Cioppino, soup for the soul

 

Soup is food for the soul. Soup might be my favorite food.  I can eat it at any time of the day.  Pad Thai for breakfast, tomato bisque at lunch and beef stew for dinner. Soup can be as simple and straightforward as a cup chicken broth or as complex as a duck consommé.  Soup can be creamy, brothy, or noodly if those are words. It might be meat-based or vegetarian.  It can be served hot or cold.  Soup may call for spices from cumin and coriander to nutmeg or turmeric.  It can make use of herbs like cilantro, basil, and oregano.  Soups vary as much as the cultures they stem from and can be the most versatile dish in a chef's repertoire, highlighting their skills and testing their palates.

  I have yet to meet a soup I didn't want to try and recreate.   I think my two biggest strengths in the kitchen, are my skills as a saucier, and the ability to make a good soup out of just about any ingredients given.  However, the soups I like best of all have seafood.  My favorites include she-crab bisque, crawfish gumbo, and Ocracoke style clam chowder, but my wife's favorite is the one I am making today, cioppino.

   Cioppino is said to be the creation of Italian fishermen in the San Francisco area.  The word either comes from a Genovese fish stew called ciuppin or possibly an Italian-Americanization of chip-in,  Either way like many dishes it seems to be born out of necessity and using what was available.  It is pretty simple to make, tastes delicious,  and can be easily adapted.  I have seen quite a few recipes and the base is the same.  Garlic, onions, celery, canned tomatoes, broth, herbs with the addition of seafood, (mussels, shrimps and/or scallops, calamari, white fish, and/or Dungeness crab).  My personal thoughts on the way to make this dish really special are by making your own fish stock.  Then I like to add fennel and carrots, and abundance of oregano and thyme to finally finish with fresh basil, right after plating and just before serving.  When done right the flavors dance of your tongue and the aromas have you fighting off unwanted lid lifts. 

   The seafood may be the star of this fish stew but the stock is the key.  Good stock serves to enhance whatever dish it is involved in.  I suggest making your own when you have the time. You can even freeze it for later use. Sometimes I'll buy a whole fish when available, a small red snapper, or grouper. I will filet it out then use the head and bones for stock  I will most often buy lb of med shell 36-40 shell on shrimp for the dish,  peel them and use the shells for the stock.   This is done by sautéing the shells in butter with, 1ea cup of rough cut onions and celery (it's okay to use the stems and the ends).  Deglaze the pot with 1/2 cup white wine reduce by half, add 3 quarts of water, a tablespoon of tomato paste, 1T salt, 1t peppercorns, a bay leaf or two and bring to a light boil then reduce to simmer for about 1 hour reducing by 1/3, remove, strain and store.

    If I was out on the island I could call cousin Charles or Farris for fresh fish or run by the fish house where there are plenty of daily choices for my wife the pescatarian.   Living in Tennessee, fresh seafood can be a challenge.  I've had some luck at Whole Foods and Publix which both have pretty good seafood programs.  They will even order the fish for you, though it can be pricey. The good thing about this dish is the seafood can be easily changed, left out or substituted.  My wife and daughter love mussels but I prefer clams and sometimes use both.  Many of the other ingredients like shrimp, scallops, and crab are much more readily available nowadays.  I rarely add crab.  Most recipes call for or mention Dungeness crab, not readily available in my area. I prefer the sweeter blue crab, which can be found in cans at most grocery stores, but for the price, it doesn't usually make its way to our cioppino pot. For the fish, you can use snapper, grouper, mahi, even tilapia.  I stick to using white fish and try to avoid tuna, mackerel, and salmon as the dish should be more subtle and those fish flavors can overwhelm the stew. I like to use fish in the cioppino whenever possible.  It is, after all, a fish stew, but if the fish is hard to come by and doesn't fit the budget, I will leave it out altogether.  The dish is sure to still please.

   Tonight, for example, I made a small batch cioppino for two. I bought l lb mussels, 6 scallops, 8 shrimp and 3 oz calamari.  A little more seafood and it could have easily fed the family, and notice no fish,  but the girls wanted beef stew.  Long story, another blog.  The stew or base was made in a 1-gallon stock pot by sautéing 1 diced onion, 2T chopped garlic and a small bulb of fennel, diced, in olive oil.  I then added 1 cup of sauvignon blanc, reduced by half, threw in 1 24 oz. can of diced tomatoes, 2T dried oregano, 1T dried thyme and 2 quarts of ready-made stock and brought to a simmer then cook for 30-45 minutes. Lid and set aside. ( large T -tablespoon, small t-teaspoon)

   At this point depending on the size of the scallops and shrimp and portion to serve, you could place seafood in the stew at a simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes turn off, then ladle in bowls, garnish with fresh herbs and serve.  But, because of different cooking times and for a little more flavor, I start by searing the scallops in a large saute  pan or skillet, turning then adding  a little-melted butter, 1Tof  garlic, clams, mussels, cut up fish, shrimp, and calamari in that order, a splash of white wine, toss then ladle 2 cups stew from large pot over and cook for a few minutes, add fresh herbs.  Tonight I added a  chiffonade of basil and fennel leaves, tossed and placed in a bowl and presented to my lovely wife.  Although she is eating less bread, I would prefer to serve with a warm, crunchy baguette. The bread always helps me get every last bit of goodness out of the bowl.

    Everything turned out great. The wife was raving about the cioppino until bedtime and the kids were happy with their beef stew.  Like I said, different blog.  But because I didn't need both quarts, it left me with a base that I will serve later in the week, and if I want, can turn into a whole different dish or buy whatever fresh seafood is available on that day, and introduce to the base to serve it again.  A couple of days in the refrigerator will only serve to enhance the flavor of the base.

   One of the things I really love about making this dish or any soup is how it can be left up to your interpretation, and changed by season or mood.   With the seafood base I have, I could just add all clams, chopped and whole, add some potatoes and maybe even bacon and turn it into a Manhattan clam chowder. I could make a dark roux, then cook up some andouille sausage, shrimp and okra, with a little cayenne and have a decent gumbo.  If I  wanted to make my daughter ecstatic, I might puree the stew, thicken with a roux then add cream, a little lump crab, and a touch of sherry for bisque.  I could even use the base for a dish I just started making called shrimp jalfrezi. I would adjust by adding bell peppers, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon, then serve over rice.

      These aren't exact recipes.  They do have classics in mind and they show how versatile one recipe with some consideration can become. They make the thought of cooking something new, less daunting if you are just a little familiar with the basics. They are great starting points and good reference material that will yield some really tasty food.  There is science in cooking, but cooking is not science or brain surgery for that matter. I had an old chef tell me that time and time again. He would say, "It's just food and beverage, don't make it complicated."  Good food and cooking is more art and feel, and many times, trial and error.  There is no reason not try cooking something new.  Then with a little knowledge, you can have faith in the outcome.  So find some inspiration, try something new, in the kitchen at home, experience something beautiful, something you can use to impress or share.  If you do give in to this course of action, remember cioppino. It's warm, it's delicious, it's fairly easy, a good place to start, and it's soup for the soul.