Skip to content

Robert St. John

Restaurateur, author, enthusiastic traveler, & world-class eater.

Cioppino

Ingredients

Cioppino Stock

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups onions, medium dice

1 1/2 cups leeks, hand-chopped fine, white part only

1 1/2 cups green bell peppers, medium dice

1 1/3 cups carrots, small dice

1 cup celery, medium dice

1/4 cup fresh fennel, chopped fine

2 1/2 quarts canned crushed tomatoes, highest quality, drained, liquid reserved (approximately 4 28-ounce cans drained and rough chopped)

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

2 1/2 quarts water (or stock)

2 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce

1 tablespoon oregano, dried

1 tablespoon basil, dried

1 tablespoon thyme, dried

3 bay leaves

1 Tablespoon Creole Seasoning

Cioppino

1/2 cup No-Stick Grilling Marinade for Seafood

1 1/2 pounds shrimp, 21-25 count, peeled, deveined, and skewered

1 pound sea scallops skewered

1 pound redfish pieces

1 pound fresh mussel, cleaned and beards removed

2 Tbl Olive Oil

1 Tbl garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1 1/2 quart cioppino stock

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

Toasted French bread

Instructions

Cioppino Stock

Sauté onions in olive oil and butter. Do not brown. Add leeks, green pepper, carrots, celery, and fennel and cook 5–10 minutes until soft. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. When stock begins boiling, reduce heat immediately. Cover and simmer 2 hours stirring frequently. This stock should be made a day ahead of time and refrigerated.

Yield: 1 1/4 gallon

Cioppino

Fresh chopped parsley for garnish

Rub the surface of the shrimp, scallops and redfish with the no-stick seafood marinade and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Prepare the grill. Cook the seafood over direct high heat for 6-8 minutes, turning once while cooking. Remove the seafood from the grill, and cool slightly.

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pot over low-medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the wine to the pot and reduce by half. Next, add the cioppino stock to the pot and bring it to a simmer. Remove the shrimp and scallops from the skewers and cut the grilled fish into 1/2 inch cubes. Add the mussels and cook until they pop open, about 6-7 minutes. Once the stock is simmering, add the grilled seafood and jumbo lump crab. Divide the cioppino into serving dishes and garnish with parsley.

Yield: 6–10 servings

Recent Recipes

Amalfi Lemon Cake

There's a particular kind of sunshine that only shows up in citrus form, and this Amalfi Lemon Cake has it in spades. Bright, moist, and unapologetically lemony, it walks the line between a proper dessert and something you'd be just as happy eating with your coffee on a Tuesday morning. The glaze soaks into the crumb while the cake's still warm, so every bite carries that little pucker of acidity balanced against real sweetness. It's simple enough for a weeknight and pretty enough for company.

Read more

Pecan Crusted Redfish

There's a certain kind of Southern kitchen wisdom that says you can't improve on a fresh Gulf redfish — and for the most part, that's true. But every now and then a dish comes along that doesn't so much improve the fish as it does pay proper respect to it, and this pecan-crusted redfish is one of those. It's a dish that works just as well for a Tuesday supper as it does for a table full of guests you're trying to impress — which, if you ask me, is the mark of a truly great recipe. Serve it simple, with rice or grits and something green on the side, and let the fish do the talking.

Read more

Stuffed Pork

Robert St. John's Stuffed Pork is an elegant centerpiece dish that takes a braised pork loin and layers it with Black Forest ham and melted Fontina cheese for a result that's as impressive to look at as it is to eat. The pork is seared, slow-roasted in chicken stock, and then sliced accordion-style so each cut fans open to hold the savory fillings before going back into the oven to meld together. A silky pan sauce made from the reduced braising liquid and heavy cream ties it all together, making this one of those recipes that feels restaurant-worthy without being out of reach.

Read more