Cioppino
This cioppino recipes comes together pretty quickly if you have your ingredients ready to go from the beginning. This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite go-to books - The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook. I've added shrimp as a request from my son, you can obviously omit it if you wish.
Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped fine
1/4 cup water
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained with the juice reserved, chopped coarse
1 (8 ounce) bottle clam juice
1 1/2 pounds skinless halibut fillet, 3/4 - 1 inch thick, cut into 6 pieces
1 pound little neck clams, scrubbed
10 - jumbo shrimp, cleaned and deveined
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (Italian flat-leaf)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Method
Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onions, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper, cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to brown, 7-9 minutes. Add water and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft, 2-4 minutes. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves, oregano, and pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and reserved juice and clam juice and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Submerge the halibut in the broth, cover and gently simmer until the fish is cooked through, 12-15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and, using a slotted spoon transfer the halibut to a plate, cover with foil and set aside.
Bring clams, wine and butter to a boil in a cover 12-inch skillet over high heat. Steam until the clams just open, 5-7 minutes, transferring them to the pot with the tomato broth as they open.
Once all clams have been transferred to the pot, add mussels to the skillet, cover and cook over high heat until mussels have opened 2-4 minutes, transferring them to the pot with tomato broth as they open. Pour the cooking liquid from the skillet into the pot, being careful not to pour any grit from the skillet into the pot. Add the shrimp, return the broth to a simmer.
Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the halibut among the serving bowls. Ladle the broth over the halibut, making sure each portion contains clams, mussels and shrimp. Drizzle with olive oil and serve immediately. Enjoy!