Phil’s Fish Market Cioppino

Anthony Davi, godson of cioppino legend Phil DiGirolamo of Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery fame, can riff about how regional and familial influences make each individual batch its own adventure—in terms of base broths, spices, and preferred (or available) proteins—and how the adventure is particularly relevant as a Christmas-time tradition in many households.

“Cioppino made at home or on a boat is constantly varying,” he says, “not just between different family recipes, but even in one family from one batch to the next.” 

Phil’s recipe proposes its own combination of seafood, but home cooks are encouraged to embrace what’s fresh and available from your local fisherfolk, ideally on the same day you want to prep it!

Notes

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Gluten-free

Provides 8 servings

The cioppino sauce can be made up to three days prior, and keep it in a sealed container in the

fridge

Ingredients

For the Cioppino

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 cup white wine

1 pound Little Neck clams

1/2 pound mussels, scrubbed

2 quarts Cioppino Sauce, recipe follows

2 dashes Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce

Pinch saffron

2 to 2 1/2 pound Dungeness crab, cooked, cleaned and cracked, or 1 pound cooked crab meat, preferably Dungeness

1/2 pound medium shrimp, shell on

1/2 pound squid tubes, cut in rings

1/2 pound firm-fleshed white fish filets, cut in 2-inch cubes (local rockfish is a great choice!)

1/4 pound bay scallops

Cioppino Sauce

1/2 cup olive oil

2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced

6 cloves garlic, chopped

3 bay leaves

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup chopped sweet basil

1 28 ounce can peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand

1 28 ounce can tomato puree

28 ounces water

1 tablespoon clam base without MSG, optional

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon celery salt

Dash Gluten Free Worcestershire sauce

Black pepper, to taste

Crushed red pepper, to taste

Dash cinnamon

Kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Cioppino

1. Put the olive oil, butter, and garlic in a wide, deep pot over medium heat, and cook, stirring,

until the garlic is fragrant, but not brown. Add the wine and the clams, and cover. Turn the

heat up to medium-high and steam until the clams start to open, about 5 minutes. Add the

mussels, cover and steam until they just start to open, about 2 minutes.

2. Now stir in the cioppino sauce, the Worcestershire sauce and saffron and bring to a simmer.

Add the cracked crabs, if using, and the shrimp, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Then gently stir in the fish, squid and scallops, and simmer until they are all just cooked

through, about 5 minutes. (If using cooked crab meat, stir it in very gently the last minute of cooking time.)

Sauce

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until

translucent. Add the garlic, bay leaves, parsley and basil and cook, stirring, just to warm the

garlic—do not let it brown.

2. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, water, clam base, brown sugar, celery salt,

Worcestershire sauce, black and red peppers, cinnamon and salt to taste. Bring to boil, reduce

heat to low-medium and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring

occasionally, until thickened.

More at philsfishmarket.com.