 teaspoon dried thyme

-1 teaspoon dried oregano

-1 teaspoon basil ( I like fresh)

-1 tablespoon crushed red pepper(optional)

- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Tarragon (rough chop also optional)

- 1 & 1/2 cup red wine(white if you must)

- 1/2 to 1 cup of butter (if you are on a diet 1/2 cup)

Okay, this is the base. Start with a large pot over medium to low heat and melt butter. Add onion, garlic and parsley. Saute until onion is soft and translucent. Add tomato, stock, thyme, basil, oregano, bay leaves, crushed red pepper and wine. Salt and Pepper to taste. Reserve Tarragon until you decide to serve the stew. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for twenty minutes. At this point you can save the base for about three days in the fridge.

For the fish you will add about 7 pounds of various seafood. Remember, you are feeding a lot of people. You can try things like Clams, mussels, shrimp, crab, monkfish( the poor mans lobster), swordfish, halibut, salmon, scallops, I think you get the drift.

Here is a standard line up of seafood and how to finish this cioppino.

- 12 clams(rinsed)

-12 mussels ( cleaned/ de-bearded)

- 1 & 1/2 pound each monkfish, mahimahi, shrimp(deveined) and bay scallops(cleaned)

*make sure to cut the fish filets into bite size chunks*

After the twenty minutes of simmering uncover and add clams. Cook for two minutes then add mussels and cook for 1 minute. Add monkfish and MahiMahi and cook for another two minutes. Add shrimp and scallops and cook another three minutes or so. Okay everything should be done. Now toss in your tarragon stir re-season with salt and pepper and serve. Discard any bay leaves you run across. This Cioppino is great with a baguette and some salad.

- Good luck and Cheers!