Creole Cioppino
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe by:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 boneless fillets Gulf snapper or other firm white fish
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups chopped yellow onion
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup diced green bell pepper
  • ½ cup chopped yellow bell pepper
  • ½ cup chopped red bell pepper
  • ½ cup chopped tasso or smoked ham
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 4 anchovy fillets, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoon jarred dry light roux or all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes, preferably Louisiana Creole tomatoes
  • 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
  • 3 cups seafood stock
  • 2 cleaned Louisiana blue crabs, cut in half
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 oysters (in the shell) or 8 shelled oysters
  • 16 jumbo (8/10 count) shrimp, peeled, tail-on, and deveined
  • 1 pound white lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
  • 1 cup crawfish tail meat
  • 8 slices grilled French bread, for serving
  • ½ cup diced green onion tops
Instructions
  1. In a cast-iron pot with a heavy lid over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Sprinkle the fish fillets lightly with salt and pepper, and add to the pot. Cook 2 minutes on the first side. Turn the fish over and cook on the other side until just done, 1 to 2 minutes depending on the thickness of your fillets. With a spatula carefully remove the fish to a platter and keep warm for later.
  2. In the same pot, add the onion, celery, bell peppers, and tasso to the remaining olive oil, and sauté until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the anchovy, thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, and sauté for 3 minutes.
  3. Sprinkle the dry roux over the vegetables in the pot and stir to incorporate. Add the wine to deglaze the pot (be careful of flames), and cook off the alcohol, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, clam juice, and seafood stock. Stir to combine and add the cleaned crab halves, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat until ready to serve.
  4. With a towel and an oyster knife, pry open the oysters, reserving any oyster liquor inside. Discard the top shell and drain any liquor into the pot. Reserve the bottom half shell oyster, but do not loosen the meat from the shell. Keep cold until ready to serve.
  5. When ready to serve, reheat the pot to a simmer, add the shrimp, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the oyster half shells, crabmeat and crawfish tails to the pot. Lightly stir to incorporate the seafood into the simmering liquid. Cook for 1 minute and serve immediately.
  6. For serving, place a grilled French bread slice in the bottom of a large individual bowl. Add a fillet of sautéed fish to each bowl. Spoon the simmering soup over, being careful to distribute evenly the seafood among your guests. Garnish with a sprinkle of green onion tops.
Notes
In experimenting with this dish, I found that the fish would fall apart in the simmering liquid during cooking, so I sauté it ahead. Go easy on the spice: Cioppino is a delicate soup with the taste of seafood and tomato shining through rather than a spicy gumbo-like stew. I always keep a jar of dry roux (light, not dark) to use sparingly in soups, stews, and gravies to add flavor and to thicken.
Recipe by Acadiana Table at https://acadianatable.com/?p=14833