Cioppino

[La Niña]

My cioppino was nothing so glamorous as Blue Heron's, but it was very good. After reading this whole thread, and doing some snooping around on the web and in some cookbooks, I winged it as follows:

I sauteed chopped celery, carrots, onion, garlic, green pepper, parsley in olive oil. After a while, when the onions were soft and transluscent, I added oregano, hot pepper flakes, fresh chopped basil, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes (Muir Glen), and red wine, bay leaf. Simmered that for a while, covered, until the carrots softened up, then added some fish stock I had in the freezer, cooked it for a while. In the meantime I peeled and cut up a few potatoes into chunks, and steamed them until not quite done. Before we were ready to eat, I brought it back to a simmer, added the pieces of potato, mussels, shrimp, pieces of cod, clams. Put the lid back on, simmered a few minutes until the shellfish opened and the shrimp got pink, then put in some scallops, cooked a few minutes more, added some salt and pepper - and that's it.

Served it with good crusty bread and a salad and a bottle of Chianti. Delicious. Made tons, so now I have several containers in the freezer.

Thank you jaybee for starting this. Great addition to my repertoire.

[CathyL]

My cioppino wasn't as glamorous as Nina's. Just cod, with onions, garlic, red pepper, tomatoes & white wine. But it was delicious for dinner, and the little bit left over was a welcome cold-Monday-morning breakfast.

The fougasse was flat, though. (Topologically, not culinarily.)

[Blue Heron]

My cioppino was nothing so glamorous as Blue Heron's, but it was very good.

That's the first time anyone has ever said my cooking was glamorous. Thank you Nina.

Yours sounds equally glamorous, and I think that's a great idea to freeze some for later. I've never done that, but I wish I had, as this is my third (and final) day of eating it.

CathyL, I had never heard of fougasse, so I had to look it up. It sounds interesting. Is it similar to focaccia then?

[CathyL]

Yes, Blue, just shaped differently.