This delicious cioppino is the perfect comfort food for seafood lovers – warm, flavourful and brimming with five different kinds of seafood. The savoury tomato-based broth is perfect with a chunk of warm, crusty bread. And with so many delicious seafood textures and flavours, your guests will never guess how simple it is to make.

 Keep reading to learn how I prepared this mouth-watering seafood stew your customers will love.

In my last blog post I described the culinary term mise en place (meaning “everything in its place”), and how important it is to busy chefs. We all know that if the proper mise en place isn’t done before the rush hits, your kitchen is in big trouble. As I like to say, if you can’t keep up, you are dans le jus or “in the juice”!

This recipe keeps you “out of the juice” by making sure your savoury cioppino broth is prepared in advance of service. Here mise en place helps you cut down on cooking time and keeps things simple when it comes time to serve.

With the broth prepared ahead, you can simply add the seafood to order. This recipe uses three fully cooked seafood ingredients – PEI mussels, white clams and salmon strips – with the addition of raw bay scallops and Pacific white shrimp.

Concerned about food waste? All of our individually quick frozen seafood can be heated in the broth and made to order.

Keep scrolling for the full recipe below.

Enjoy!

Chef Claude

Recipe: Seafood Cioppino

Serves 6

Ingredients

¾ cup butter

2 onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped

2 14.5-ounce cans stewed tomatoes

2 14.5-ounce cans chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp fresh basil

½ tsp fresh thyme

½ tsp fresh oregano

1 cup water

1½ cups white wine

1½ lbs 31/40 peeled and deveined raw shrimp (HL code 5750), thawed

1½ lbs raw bay scallops (HL code 1053469), thawed

18 cooked white clams (HL code 1040750), thawed

18 cooked PEI mussels (HL code 1040688), thawed                                          

1½ lbs cooked salmon strips (HL code 9143), thawed 

Method

1. Over medium heat, melt butter in a large stockpot. Add onions, garlic and parsley. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until onions are soft.
2. Add tomatoes to the pot, breaking them into chunks as you add them. Stir in chicken broth, bay leaves, basil, thyme, oregano, water and wine, mixing well. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. (To order.) Stir in the shrimp and scallops, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until cooked.
4. Stir in the mussels, clams (and their juices) and salmon strips. Cover and simmer until heated.
5. Season to taste and ladle into bowls. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Tip: Concerned about waste? All the seafood in this recipe can be added à la minute, from frozen.