Slow Cooker Cioppino Recipe

Day 15.

There is nothing better than a big bowl of hot, spicy cioppino.

 It's a little messy, but oh so very good. 

After I shared with Adam that I was planning on using a package of the frozen seafood mix from Trader Joe's in lieu of fresh seafood, he took over my cooking (crocking?) endeavor. 

He took both kids with him to the store and I sat on the couch pretending to fold laundry while I watched my buddy Alton Brown on Food Network.


Adam arrived home with a crap load of ingredients.

 I was completely overwhelmed with all the stuff he bought and he refused to tell me what he spent. 

After being kindly escorted (read: kicked) out of the kitchen I dug around on the Web and found the bestest cioppino recipe ever. 

I got it from About.com, an absolutely wonderful resource--how do they get so many smart people in the computer all at the same time? 



I have no idea who Will is, but I imagine he looks something like this:

(drawing courtesy of the household 6-year-old)

There are a lot of ingredients. 


Try not to freak out. Or freak out and have your husband do it all. 


Your choice. 


  The Ingredients: 


  We followed the About.com recipe with only a few changes. 

The biggest change was that we added clam juice to the liquid base. 

--1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes and juice 

--1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce 

--1/2 cup chopped onion 

--1 cup white wine (those little bottles are nearly a cup) 

--6 cloves chopped garlic 

--1/2 cup chopped parsley

--1 chopped green bell pepper 

--1 hot pepper (optional--we used a red jalapeno)

--1 teaspoon thyme 

--2 teaspoons basil 

--1 teaspoon oregano

--1/2 teaspoon paprika 

--1/2 teaspoono cayenne pepper 

--1/2 cup clam juice

















Seafood: 

--1 deboned and cubed fillet of white fish (we used red snapper) 

--1 dozen prawns 

--1 dozen scallops 

--1 dozen mussels --1 dozen clams

--1 cracked crab 


  The Directions: 

--Place all ingredients into the stoneware except for the seafood. 

--Stir to mix well. 

  --Cover and cook 8 hours on low 

--Add seafood 45 minutes before serving, and turn heat up to high--stirring occasionally.

--Salt and Pepper to taste 

--Serve with your favorite french bread, or in our case, Pamela's drop biscuits. 

  --Change your shirt to red or a dark color so you don't end up with spotted clothes. 

  --Invite company over. Accept compliments.


Grandpa John. The Original Fisherman.

Related recipes: 





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Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at January 15, 2008

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What they say about this article

  1. Ooohhh... Alton Brown is YOUR buddy, too! Cool!

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  2. ooohh, my hubby and my dad would both love this as they love seafood. Me, not so much :) I could adapt it though..........

    About chicken chasseur (loved your comment btw :) ), I found a recipe on the BBC website : http://www.bbc.co.uk/
    food/recipes/database/
    chickenchasseur_70675.shtml

    (have to separate it or you can't see the whole link on here!).

    I just used a dried packet mix (yes, I'm a cheat sometimes!) that's available over here, and just made it up with water and bunged it into the crockpot with potatoes, carrots and turkey thigh meat. Didn't exactly follow the instructions (it's supposed to have mushrooms in it!). But it turned out fine. joanne :)

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  3. Thanks, Joanne! I'll look up that recipe. I use spice packets. It's not cheating--it's practical, time and often cost-saving.
    xox
    steph

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  4. holy crap, i'd have been overwhelmed too! hooray for hubby taking over...

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  5. yeah, he assures me that it wasn't much work--but work is certainly relative. The broth base can be made the night before and cook all day while the chef plays--then add the seafood later.

    it's a great weekend-company dish, though!
    xox
    steph

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  6. I love this blog because I am a die hard crockpotter myself! I had to add you to my fave blog list!

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  7. Anonymous1/15/2008

    HA! LOVE the kid art. VERY CUTE.
    -Ginny

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  8. This looks so good

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  9. ok this one looks delicious, but I think way too complicated for my little brain...Love the drawing...and I'm learning all sorts of new words from you...LOL

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  10. I have to say this-- You are so groovy. What a great idea. I got your link from Amy C. I will definately come back for recipes.
    Stephanie

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  11. Anonymous1/16/2008

    This recipe looks fantastic, Steph. I'm going to try it soon. Thanks.

    Julie

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  12. Just found your blog. Great ideas! I love cioppino, even better when made in a crockpot.

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  13. Hi Stephanie- I'm new to your blog and first wanted to say what a great job you're doing!! Your posts are fun, INSPIRING and informative all at the same time. I've done the 'ususal' chilli and bean soup recipes with the crock pot and you've given me the courage to try new things!

    I happened upon the cioppino blog yesterday and invited my fams over for Sunday dinner! I even warned them to wear red! Cioppino is a special for me because it's what my husband ordered on our first date over 12 years ago... I'm making it for the first time thanks to this great blog!

    I haven't yet decided whether to add the crab. I have a round 6 qt slow cooker and am hoping all the seafood will fit! (Makes me wish I won an eLume for it's oval shape and preprogrammable controls.)

    The only other modification I made from your base recipe was to subsitute vermouth for the white wine. I knew from our pal, AB, that alcohol is the only way to bring out specific tomato flavor elements, so I knew not to substitute stock. My pal Chris K from cooksillustrated taught me that vermouth was an acceptable substitute and I found it on sale at my local Liquor Store; I'm not a white wine fan so we rarely have any in the house.

    In addition to the cioppino, I'm serving a sour dough round... but not just any loaf! Tyler F made cioppino and toasted up a sour dough round that he sliced 7/8 of the way through so the loaf was still in tact. He schmeared herb butter between the slices and toasted it. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/halibut-and-cioppino-recipe/index.html). I've sliced and schmeared and can't wait to pop it in the oven.

    I have 7 hours till *magic* time... I'm so looking forward to this meal :D

    jc

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  14. So I tried my hand at this one. There was an amazing deal on fresh seafood mix (shrimp, octopus, mussels, and things I can't identify) at my local store, so I thought a cioppino would be a perfect use. There was also a great deal on fresh tillapia, so I used that as my white fish.

    I had to make a few variations because I didn't have all the ingredients in my pantry like I thought I did.

    So I used diced tomato instead of crushed. I also had a few fresh tomatoes that needed to be used up, so I threw those in there.

    I didn't have tomato sauce, but I had a little pasta sauce left over from another dish, so I threw that in.

    I also had some chili's in adobo sauce from another dish I made last week. So I threw one of those in there (after taking the seeds out of it). If you are using this, CAREFUL! These are spicy! Only 1 small one, without the seeds is very spicy, and I'm a fan of spicy.

    I didn't have white wine so I just used a little more of the clam juice.

    I also speed up the cooking time to 4 hours because I didn't get a chance to start this in the morning.

    So, even with all these variations and substitutions, it was wonderful!

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