Cioppino (Fisherman's Stew)

Cioppino

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cioppino-106263

I love San Francisco. I love everything about it - the amazing hills, the barking of the sea lions at the wharf, Irish Coffee, fabulous hot chocolate at Giardelli's, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, MOMA, I could go on forever. Ok, maybe one more thing. Cioppino. Invented in San francisco by local fisherman, using their catch of the day. Cioppino comes from the dialect used in Genoa, Italy and means to chop. Italian fishermen settling in San Francisco in the late 1800s developed this wonderful stew as a means to use what was left of their catch.

Any assortment of seafood is fine here - as long as there is plenty! I used halibut, clams, shrimp and scallops. I love crab, and were there company coming it would have been in the pot, but for the three of us I saw no point in dealing with extra utensils to get the crab out of the shell, or the extra cost.

As for the red components of the stew; my mantra - if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it - a good, dry red wine should be used here. I also like to err on the side of too much when it comes to anything tomato - it is hard to find highly flavored tomatoes, so a little extra never hurts!

This particular recipe also calls for a combination of chicken broth and clam juice for cooking liquid. I have still never seen a chicken swimming in the ocean, so there will still be no chicken broth in my seafood stew. Last week I had made seafood broth from clam shells, parsley, garlic etc - it took about 45 minutes, made more than enough for last weeks recipe and the cioppino, so that's what I used.

Finally, I would suggest, wherever possible, to finish this stew with fresh herbs, not dried. There is so much flavor and acid in here that the brightness of fresh parsley and basil will really make a difference.

Oh, and as we sat eating our stew, there was an empty bowl placed in the middle of the table. For what you ask? Why to save the clam shells and shimp shells for the next batch of seafood broth, of course.

Cod Stew with Chorizo, Leeks and Potatoes

Cod Stew with Chorizo, Leeks and Potatoes

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/cod-stew-chorizo-leeks-potatoes.aspx

So, I believe I have found the simplest comfort food recipe on the planet. A monkey could make this one. It is from "Fine Cooking", April 2004, and not only is it simple and quick, it is delicious. You can make most of the recipe ahead and just pop the cod on top and steam it right before you are ready to serve it.

This stew is really no different than most soup or stew recipes. Heat your fat and flavor it. I used a spicy chorizo - there was enough sweet and starch in the stew to warrant a bit of heat. In this recipe the chorizo and leeks are cooked first and then garlic is thrown in for 1 minute. Be very prepared to slow down the garlic with liquid as soon as the minute is up - there is nothing worse than bitter, burnt garlic to muck up a perfectly seasoned bit of oil. Next come the stewing liquids - wine, water and the juice from the tomatoes. If you are using fresh tomatoes be sure you still have enough liquid - I'm not convinced there is that big a taste difference using the canned, quite frankly. If they are not fresh off the vine, I dare you to tell the difference, and if they are fresh off the vine, why on earth are you wasting them in a stew? (Make sure you use good wine - you will know the difference if you don't.) Next, thicken things up with the potatoes and parsley. Now taste it. Add salt and pepper now, because once the cod is in there it will be tough to stir in additional seasonings.

Set your table, take your shower, play with the dog, have a nice glass of wine, do whatever you want until you are ready to sit down to eat. When its time, season the cod, pop it on top of the stew and partially cover.

Don't forget to make it look like you've been working really hard.

Moroccan Beef Meatball Tagine

Moroccan Beef Meatball Tagine

Meatball tagine?! That's not soup, that's stew. And what happened to the Transylvanian Goulash?

So, the thing I'm finding about blogging, is it is really easy to get behind. I had made the tagine a couple of weeks ago, and just didn't have a chance to write about it yet. It just didn't seem right to move the goulash ahead in the blog line.

The recipe is from Bon Appetit, January 2010, but I found it on Epicurious, when I was searching for a quick meat stew. A tagine is a Moroccan stew. Ok, technically this is not a soup, but the broth (hah, soup term) is so delicious you will want to to use a spoon, and for me, that is close enough.

I like this dish for a few reasons:

1. If you are organized and prepare properly, it takes about a third of the time of regular beef stew.

2. It meets a major criterion for moving from recipe to favorite - it excites four out of the five senses - glorious colors, tantalizing aromas, multiple textures and complex flavors.

3. The ingredients include saffron - 'nuf said.

4. The meatballs are made with minced garlic. So is the stew broth. Lots of garlic. Mmmm.

5. It only requires two cups of beef broth, so doesn't overly deplete my dwindling supply (yes, there is a broth making weekend in my immediate future).

6. It cooks in the oven leaving the cooktop free.

7. The meatballs cook in the stew, leaving the cooktop spatter free.

8. Did I mention all the garlic?

Like most soups/stews, this one was even better two or three days later. I served it over couscous, which gave it a bit more body, but wasn't starchy like rice. You may want good bread too, just so none of that stew broth goes to waste. You may also want to go to the gym, so that none of the meatballs go to waist.


As for the Transylvanian Goulash - stay tuned.