Nor Cal Cioppino 2 Recipes

Steps:

• In a large stock pot over medium heat, add oil and saute onions, fennel, pepper and garlic until lightly browned. Add tomato paste and continue to cook until it browns. Add wine, tomato sauce, clam and lemon juices, water, bay leaves, red chili flakes, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and liqueur to the sauteed vegetables and simmer for 1 hour. Add crab to the sauce and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add clams and let simmer for 5 minutes, then add in cod and cook 4 to 5 minutes. DO NOT STIR. To finish add, shrimp.
• Let cook 3 to 4 minutes until shrimp turn pink. Stir in parsley and serve immediately with fresh bread.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, shallots, and salt and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and saute 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, fish stock and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
• Add the clams and mussels to the cooking liquid. Cover and cook until the clams and mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams are completely open, stirring gently, about 5 minutes longer (discard any clams and mussels that do not open). Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Steps:

• Heat vegetable oil in medium saucepan over high heat until shimmering. Add onions, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Add water and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in garlic, bay leaf, oregano, and pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and reserved juice and clam juice and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Submerge halibut in sauce, cover, and gently simmer until fish is cooked through, 14 to 17 minutes. Remove pan from heat and, using slotted spoon, transfer halibut to plate, cover with aluminum foil, and set aside. Bring clams, wine, and butter to boil in 8-inch skillet over high heat. Cover and steam until clams just open, 5 to 8 minutes, transferring them to pan with tomato sauce as they open. Once all clams have been transferred to pan, add mussels to skillet, cover, and cook over high heat until mussels have opened, 2 to 4 minutes, transferring them to pan with tomato sauce as they open. Pour cooking liquid from skillet into pan, being careful to not pour any grit from skillet into pan. Return sauce to simmer. Stir parsley into sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide halibut among serving bowls. Ladle sauce over halibut, making sure each portion contains both clams and mussels. Drizzle with olive oil and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Toast the star anise by stirring frequently in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
• Make the marinara base: Add the onion, garlic cloves, bell pepper and olive oil to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. (Or, finely chop the vegetables by hand, then add to the pot along with the oil.) Add the mixture to a large pot and cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until soft, translucent and light golden in places, about 5 minutes. Add the Bloody Mary mix, canned tomatoes and juices and tomato sauce. Get every last drop from the cans by swirling a splash of water into each one and tipping the remnants into the pot. Add the toasted star anise, oregano, basil, thyme, sugar and bay leaf, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring often so the bottom of the pot doesn't burn. (Makes 7 1/2 cups; see Tip.)
• While sauce simmers, roast the garlic: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the whole garlic heads in half crosswise. Divide garlic, cut-sides up, between two pieces of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap the garlic up like two presents. Drizzle with olive oil, then wrap tightly. Set the foil packets on a baking sheet and roast for 1 hour, until the garlic is light brown and tender all the way through.
• Make the garlic butter: Once cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic cloves out, discarding the skins. (You should have about 1 cup of roasted garlic.) Add to a food processor along with the softened butter and pulse until smooth and creamy. Or, smash the garlic to a paste and mix with the softened butter. (Makes 1 1/2 cups; see Tip.)
• Make the garlic bread: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread 1/2 cup garlic butter on the cut sides of bread and season with salt and pepper. Set the bread, buttered-sides up on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until toasted and golden in spots, about 15 minutes. As soon as the garlic bread comes out of the oven, sprinkle it with dried oregano and the Parmesan. Cut into large pieces, then wrap the foil from the baking sheet around them to keep warm.
• While the bread bakes, make the cioppino: In a large Dutch oven or wide, heavy pot, add 4 cups of the marinara sauce, plus the clam juice, thyme sprigs and red-pepper flakes. Season generously with salt and pepper and heat over medium-high until simmering, about 5 minutes.
• Separate the legs and claws from the crab bodies. Once the sauce is simmering, gradually add the seafood, starting with the crab bodies. Cook for a couple minutes, then add the crab legs and claws to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
• Add the clams, nestling them into the sauce around the edges, like numbers on a clock, cover with a lid and cook for about 6 minutes. Give the mixture a stir then add the mussels, in the same fashion as the clams. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes. Once the clams start to open, add the fish, gently nestling it into the sauce, and set the shrimp right on top to let them steam gently. Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic butter, put the lid back on and simmer until the fish cooks through and the shrimp get plump, about 5 minutes.
• To serve, transfer the cioppino to a deep serving bowl, being careful not to break up the delicate cooked fish. Perch the crab legs and claws on top and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with warm garlic bread on the side.