🎅LG,BE’s 12 Days of Christmas🎅

DAY 7

This one is for all my seafood lover’s out there. A relatively quick stew that can be made within an hour, that doesn’t break the bank, but definitely makes you feel like you’re dining under some twinkly lights in San Francisco at night. The nice thing is that you can really substitute any type of seafood that you fancy — for this one I chose ingredients that I knew my “new to seafood” boyfriend would enjoy, which included scallops, shrimps (jumbo + small) and codfish. As a bonus, I share how to make garlic toast with gremolata as an extra accompaniment to your cioppino!

Although this recipe has many ingredients to keep track of, the stew is super easy as you have time to prepare the seafood while it simmers away and creates a wonderful aroma in your kitchen.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (keep one tbsp separate)
• 1 cup of chopped celery
• 1 cup of chopped carrot
• 1/4 tsp of red chilli flakes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp of oregano
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1 jar of tomato passata
• 1 1/2 cups of seafood stock
  Campbell’s has a seafood stock pre-made
• 1 8oz jar of clam juice
• 2 filets of fresh cod fish, cut into cubes
• About 6-8 sea scallops
• Half a bag of raw frozen shrimp, thawed and cleaned
• 2 fresh jumbo shrimp, cleaned
  
  GARLIC TOAST WITH GREMOLATA
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter (divided into 1/4 cups)
• Fresh chopped parsley + lemon zest
• Baguette or other ‘toast’ options

In a Dutch oven or large pot, add a tablespoon of olive oil and bring to medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté for 5-6 minutes until softened, before adding the minced garlic (see note), oregano, and red chili flakes. Sauté for an additional minute until the garlic is fragrant. Next, add the white wine and deglaze your pot – simmering until the wine has reduced by about half.

Next, add the bay leaves, jar of tomato passata, seafood stock, clam juice and salt and pepper and bring to a boil, before lowering to a simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes with the lid on and stir occasionally.

Around the last 5 minutes, raise the heat on the stew to medium. At the same time, heat a smaller frying pan to medium-high heat on your stove. Drop all of your seafood (scallops, frozen small shrimp and codfish) into the stew, stir, and cook covered for 4-5 minutes until the codfish is flaky, the scallops are opaque, and the shrimp are incredibly tender and pink in colour.

While your seafood is cooking , season your jumbo shrimp with salt and pepper on both sides. Sear quickly in the pan for only a minute or two per side. Lower the heat all the way and then throw in a few tbsp of the unsalted butter in the pan, to create a quick brown butter situation. Then…baste those babies.

To do this, tip the frying pan on its edge and take a regular spoon and let the butter collect before spooning that brown butter, with all of its nutty umami shrimp flavour, over the shrimps. This will be a fairly quick task – so try not to over cook the jumbo shrimps! The reason we are doing this at the same time as the rest of the seafood cooks is so that the final product can come together at the very same moment.

Optional Garlic Toast with Gremolata: If you plan to make some garlic toast to go with your cioppino, here’s what you do!
In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of melted unsalted butter with about 1 tbsp of the reserved minced garlic. Set your oven at broiling temperature and prepare a baking sheet by placing your baguette (or whatever ‘toast’ option you have) in the middle.

Broil until the toast is just browned and remove. This should only take a few minutes so don’t walk away. Baste the toast with the garlic butter and top with fresh chopped parsley and fresh lemon zest grated over top–this addition of something fresh reaaaally does wonders for this savoury tomato stew.

When ready to serve, ladle the stew into wide-brimmed soup bowls and garnish with any extra gremolata you may have. Top with your fancy jumbo shrimp garnish and then dig right in – I hope this recipe is loved by all of you as much as I loved making it!

Peace and good eats, as always.
– A❁