Cheap Cioppino a.k.a. Cheappino!

A couple of years ago I posted a recipe for cioppino, a tomato-based seafood stew that was easy to make but a little expensive. It is pronounced like this. My recipe called for a pound of shrimp and a pound of scallops, and if you buy those around here they'll cost about $15 plus they'll be frozen and sometimes even a tiny bit funky when defrosted. I'm lookin' at you, scallops. Unacceptable.

But we still want cioppino all the time (and so does Bun).

So Jeff came up with a compromise: ditch the shrimp and scallops entirely and load up on the much cheaper tinned mussels. He became obsessed with mussels after he took a business trip to Belgium a few years ago, by the way. That country ruined french fries (frites) for him, too. We try mussels at every restaurant we can, and they've even inspired a painting.

The tinned mussels that we buy are a far cry from that kind of thing, but the red oil they're packed in really makes this dish great, and we found we don't miss the shrimp and scallops. We bought the mussels at Meijer, a Midwestern superstore similar to Wal-mart. The package looks like this, and we bought two of them for around $1.80 each:

Jeff says, "These are by no means the best mussels you can eat. But for the price, they impart a lot of flavor and have a good mouth-feel." Here's what one looks like (sorry about the blur):

Yesterday afternoon Jeff and I threw the cheappino together, let it mellow out on the stove, and ate it that evening with a baguette (Artisan Take & Bake French baguette, which was terrific).

I suggest you pair the cheappino with some cheap pinot.

 

Or not! I don't know anything about wine.

REVISED! INGREDIENTS

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 C chopped onion <-- this was one huge Vidalia onion, but it's more like one or two regular ones
• 1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8 oz.) bottle clam juice
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
• 1/2 C chicken broth
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 2 1/2 t Italian seasoning
• 1 t Old Bay seasoning <-- optional, I just felt like tossing some in
• 1/4 t sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (10 oz or so) can baby clams, undrained
• 2 (small, sardine-like) tins of mussels in spicy red pepper oil
• 1/4 C chopped Italian parsley
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a large dutch oven or similar soup pot.  Add the onion, red pepper flakes, celery, garlic, and a little salt and pepper.  Saute until the vegetables are soft.

Add the diced tomatoes, clam juice, tomato paste, chicken broth, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, sugar, and bay leaf and heat through.  You can let it simmer for a while if you've got other things going on.  The sauce will thicken a bit.

Add the clams, mussels, and parsley.  Let everything heat up and adjust salt and pepper, if necessary. 

You can eat this immediately or you can let the flavors marry for as long as you like on the stove.

Even without the shrimp and scallops, your big-eyed cat will still totally want you to share this with her.

Comments

[Xuan]

Hi Kelly! I recently made this soup thanks to your post. I've never even heard of cioppino but I just had to try it. It was delicious and so satisfying; the best part was that it was so easy to make! My boyfriend went back for thirds and even fourths. Thanks again for the recipe.

PS. I found you though BeautyBroadcast!

[Elizabeth]

If you're ever in Chicago, you and Jeff should stop by Hopleaf (http://hopleaf.com/) for their mussels and frites - amazing!