Fall, it's one of my favorite times of the year. It's the time you make soups, stews, casseroles ... stick to your ribs kind of dishes. The comfort food time. I love seafood, so I made one of my favorite stews, cioppino. My first taste of this was during a Christmas vacation visiting my daughter in San Francisco. What a treat it was! I think I ate it three or four times (different restaurants) while we were there. My seafood of choice here is bay scallops, tiger prawns, cod, and of course from my region, dungeness crab. However, you can use whatever seafood you like to eat. Here's a quick version of the recipe:
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/4 cups onions, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
4 teaspoons oregano, dried
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups of seafood stock or bottled clam juice
6 1/2 ounces minced or whole clams (reserving the liquid)
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
6 ounces crabmeat or whole crab claws
2 tablespoons dried basil
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Heat oil. (Medium heat)
Add onions, garlic, oregano and sweat onions until tender.
Add tomatoes, clam juice, wine and liquid from canned clams.
Cook for about 12 - 15 minutes (stew consistency).
Add shrimp, clams, and crab meat.
Cook on medium heat about 2 minutes.
Add basil, cayenne,and black pepper to taste.
Stir and simmer 2 more minutes.
