Cioppino

Recipes / Fish

David Prior marries basic Italian cooking principles with typical Californian ingredients in this sensational seafood soup pot.

Recipe «Cioppino» presented in category Recipes / Fish, to prepare this dish you will need no more minutes. To make this dish at home by prescription from the author Gomer would need: 1kg vongole, 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra to drizzle, 2 fennel bulbs, 1 tbsp fennel seeds, 2 onions, thickly sliced , 2 celery stalks, thickly sliced, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, 1 bay leaf , 1 garlic bulb, halved horizontally, 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes, 2L good-quality fish stock, 1kg pot-ready mussels, 8 x 100g snapper fillets, pin-boned, 1 pinch saffron, 250g fresh cooked crabmeat, Toasted sourdough bread, to serve.

Ingredients:

  • 1kg vongole 
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra to drizzle 
  • 2 fennel bulbs 
  • 1 tbsp fennel seeds 
  • 2 onions, thickly sliced 
  • 2 celery stalks, thickly sliced 
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes 
  • 1 bay leaf 
  • 1 garlic bulb, halved horizontally 
  • 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes 
  • 2L good-quality fish stock 
  • 1kg pot-ready mussels 
  • 8 x 100g snapper fillets, pin-boned 
  • 1 pinch saffron 
  • 250g fresh cooked crabmeat 
  • Toasted sourdough bread, to serve 

Instructions

  1. Place the vongole in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for 1 hour to remove any grit. Drain.
  2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. Slice the fennel, reserving the fronds, and add to the pan with fennel seeds, onion, celery, chilli, bay leaf, garlic and a good pinch of salt. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring, until vegetables begin to soften. Add tomato to the pan and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Add stock and bring to a simmer over high heat, skimming any foam from the surface. Add another pinch of salt, reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes until reduced. Strain into a pan, discarding the solids. Keep stock warm over low heat.
  3. Place 1 cup (250ml) drained stock in a separate pan and bring to the boil over high heat. Add mussels, cover with a lid and cook for 3-4 minutes or until opened. Remove with a slotted spoon. Bring stock back to the boil and repeat with vongole. Set seafood aside. Discard cooking liquid.
  4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with foil and grease. Sprinkle snapper with saffron, if using, and half the fennel fronds. Season, then place on baking tray and drizzle with a little oil. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until just cooked through.
  5. Spoon the vongole, mussels and crab into warmed bowls. Place a piece of snapper on top and spoon over a little of the warm stock. Top with remaining fennel fronds and serve with sourdough.