Cioppino Sauce
This is the base for cioppino, a famous iconic shellfish stew invented by San Francisco’s Italian fishing community in the late 1800’s.
It’s not much trouble to make a double batch, and it keeps forever in the freezer. ~ 2 cups/serving, so ~4 cups for dinner for two. Real convenient for the next time you start Jonesin’ for cioppino.
One last thing — save and freeze shells after any shellfish feast. Things like crab, shrimp, lobster or even crawfish. Use them to make a batch of shellfish stock. This bumps cioppino up from excellent all the way to magical.
It’s not much trouble to make a double batch, and it keeps forever in the freezer. ~ 2 cups/serving, so ~4 cups for dinner for two. Real convenient for the next time you start Jonesin’ for cioppino.
One last thing — save and freeze shells after any shellfish feast. Things like crab, shrimp, lobster or even crawfish. Use them to make a batch of shellfish stock. This bumps cioppino up from excellent all the way to magical.
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Cioppino Sauce
This is the base for cioppino, a famous iconic shellfish stew invented by San Francisco’s Italian fishing community in the late 1800’s.
It’s not much trouble to make a double batch, and it keeps forever in the freezer. ~ 2 cups/serving, so ~4 cups for dinner for two. Real convenient for the next time you start Jonesin’ for cioppino. One last thing — save and freeze shells after any shellfish feast. Things like crab, shrimp, lobster or even crawfish. Use them to make a batch of shellfish stock. This bumps cioppino up from excellent all the way to magical. |
| Servings |
| 4servings |
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Ingredients
- .5cup olive oil
- 2 small onions (yellow or white – not sweet) — halved and sliced thin.
- 6cloves garlic — sliced thin or chopped
- 1/2cup fresh fennel (base & stalks) — sliced thin (reserve good looking fronds for garnish when plating)
- 1/2cup shallots — sliced thin
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- 1/4cup chopped basil — both sweet and thai are very similar and both great. Tai adds a slight licorice note which seems fine.
- 28oz canned whole peeled tomatoes — crushed by hand. (see notes below for the best possible tomatoes).
- 28oz canned tomato puree — Or make your own (consult the google)
- 3cups shellfish stock — Or clam juice. Substitute chicken stock in an emergency, but shellfish stock is really more “simpatico” with this sauce.
- 1/2cup dry white wine
- 1Tbsp Brown sugar
- 1Tbsp celery salt
- 1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- to taste black pepper
- to taste crushed red pepper
- 1/2tsp cinnamon
- to taste salt — careful!
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
- Add garlic, bay leaves, parsley and basil and cook, stirring, just to warm the garlic—do not let it brown.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, stock or clam juice, brown sugar, celery salt, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, red peppers, and cinnamon.
- Bring to boil,
- reduce heat to low-medium and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
- Salt to taste.
Recipe Notes
A note about tomatoes: The best cooking tomatoes in the world are Canned Italian “San Marzano” whole-peeled tomatoes. Look for cans that bear the “D.O.P” designation – which is the official Italian mark for the only true “San Marzano” tomatoes. They are spendier than regular canned tomatoes, but not ridiculously so. They are hard to find in many areas, but readily available online if you plan sufficiently ahead. I try to always have 2 or 3 cans in my pantry. For something like this, or a “from-scratch spaghetti sauces, they are spectacular.
R&D: ¼ cup tomato paste (drop puree, total 5 cups stock), 1 ½ cups dry white wine. Test some heat. Consider testing adding some pureed anchovy.