Cioppino,a tasty food

Cioppino is a rich, ethnic stew of edible oddments, analogous to its country of origin — America. At its essence it is a story of immigration patterns, cultural heritage and local adaptation.

Mention the word to anyone not on the West Coast and the response will usually come in the form of a shrug or quizzical frown. Of course, most of us here along the Central Coast know cioppino as our answer to the French bouillabaisse, a seafood melange that evolved from the tastes of its inventors — and the largess of the ocean.

Its colorful history was painted by Italian immigrants, fishermen with roots in the port city of Genoa who concocted the dish based on the catch of the day. Although its exact origin has never been verified, most agree that cioppino was created in San Francisco in the 1880s; and it wasn't until after World War II that the stew became known elsewhere.

Originally prepared on the boats while the fishermen were at sea, cioppino (pronounced chuh-PEE-noh) was built on flavors of tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs, red or white wine and, of course, fresh fish (crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, squid and white fish have long been common additions).

Pisto can rattle off more than a dozen different versions of cioppino he's eaten over the years. For this article he submitted a simple, "lazy-man's" cioppino, in which the crab meat is removed from the shell. Generally, the seafood is cooked in broth and served in the shell, including the crab that is often served halved or quartered. It therefore requires special utensils, typically a crab fork and cracker. Depending on the restaurant, it may be accompanied by a bib, damp napkins and a second bowl for the shells.

"This thing has taken on a life of its own," said DiGirolamo, 65. "I'm very humbled by it all."

DiGirolamo's passion about "this thing" called cioppino cannot be bridled, and his reputation reached all the way to New York and the studios of the Food Network. Scouting for West Coast cioppino experts for an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay," producers eventually settled in Moss Landing and zeroed in on DiGirolamo's restaurant (the show airs tonight at 9 p.m. on Comcast channel 35).

Pisto uses white wine, not red, canned Italian tomatoes, a lot of garlic (eight cloves) and ½ cup of Italian green olives (pitted).

Finally, in the interest of ocean ecology, we called Dory Ford, executive chef at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to steal his sustainable seafood cioppino recipe that is currently on the menu at Portola Cafe inside the aquarium.

Hale family cioppino
(Serves 6-8)

3 T. olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 head Swiss chard, torn into pieces
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 T. basil, cut into chiffonade
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ tsp. dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
¼ cup tomato paste
1 (28-oz.) can whole tomatoes in juice
1½ cups red wine
5 cups fish stock (see note)
1 bay leaf
2 whole cooked, cleaned and cracked Dungeness crabs, broken into quarters
1 lb. manila clams, scrubbed
1 lb. mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1 lb. uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1½ lbs. white fish fillets, such as halibut or sea bass, cut into 2-inch chunks

Steps: Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, salt and pepper and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add whole tomatoes with their juices (breaking apart each tomato with your hands), red wine, fish stock, Swiss chard, basil and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and bring to a simmer, about 30 minutes.
Add the clams and mussels to the cooking liquid. Cover and cook until the clams and mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams are completely open. Add crab, stirring gently, and cook about 5 minutes longer until crab is heated through (at this time discard any clams and mussels that do not open). Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Note: Some recipes call for bottled clam juice, which contains half the flavor and much more sodium than homemade fish stock. To make the stock, place 2 to 3 pounds of fish bones, trimmings, heads and tails in a stock pot with six cups of water. Bring to a gentle boil for 5 minutes, skimming foam from surface until clear. Reduce to a simmer. Add half an onion, one split leek and one carrot (sliced). Simmer 20 minutes, skimming foam from surface until surface is clear. Strain stock through a fine colander or sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Discard bones and vegetables. Season with salt, if desired. Makes about 5 cups.

John Pisto's Lazy Man's Cioppino
(Serves 4-6)

2 large live Dungeness crabs
12 each, clams and mussels
2 lbs. shrimp
1 large yellow onion, chopped
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch Italian flat-leaf parsley, de-stemmed and chopped
Olive oil
½ cup white wine
2 28-oz cans Italian tomatoes (whole, peeled)
½ cup Italian green olives (pitted)
Salt and black pepper

Steps: Bring a large pot (8 quarts) of salted water to a rapid boil. Carefully drop live crabs into pot. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until done. Remove from water (do not rinse) and cool. Remove crab meat from shell. Remove crab legs, crack gently and remove meat. Cut between knuckles and remove meat. Add crab "butter" from outer shell to sauce.

In a large skillet, saute onions, garlic and parsley in olive oil. Add white wine and continue cooking on high heat until onions and garlic are soft. With your hands, squeeze tomatoes into skillet with juice. Add green olives. Add sugar to balance tomato acid. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

Add clams and mussels and cover skillet. Steam for 6-8 minutes. Add shrimp to skillet 4 minutes after clams and mussels are added. Shake the skillet to help open the shells.

Place mussels, clams and shrimp in a large serving bowl. Add crab meat. Pour sauce over dish and serve immediately with crusty Italian bread.

— From "Monterey's Cookin' Pisto Style" (Pisto's Kitchen, 1994)

Sustainable seafood cioppino
(Serves 10-12)

This recipe is from Dory Ford, executive chef at Portola Cafe inside the Monterey Bay Aquarium. All seafood served at the aquarium is sustainable, in accordance with Seafood Watch and the principles of Bon Appétit Management Company.

Vegetables/base
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup garlic, minced
1 jumbo yellow onion, small dice
1 cup white wine
3 28-oz. cans diced, fire-roasted tomatoes, course ground with hand blender
17-oz. can tomato paste
½ cup Italian parsley, chopped
6 sprigs thyme
1½ tsp. oregano, dried
1 T. toasted fennel seed

Steps: Heat canola oil in large saucepan over moderate heat, add, garlic and sauté briefly. Add onions, sauté 5 minutes more. Add wine to deglaze. Add tomato paste and stir until smooth, add ground tomatoes, herbs and fennel, stir and simmer 20 minutes. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper. (Base can be cooled at this point and held).

Sustainable seafood
1 lb. wild salmon or arctic char, cut into 1-inch cubes (frozen acceptable)
1 lb. halibut, barramundi or California white sea bass, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 lbs. farmed littleneck clams (cooked and shelled) — reserve 1 cup broth
2 lbs. Prince Edward Island mussels (cooked and shelled) — reserve 1 cup broth
1 lb. trap-caught spot prawn tails, blanched
1 lb. Dungeness crab leg meat

Garnish
1 cup each julienned red onion, leek, fennel and carrot

To finish Reheat cioppino base and add reserved clam broth and mussel broth. Heat large, heavy-bottomed, high-sided skillet with small amount of oil until smoking. Add cubed salmon and white fish in single layer and cook until almost cooked through. Top with remaining seafood. Ladle warm cioppino base over seafood and bring to simmer over medium heat, giving little shakes to release fish from bottom of pan. Do not stir! Add garnishing vegetables, cover and simmer 3 minutes.

Serve immediately in same sauté pan, with crusty bread, butter and/or aioli.

Everyone's recipe reflects certain differences because cioppino is a happily versatile dish. Monterey native Phil DiGirolamo showcases his Sicilian roots at one the county's most popular seafood restaurants, Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing, where customers (some bringing their own empty pots or buckets) line up outside waiting for Phil's famous cioppino.