an American version of the Italian Zupe de Pesce, or quite literally, “Soup of Fish.” There are a million receipes around for this one, but probably the most helpful thing I read came from my favorite cooking resource The Silver Spoon, which states, “When making fish soup, there should be at least three different types of fish in the soup: one stock making fish, one sauce making fish, and a sliced fish for body.” In the end, in the tradition of the dish, just about any mix of seafood will do.This recipe is mostly from one of the most helpful Italian cooking website that I know of, New Italian Recipes. I have changed it up a bit to describe how Jennifer and I prepared it. One quick pointer - make sure to prep everything ahead of time! If you have a favorite cooking partner, this one is fun to cook together as well.
- Prep Time:
60 minutes - Cook Time:
45 minutes - Ready In:
1 hour, 45 min
Servings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare all of the vegetables by chopping them as directed.
Prepare the seasoning mix by combining salt, black pepper, oregano, fennel seeds, and rosemary in a spice mill.
Prepare the seafood – peel the shrimp (freeze the shells for making stock next time!), cut up the fish into 1″ cubes, pat dry the scallops, scrub the shellfish to remove grit, pull the beards off of the muscles, and make sure you rap each one of them solidly to make sure they close. Discard each one that does not.
Heat olive oil to medium and add chopped anchovies. Add garlic after about 3 minutes.
Add bay leafs, onions, celery and bell pepper plus 1/2 of the seasoning mix. Sauté for 6-8 minutes.
Add wine, vinegar, Tabasco and Worcestershire and cook until this mixture reduces by half, then add tomato sauce, basil and the rest of the seasoning mix. Simmer about 5 minutes longer and then add the lemon juice.
Add the fish and shellfish, cover and cook about 7 more minutes. Remove any of the mussels and clams that don’t open.
Sprinkle the completed Cioppino with parsley. Serve with fresh garlic bread.
