Hearty Cioppino

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This is a refined version of cioppino, the classic seafood stew. Serve as a first course, giving each person a variety of seafood.

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced

  • 4 garlic cloves, minced

  • 1 dried bay leaf

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

  • ½ teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes

  • 2 cups dry white wine

  • 2 cups fish stock

  • ½ cup clam juice

  • 28 ounces crushed tomatoes, with juice

  • 15 ounces plum tomatoes, drained, chopped

  • 6 cherrystone clams, scrubbed

  • 6 mussels, scrubbed, debearded

  • 6 sea scallops, muscles removed

  • 8 ounces cod or other white fish, cut into 1-inch pieces

  • 8 ounces cleaned squid, bodies cut into rings

  • 6 large shrimp, peeled, tails intact, deveined

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add oregano, parsley, and red-pepper flakes. Cook 1 minute. Add wine, stock, clam juice, and tomatoes. Reduce heat; simmer gently 30 minutes. (You can make soup to this point up to 2 days ahead, and chill. Reheat; add seafood.)

  2. Add clams; cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Add mussels; cook, covered, checking often and using tongs to transfer open clams and mussels to a bowl. Discard any that do not open. Add scallops, cod, squid, and shrimp to pan; simmer gently until seafood is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Gently stir in cooked clams and mussels; ladle into bowls, and serve.

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