Bay Cioppino

Tonight, I made Bay Cioppino from my favorite soup cookbook - Cuisine at Home: Splendid Soups & Spectaular Sides in my 8-quart dutch oven. Both the recipe and the cookware exceeded my expectations.

Being somewhat landlocked, fresh seafood is hard to come by. I found some small clams and wild caught prawns at Yoke's and used frozen Wild Alaskan Pacific Cod from Costco. Using roasted cherry tomatoes from last summer's garden and fresh herbs (thyme, basil, parsley) from my Aerogarden helped make this recipe a success.

The basic recipe follows:

1. Sweat the following veggies in 2 Tbs. olive oil: 1 C onion, 1/2 C each of carrot, celery, red bell pepper, fennel bulb, 1 Tbs. garlic.
2. Stir in: 2 Tbs. tomato paste, chopped fresh thyme, oregoano, basil, basil, and 1 tsp. red pepper flakes, salt, bay leaf. Deglaze with 1 C white wine. Simmer down 5 minutes or so.
3. Add: 1 qt. tomatoes, 2 C chicken broth, 1 Tbs. lemon juice, 1 tsp. sugar. Simmer 10 minutes.
4. Stir in 1 lb. clams or mussels, 3/4 lb. cubed cod. Simmer 5 minutes. Add 1/2 lb. shrimp. Simmer 5 more minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Bay Cioppino

Homemade No Knead Bread, Salad, and White Wine rounds out the meal.

Homemade Chocolate Mousse make a rich and delicious end to the meal.