Cioppino Seafood Soup – An Italian Classic
For an Italian feast unlike any other, try this delicious cioppino seafood soup – it’s packed with bold flavors and a variety of seafood that will tantalize your taste buds! This is by far my favorite dish to make for company and has become, with Caesar salad, one of my two signature dishes. It is an American/Italian fish stew with a broth so complex and original, that it takes the combination of at least fifteen individually distinct flavors plus fish, shellfish, and four other forms of seafood to create this indescribable masterpiece. With good Italian bread brushed with garlic and olive oil, and toasted on the grill for dipping, this will become your go-to dish for entertaining, as well. Make sure you make extra bread, the broth is incredible.
Enjoy the best of Italian seafood with this tantalizing cioppino soup! Full of bold flavors and an array of seafood, this classic Italian dish is sure to be a hit with family and friends.
Gather the Ingredients and Prepare the Vegetables.
To make the perfect cioppino, you’ll need a selection of fresh, high-quality ingredients. Start by gathering all the necessary ingredients: olive oil, garlic, onion, celery, tomato paste, parsley, white wine, and fish stock. Prepare your vegetables and herbs for the soup – mince the garlic and onions and dice the celery into one-quarter-inch pieces. Finally, add the tomato paste to create a rich base for your soup.
Cioppino
Equipment
- mini prep, large soup pot
Ingredients
Cioppino Ingredient
- ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 8-10 anchovies - canned or bottled oil cured, diced
- 4-6 cloves garlic - sliced thinly
- 2 bay leafs
- ½ cup celery - diced
- 1 medium to large onion - diced
- 1 roasted red bell pepper - burnt skin removed, diced
- 1 cup good red wine
- 3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 qt homemade fish or shrimp stock - Can be found frozen in most fish markets or super markets.
- 2 cups homemade tomato sauce - See my tomato sauce recipe.
- ½ cup fresh basil - chopped or 2-3 tablespoon dried (can be added to seasoning mix if dried). I prefer fresh.
- dash or two Tabasco
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup fresh Italian Parsley - coarsley chopped
- 2-3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Seasoning Mix
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon black or mixed whole pepper
- 2 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon fresh or dried rosemary leaves
- 2-3 tablespoon dried basil - Only If you are not using fresh. Do not add fresh to this mix.
Seafood (Just about everything works in Cioppino, but here is my recommendation)
- ½ lb medium shrimp - You can use the shells for making seafood stock.
- ½ lb scallops
- 24 fresh mussels
- 1 lb firm white fish - chopped in 1 inch pieces. I use halibut, but cod, catfish, orange roughy, etc. will work as well
- 16 fresh clams - optional
- fresh or canned oysters can be added - if you like… I like.
Instructions
Spice Mix
- Grind these dred ingredients together in a mini-prep or a herb designated coffee grinder.
Cioppino
- Heat olive oil to medium and add the anchovies.
- After about 3 minutes add the garlic and let cook for less than a minute, until it becomes fragrant.
- Add bay leaf, onions, celery and bell pepper plus ½ of the seasoning mix. Sauté for 6-8 minutes.
- Add wine, vinegar, Tabasco and Worcestershire and reduce by ½.
- Add tomato sauce, the fish stock, basil (if using fresh) and the rest of the seasoning mix. Simmer about 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice.
- Add the fish and shellfish, cover and cook about 7 minutes. Remove any of the mussels and clams that don't open.
- Plate and sprinkle the completed Italian fish stew with parsley.
- Serve with the grilled garlic bread.
Notes
