I am Anıl uzun and today I will cook a stew that San Franciscan fishermen had invented as one of the best seafood meals. Yes, I will give you the recipe of Cioppino Seafood Stew with zippy gremolata butter toasts. 

This one is a little bit hard to prepare. You have got to be prepared, you need to make the base a day in advance. During the lockdown, cooking may entertain you and this is one of the recipes that will help you kill your time and you will have a delicious meal. 

NOTE: You’re going to spend half an hour the day before to prepare the base and another hour for preparation and cooking. Overall you are going to spend around  2 hours for the meal. And the ingredients that I give here are to serve 6 people in total. 

Ingredients 

1/2 pound cleaned squid, 

1 pound littleneck clams, soaked in water for 1 hour

1/2 pound medium tail-on shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded

1/2 pound skinless flaky white fish (bass, halibut, hake, or cod), cut into 1-inch pieces

3 garlic cloves 

2 onions, finely chopped 

1/2 cup sliced fennel

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1 can crushed tomatoes

1/2 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon kosher salt, 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly grated

1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 bay leaves

1 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 bottle clam juice

1 1/2 cups seafood stock or vegetable broth

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, divided

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 baguette, sliced and toasted

Preparation

Get the cloves and mince them, heat the oil, add the onion, fennel, celery, salt and pepper, stir and cook until they are soft, add the garlic and red pepper. Cook for 2 more minutes in high heat until you can smell the garlic.  

Reduce the heat, toss the squid cok until they are tender and they release juice, cook for 20 minutes more in low heat. When the juice is less, add the tomato paste, sprinkle oregano and stir for a while then add the wine. 

Raise the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes until the juice is sizzling. Toss in the  tomatoes, bay leaves. Pour the clam juice, and stock when it boils, reduce the heat and cover the pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes. This is the part that I recommend you prepare the day before. 

When the base is cooked enough, refrigerate it for a day. 

Take out a bowl and add butter (room temperature), parsley, lemon zest and salt, mix them until they are smooth. Rub the toasts with garlic, spread the butter on the toasts. 

Take out the base, heat it and add the clams, cover the pot, cook for 5 min. Add the shrimp and mussels. Cook for 3 minutes and add the fish. Cover the pot and cook until shellfish opens. 

Take out the bay leaves, and parsley. 

When the fish and shrimp are firm and opaque, your meal is ready to serve. 

Serve the meal in large soup bowls with toasts alongside. 

Bon appetit!

Anıl Uzun.