Do any of you have a good recipe for Cioppino that you have cooked yourself?

What is cioppino? Sorry I don’t have a recipe, but am anxiously awaiting someone’s granny’s recipe.

It’s a tomato based Italian fish stew, and it’s really really yummy. I haven’t had a lot of luck with random recipes I’ve tried which is why I’m hoping for a family thing, here…

Well, I have a recipe for Portugese Baccalau – kind of a fish casserole, if you ever want to try it. Traditionally it is made from dried salted cod (gag!) but I make it with fresh cod. The only reason they use dried salted cod is because that is what they had in the old days. Why people take the time and effort to reconstitute and unsalt dried, salted cod is beyond me.

Ingredients
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 Turkish bay leaf or ½ California bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1 green bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch dice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1½ cups dry red wine
1 (28— to 32-ounces) can whole plum tomatoes, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
1 cup bottled clam juice
1 cup chicken broth
1 (1-pound) king crab leg, thawed if frozen
18 small (2-inch) hard-shelled clams (1½ pound) such as littlenecks, scrubbed
1 pound skinless red snapper or halibut fillets, cut into 1½-inch pieces
1 pound large shrimp peeled and deveined
¾ pound sea scallops, tough muscle removed from side of each if necessary
¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

Garnish: shredded fresh basil leaves and small whole leaves
Accompaniment: focaccia or sourdough bread

Preparation Cook garlic, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and red pepper flakes with salt and pepper in oil in pot over moderate heat, stirring, until onions are softened, Stir in bell pepper and tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until reduced by about half. Add tomatoes with their juice, clam juice, and broth and simmer, covered, 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

While stew is simmering, hack crab leg through shell into 2— to 3-inch pieces with a heavy knife. Add crab pieces and clams to stew and simmer, covered, until clams just open, checking every minute after 5 minutes and transfer opened clams to a bowl . (Discard any unopened clams after 10 minutes.) season fish fillets, shrimp, and scallops with salt and add to stew, then simmer, covered, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then return clams to pot and stir in parsley and basil.

Yes I have made this several times and it is very very good.

Oh, @blueiiznh , how I love you! Thank you! What is the origin of that? Old family recipe? Some cookbook and you just gave it a try and liked it? Sexy woman in your kitchen doing magic???

@blueiiznh Oh my god, that sounds good! I have never worked with clams – a little scary. So this is just seafood in a seasoned tomato broth? No rice, no potatoes, no pasta?

@Skaggfacemutt : I’ve had it in restaurants served with crunsty Italian bread for sopping up the stuff, but it’s usually (where I’ve had it, anyway) served as a soup-type thing, with big spoon and sometimes crackers.
And I would love to see your Baccalau recipe, too, now I’m curious.

@JilltheTooth @Skaggfacemutt It is a fish stew that is native San Fran. Similar to Italian Cioppino. No rice, no pasta, just good hearty bread. No sexy woman in the kitchen doing magic either. It is a recipe that is not an old family recie because I am not from San Fran. I do have my grandmothers Cioppino recipe however :D. I made it many years ago first when I had some West Coast friends in. I sadly don’t recall the origin. (too many recipes, too little memory for that).

As long as it works. I see a day of culinary hysteria in my future!

@JilltheTooth I was hoping I had it here, but I don’t. I will bring it tomorrow. Basically you boil potatoes, ring an onion and fry in oil in the oven (maybe garlic, too, but I don’t remember). Then slice the potatoes in a casserole dish, add the onion rings, shred the cod, and top with black olives and sliced hard boiled eggs and bake. I am sure there is more to it than that, but will bring tomorrow for sure.

@Skaggfacemutt : Thanks1 i look forward to it… :-)

Okay, I got it. The recipe is pretty much as I said above – and it does take garlic.

BACALHAU A GOMES DE SA

2 lbs. dried salt cod (which you have to reconstitute, debone, soak to get the salt out)
or just use 1 or 2 pounds of fresh cod like I do – steam and flake the cod
½ cup olive oil
4 medium potatoes, boiled in skins until cooked enough to peel and slice
2 medium onions, peel and slice, and separate the rings
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 small can sliced black olives
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

The person that gave me this recipe said to fry the onion rings and garlic in olive oil on a cookie sheet in the oven. I don’t see the point – I sautee them in a frying pan with some of the olive oil. Oil a casserole dish with some olive oil. Put half of the potatoes, salt and pepper, half the onion/garlic mixture and half the cod. Repeat. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Top with black olives, hard boiled egg slices and chopped parsley.