CIOPPINO AND SOUP SUNDAY

An Italian fish stew with loaded with fish, shrimp, scallops, and mussels. Serve with a crusty bread to mop up the thick, savory broth. #SoupSundayCollab 

         

Well friends, it's Labor Day weekend and that means we have reached the unofficial end of the summer season. Waah waah! I'll have to start thinking about pulling those turtlenecks out of storage soon, as cold temp is not my friend...neither is heat...nor humidity for that matter. Thinking about cold weather gets me thinking about hot comfort food. And nothing warms me up better than a steaming hot bowl of soup.

A few of my fellow bloggers are celebrating soup this month. This week, Angela from The Chewy Life and Melissa and Greg from My Wife's Muffin are joining me in bringing warmth and comfort to the table at Soup Sunday. Please check out what they have brought to the occasion today. And continue to check in on Sundays this September for tasty soup recipes from the other collaborators:

Amanda of Crafty Cooking Mama

Annie of The Garlic Diaries

Alisha of Alisha Enid

Justine of Born and Bred in Brooklyn

My contribution is cioppino, which perfectly commemorates the end of summer and the ushers in fall. The soup takes advantage of the plentiful bounty of the sea and presents it in a wonderfully satisfying tomato and wine based broth. Cioppino is an Italian-American soup, believed to have originated in California in the late 1800s, took advantage of the catch of they day.

I make cioppino a few times a year, but I can eat it every week. My version contains scallop, shrimp, haddock, and mussels. (As you may know from my previous post, I won't eat the mussels...so more for everyone else!) One of the best things about cioppino, aside from its taste, is its versatility. You can pretty much use any kind of seafood you like it in and the soup will be fantastic—crab, swordfish, tuna, cod, clams, squid...it's all good! Heck, if you have lobster, throw it in too!

As for me, lobster if best drowned in lots of melted butta, so I will be withholding them!

Serve with a nice fresh loaf of bread, cold or toasted. I guarantee it's going to be one of the best meals you have had all week! #SoupSundayCollab 

CIOPPINO

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INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. live mussels
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 anchovy fillets OR
1 tsp. anchovy paste
1 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 cup white wine of choice
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) bottle clam juice (seafood stock is fine too)
12 oz. white fish fillet with skin removed (I like haddock or cod)
1 lb. (16/20 count) shrimp, shelled and deveined
6 oz. bay scallop
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil



INSTRUCTIONS:

Start by cleaning the mussels. If any is open, give it a tap. If it does not close, then discard. If using wild mussels, soak in cold water for about 20 minutes to extract sand. Lift the mussels out of the water after soaking. It is not necessary to soak cultivated mussels as they are cleaner. For both kinds, scrub shell clean under running water or in a bowl of water. Remove any beard that is sticking out of the shell by yanking it towards the hinged side of the shell. Set mussels aside.

Preheat a large saucepan on medium heat. Add olive oil, red pepper flakes, and anchovy. Stir. If using fillets, cook until anchovy breaks down, about 1 minute. Add onion, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook about 3 minutes, stirring frequently until onion becomes translucent. Add wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and clam juice. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. 

With heat on medium, add fish (keep fish whole or in large chunks as it will break up during the cooking process) and mussels. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Add shrimp, tucking into broth to completely submerge. Simmer, covered, for 3 minutes. Tuck scallops into the broth. Cover and simmer 3 minutes. Soup is done when shrimps are pink, scallops are opaque, and mussels are opened. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Stir in fresh basil. Serve. Makes 3 to 4 servings. 

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