Seafood Cioppino

I don’t know about you, but I over indulged a little during the holidays.  It’s too hard to pass up home baked goodies, drinks with friends, Mom’s cooking and going out to our favourite restaurants while we were back in Vancouver (can you say White Spot?!).  Anyways, after having a few salads to get back on track, I picked-up Cooking Light magazine at the airport as my in-flight read. I was extremely impressed by the quality of the magazine and had quickly bookmarked many of their recipes as “must-make” – this being one of them.

CH and I decided to celebrate NYD by having dinner just the two of us.  It was a great way to kick-off the year, chat about what we want to achieve in 2012 and just start the year with some ‘us’ time, which doesn’t happen all that often these days.  In order to celebrate the New Year, I knew I wanted to cook something special, yet light and satisfying.  Enter seafood. Being from the West Coast, we are picky when it comes to selecting seafood, but with the St. Lawrence Market across the street, we have plenty of amazing fish mongers available, although given the prices of seafood in Toronto, having these items is definitely a treat.

This recipe was flavourful, balanced, soothing, and just downright delicious.  CH raved about how good all of the seafood was, and many “yumms” came from me as well – it was the perfect dish to welcome 2012.  Feel free to switch-up the seafood below for your favourites, or for what’s available near you.  I always try to buy “wild” or “line-caught” items in order to support the fisheries, and I definitely try to buy according to what’s sustainable – check out this website for more information:  Ocean Wise

This was definitely a great recipe and one that will (hopefully!) appear on our table again in the future.

Enjoy!

Seafood Cioppino

Yield: Serves 4 (serving size: about 1 3/4 cups)
Prep Time:  15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Broth:

• 1 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, grated/minced
• 1 cup dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc or other)
• 1 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth), divided into 1/2 cups, per below
• 2 TBSP chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (35-ounce) can whole tomatoes with basil, rinsed, drained, and coarsely chopped

Seafood:

• 1 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 (10-ounce) Pacific Halibut filet, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 sea scallops (about 6 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 medium peeled and deveined shrimp (about 5 ounces)
• 12 clams (Manila, littleneck or longneck), cleaned and scrubbed

Garnish:

• 2 TBSP chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 TBSP  fresh lemon juice
• S&P
• Baguette or other bread of choice

Directions