Cioppino

also known as

Brodetto di Pesce

This dish has several names and can be made several different ways. You might want to read my essay on Italian-style Fish Stew before making this recipe.

Serves

Four people.

Hardware

• 1 qt. sauce pan
• 5 qt. sauteuse pan

Ingredients

2	cups		white wine
1/2	oz		dried porcini mushrooms
			olive oil
2	med		onions, chopped
5	cloves		garlic
1/2 - 3/4	tsp		red pepper flakes
4	med		tomatoes, chopped
3	Tblsp		tomato paste
1/3	cup		fresh basil, chopped
3	lbs		fish (see notes)
			salt
			fresh ground black pepper

Procedure

1. In the small sauce pan, bring a 1/2 cup of the wine to a boil; turn off the heat and stir in the dried mushrooms.
   
   
2. In the large pan, heat the oil and saute the onions and garlic until the onions are soft.
   
   
3. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for another few minutes, stirring now and then.
   
   
4. Add the mushrooms and the wine they were soaking in, the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the basil, and the rest of the wine; simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring every so often, until all the vegetables are soft and the alcohol from the wine has evaporated.
   
   
5. Taste the broth; if the wine still stands out, keep simmering (gently) until the tastes have blended.
   
   
6. Add the fish (shrimp, clams, etc.), salt, and black pepper (to taste); simmer as long as needed.

Notes

You can use any combination of fish, shrimp, clams, scallops, mussels, squid, etc. that suits you; see my essay on Italian-style Fish Stew for more information.

You may have to cook things like clams, mussels, and squid for a few minutes before adding stuff like fish, scallops, and shrimp; use your judgement. If you use clams or mussels, discard any that don't open after they're cooked.

Canned tomatoes will work fine in this dish; in fact, for most of the year, I suggest using canned instead of fresh. Also, feel free to use more tomatoes, but I wouldn't suggest using fewer.

I suggest a 5 qt. pan that's wider than it is deep -- but not too shallow; mine is about 5 inches deep.

If you don't have fresh basil, substitute 2 Tblsp dried basil.

The original recipe called for 1 Tblsp of red pepper flakes, but I think that's too much as it covers up the taste of the fish.

It's also nice to serve this dish on top of or beside pasta; I find thin linguine is best.

If you have any left-overs, you will find that the stew thickens considerably and that the heat from the red pepper flakes intensifies. I like this dish almost as much the next day -- maybe even a bit more.

Note to myself: Based on my results from 20-Mar-2006, this might need more wine and/or more tomatoes, maybe even some of the tomato juice from the can. I used 3.5 pounds of fish (1.5# haddock, 1# shrimp, 1# bay scallops) and there wasn't enough liquid to cover it all. Even without the extra 0.5# of haddock it would have been tight. I wound up adding 12 oz of beer and 4 soupspoonfuls of tomato juice (boiled then added to the pot).

Another note to myself: It might be interesting to try substituting beer for the wine.

Rating

Difficulty: Easy.

Time: About 90 minutes.

Precision: 2.

Source

Adapted from Good Old Food, by Irena Chalmers.