Seafood Cioppino Recipe

Host: Nothing compares to the fresh and vibrant taste of fish pulled right out of the water. It’s why we all stand in line at the fish counter waiting for today’s best catch.

Caught right from the ocean straight to your table, California is in the top five seafood producing states in the nation. From Dungeness crab, king salmon, squid, tuna, lobster, shrimp, sole and halibut, California seafood is making some major waves in the kitchen. So why not create your own splash by tossing it in the pot. Here’s Lifestyle expert Laura McIntosh bringing it home.

Laura McIntosh: Well thanks for joining us up here on the kitchen set. We’re going to get started. We’re going to cook it up with Cioppino, which is an Italian stew. But who made it famous? Well, San Francisco, of course. And speaking of famous in San Francisco the Tadich Grill and I'm here with the Executive Chef from the Tadich Grill Rajko Marin. Hi Rajko.

Rajko Marin: Hello Laura.

Laura McIntosh: How are you?

Rajko Marin: I'm doing fine. Thank you for having me.

Laura McIntosh: We’re so happy to have you and you're going to share your secret recipe. This cioppino recipe is so good. So let’s see how we start.

Rajko Marin: So use the sauté pan, we’re going to coat it with a little bit of olive oil and then I'm going to I use a little bit of butter.

Laura McIntosh: They serve on average at Tadich Grill in San Francisco 700 to 800 people a day.

Rajko Marin: We’re going to start with white onions, a little bit of garlic. Then I add a little bit of chili sauce.

Laura McIntosh: Now this is kind of your secret sauce.

Rajko Marin: That’s the secret sauce. It's a very secret and I carmelized the onions very quick. It's going to bring a lot of flavor to it. Themn I put a little bit of celery—just carmelize a little bit those celery, onions then I add a little of those green onions, just a little bit. A bit of paprika then I put the fresh tomato. Then I go with stewed tomato, this is aroma tomato.

Laura McIntosh: We have a fish stock going on right next to us too and it was really easy to put together—and he’ll use this in the sauce as well.

Rajko Marin: So this is a basic—what I need for the Cioppino sauce. Then I go with those spices. I've got a little bit basil, little bit pepper, a pinch of—

Laura McIntosh: Hey you like spicy!

Rajko Marin: A lot of spices! We’ll add chili flakes. So I’ve got more of those—these are basil and bay leaves.

Laura McIntosh: Okay, remember when you use bay leaves take them out when it’s finished. Now this is the sauce, the first part of the recipe. The second part is cooking the fish.

Rajko Marin: Cooking the fish, yeah. This is very much done. If you reduce this for another maybe half an hour it’s going to be perfect sauce.

Laura McIntosh: This is absolutely gorgeous fish.

Rajko Marin: I've got few of those mussels, few clams. This is special I get to cut a little bit. It looks real but tastes good.

Laura McIntosh: It tastes great!

Rajko Marin: This is we use in the cuisine. It’s octopus. It will give you good taste. I've got a little bit of white fish. I'm using today monkfish. I get a little bit of crab, I can take a little bit of sea bass but it's not those—two pieces of sea bass, maybe two jumbo prawns.

Laura McIntosh: Do we get any of the—

Rajko Marin: Scallops?

Laura McIntosh: Scallops.

Rajko Marin: This very much is what you need for the Cioppino. So what I do is I just put a little bit of olive oil and I need a little bit of butter.

Laura McIntosh: And this is a great pan.

Rajko Marin: This is not made by me, but close. So I just put the prawn, a little bit of garlic.

Laura McIntosh: It smells by the way. It’s terrific!

Rajko Marin: A little bit of white wine. Cioppino sauce is pretty much done. You just pour those.

Laura McIntosh: This is the dish. There you go! It’s very simple and very easy 30 minutes or less. You can do it at home. You know the secret ingredients now. Rajko showed you how to do it just like they do it at Tadich Grill.

Can I taste it? I've got to try.

Rajko Marin: Yeah, taste it.

Laura McIntosh: This is unbelievable. Have I died and gone to heaven? It’s fantastic I love it!