This rich, tomato-based seafood stew is a true taste of San Francisco and packed with fresh shellfish. Cioppino is the perfect Saturday night dinner to share with friends, a bit messy but delicious.
You will need to cook it while everyone is there, but as long as your ingredients are prepped ahead of time, it’s all very straightforward. Make sure you’ve got plenty of bread on hand to soak up all the broth.
Wine Suggestion: A fresh, mineral-driven white is the perfect match for this seafood-rich stew. Something vibrant and clean, without the weight of oak. We didn’t have a Californian wine that quite suited so opened an old favourite, the Céline & Frédéric Chablis. It’s full of white stone fruit, crisp apple and zesty citrus with the distinct limestone chalkiness of Chablis.
Cioppino – serves 4 to 6
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- a small bulb of fennel, finely chopped
- 2 Romano peppers, chopped
- 250ml white wine, plus an extra splash for the mussels
- 400g tin of finely chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 300ml very light chicken stock
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 750g mussels, cleaned
- 300g firm white fish, we used cod, cut into chunks
- 12 raw shell-on prawns
- 200g scallops, halved if large
- a good handful of parsley, chopped
- sourdough baguette and butter, to serve
Heat the oil in a a large wide pan. Add the onion, garlic and fennel with a good pinch of salt and cook gently for 10 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the peppers and cook for another 5 minutes until softened. Add the wine and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, stock and herbs, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a large pan, then tip in the mussels with the extra splash of white wine. Cover and shake the pan for a few minutes until the mussels have opened. Scoop the mussels out and set aside, keep the cooking liquid.
Add the fish, prawns and scallops to the stew, cover and simmer gently for 3-4 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the prawns are pink. Add the mussels with the reserved cooking liquid (hold back any grit) and cook for another minute to heat through. Taste and season if needed.
Stir in the parsley and serve in bowls with plenty of bread and butter.
(Original recipe by Janine Ratcliffe in Olive Magazine, August 2025.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 