An Italian-American Invention....and a famous one
It is one America's most famous dishs. History says it was invented by the North Beach Italian fisherman's wives. Do you know what it is?? It is Cioppino. Born in San Francisco, it is comprised of the left overs and odds and ends of the catch of the day. There is no Italian translation for the word Cioppino even though the name sounds Italian.
It's made throughout the Ligure area but is more common on the lower east coast of the Riviera towards Tuscany A famous version of this is from Tadich Grill. It is a special dish with a distinct Italian-American spin. Thought you would like know about it....the recipe follows.The only thing that comes close is based on the Ligurian Ciuppin, which means nearly any sort of fish or seafood zuppa.
It takes some work but its worth it.
If you make this recipe, I am available for dinner.
Recipe---Click here jlaurenzi@gmail.com send a note to forward the email to you
Some of the ingredients are:
1 tsp. fresh basil, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh oregano, minced
1/4 tsp. fresh thyme, minced
4 bay leaves
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 tsp. garlic, finely chopped
1 lb. white fish, cut into 1/2 x 2-inch strips
8 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
8 large scallops
3/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc Wine
8 small clams in shell, scrubbed
4 oz. cooked shrimp meat
6 oz. cooked crab meat
Italian parsley, chopped
1 comment:
Jay,
Your Cioppino blog gave me the idea to make a big batch for my mom. It's her birthday and she's hard to shop for so... a batch of cioppino divided into freezer containers will delight her!
I found a story on the origin of the word "cioppino". Here it is;
"Chip in"........ "Chip in"....... was a call heard on the World Famous Fisherman's Wharf in it's early heyday before World War II. This was a call for San Francisco's mainly Italian immigrant fisherman coming home with their catch of Pacific seafood to donate a small portion of their catch for a communal fish stew prepared on the docks. Anything would do. A few clams or mussels. some red snapper, a crab or two, some scallops, some halibut or flounder.....anything to add to the fragrant stew that would soon be served to the "Club" of San Francisco fisherman who would talk about the days catch and dunk San Francisco Sour Dough bread into the rich broth. Eventually the "broken" English cries of "chip in" turned into "chip-in-O". Hence the name "Cioppino". This is a rich seafood stew with not much care as to how it was assembled. This consisted of throwing the days catch into a big pot and pouring sauce into the pot with the shellfish and chunks of what fish was available.
Thanks for the great idea! Donna
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