Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Logbook

Cioppino

By Linda Tappeiner

Ingredients for Cioppino
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
½ to ¾ cup minced Italian parsley
½ bell pepper-minced
2 stalks celery-minced
1 can tomato sauce (8-ounce size)
1 can tomato paste (6-ounce size)
1 cup red wine
2 cups of water
1 bay leaf
Pinch of powdered thyme
2 pounds California halibut or sea bass cut into 1 ½ inch chunks
1 pound ridge back shrimp or spot prawns-shelled and deveined
1 to 3 teaspoons of salt (depending on your taste)

Instructions for Cioppino Recipe
Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into large soup pot.  Heat olive oil and put in minced garlic, parsley, bell pepper and celery.  Sauté with lid off and stirring gently until soft.  Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, red wine and 2 cups of water.  Simmer with a lid on about 10 minutes.  Add I bay leaf and a pinch of thyme.  Simmer with lid on another 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Add halibut or seabass and shrimp.  Cook about 10 minutes with the lid on at a slow boil.  Then cook another 5 to 10 minutes with lid off.  Ladle into soup bowls. Serve with crusty garlic bread and a green salad.  Oh yes, and some of the remaining red wine.

Where was the seafood purchased or caught? Purchased at Santa Barbara Fish Market, locally caught.

Why did you select this particular seafood for your recipe? Sustainable, local, and very fresh. Recipe calls for firm white fish and the halibut or seabass work well for that. The spot prawns or ridgeback shrimp are very flavorful.

How was your seafood raised or caught and what makes it sustainable? The halibut was caught in local waters using hook and line. The spot prawns or ridgeback shrimp are caught locally as well, using traps. The seasons and sizes are regulated each year to keep the fish sustainable.