2 28-ouncecans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with hands
coarse salt and pepper to taste
chopped fresh parsley and crushed red pepper flakes for garnish
For the Seafood:
1poundmanilla clams
1pound mussels
8ounceslarge U-15 peeled, deveined tail-on shrimp
1poundcrab legs, broken down
8ouncessquid, tubes sliced
Instructions
In a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil.
Next, add in the onions, garlic, celery, and peppers and saute for 4 to 6 minutes or until lightly browned.
Pour in the stock and tomatoes and stew over low heat for 20 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, batch-cook the seafood from whatever takes the longest amount of time to cook to the shortest.
Add in the clams and cook for 3 to 4 minutes and then add in the mussels and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. All of the shells should be open.
Transfer the shellfish to the cioppino stew and mix in.
Next, add the shrimp and the crab legs and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, and then add in the squid and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes or until done.
Also, add this to the stew and stir.
Serve the cioppino with chopped parsley, optional crushed red pepper flakes, and sliced sourdough bread.
Notes
Make-Ahead: This cioppino is meant to be eaten right away.How to Store: This will hold well in the refrigerator covered up for up to 3 days, it is advised that if you want to make this ahead of time, cook and cool the broth and then reheat and add in fresh seafood. It will also freeze well covered for up to 2 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.How to Reheat: Add your desired portion to a small saucepot and heat over low heat until hot.Traditionally, cioppino is served hot as a stew, but I suppose you could eat it cold, although I would not recommend that as the flavors and textures of the seafood will be dramatically changed.Since cioppino originated in San Francisco, there is no better food to serve it than a few loaves of sourdough bread. I tried to keep this recipe as close to the original as possible, which calls for cooking the seafood separately from the fish stew. You can absolutely cook the seafood right in the stew, as long as you have a pot big enough, and it will add more delicious seafood flavors to the overall dish.