Bodega Bay Cioppino

Excellent stew.....I added green pepper and didn't cook it down completely so had broth which my family loved. Very tasty and a good way to serve seafood. Definitely a keeper.

AWESOME Usually I follow recipes exactly so that I know if I messed up or it's just a lame recipe. Well, this recipe is so savory and delicious I didn't want to change a thing, until yesterday...I was near Bodega Bay on a motorcycle ride and stopped in Stinson Beach and picked up some fresh mussels which I used instead of the scallops and it was unbelievably awesome.

My son and husband loved this. I thought it was a little too salty. We served this over angel hair pasta to make more servings.

I've never made cioppino before and simply based on the reviews I took the leap and served it for a Christmas party and it was a hit! I didn't put any crab (because we were having crab on the side) but added more shrimp and it still came out great.

This recipe was AWESOME! I used only 1/2 the salt, because I don't like a lot of salt - otherwise made as written.

It's very easy to make and taste great. I also added half can of chicken brooth for taste. Definitely use fresh uncooked dungeness crab if you can find them in your local market. I steamed the crab before putting it with the tomato sauce. There will be some excellent and flavorful juice from the steamed crab that you can add to the tomato sauce.

My husband actually made this for my parents and were they impressed couldn't get enough of the sauce absolutely wonderful.. I think any type of shellfish would work.. Lots of basil gives it a zip!!

Great recipe!!!! All my guest raved about it. Sent some to my neighbor who is a great cook and he said it was the best he ever had.

This was really good. Be sure to have plenty of sourdough bread for dippin. We used little neck clams and dungeness crab.

Wonderful!! Ingredients are pricey but well worth it...will make it again.

This was my first time making a Cioppino, though I've had it many times growing up in northern California. Living in rural Maine now, I had to change the crab for fresh lobster. I substituted mussles for the clams and I also put in about 1/4 cup of fresh basil instead of dried and about a tablespoon of fresh thyme, 2 teaspoons of chili powder and a dash of paprika. The Cioppino was great, and I can guarantee that I will be making this again.

I made this recipe tonight for my family. I LOVE Cioppino!!! Growing up on the Mendocino Coast, I ate a lot of fresh seafood. Now that I live a little more inland this dish works well with the not so fresh seafood I get at my local market. I made a few adjustments…. First I used fresh basil instead of dried. Second I am not a huge Scallop fan, so I exchanged them for Cod fillets. And last of all I love a little kick, so I added some crushed red pepper flakes to the stock before adding my seafood. I served it with a Chardonnay, and crusty French bread. This is a great recipe to play with….Happy Cooking!

super simple to make, and spectacular results. Recommended for everyone. Even if you live in a place where you cannot get fresh seafood often, do it with frozen seafood! the result will be a little worse but still very good.

This was excellent! No need to add salt at all. Other than that, I made it exactly as the recipe calls. Will definitely make again!

Made this with some friends for a weekly dinner club. Pricey but an amazing recipe! I cut it down a bit since there were just four of us. Left out the crab to cut down on amount. Cooked it down quite a bit--even built it back up to cook it down some more. The flavor got super concentrated and tasted incredible. I did add a little clam juice as I went along. I also used a couple small cans of spicy V8--that made a HUGE difference! It gave the recipe a nice smooth punch of spicy flavor. As it goes, the recipe is simple--it's a good conversational meal to cook. It's really just mostly monitoring--lots of time for chatting while the flavor takes over the kitchen. Served with crusty bread and the whole lot of us ended up sipping down the broth leftover in our bowls. It was just THAT good. Low fat, easy to make, impressive and the kind of recipe that's good to have under your belt. It's a winner. A great base recipe that allows you to add the touches you prefer. Excellent!

Very good my husband ate 60% of the pot and the sauce he sopped up with some garlic bread I made on the side.

Delicious! I used clams, shrimp and scallops. I bet you could use just about any mild seafood you preferred and it would be great. My husband requested I pour it over fettucini and it was a hit. I ate it w/o the noodles. I would recommend this to anyone...especially busy moms. VERY easy to make! :)

My boyfriend and I made this recipe over the weekend. It was AWESOME!!!! We changed a few things. We used fire roasted garlic diced tomatoes (instead of plain)..1 lb of crawfish (instead of clams)...superb! Will def make this again!

I was looking for a recipe that reminded me of the restaurant in Bodega Bay where we had lunch last year. I couldn't believe how close this recipe was to what I was looking for. I substituted muscles for the littleneck clams (because I could not find them) and I added pieces of cod too. I added some red peppers, paprika and a bit of hot sauce to give it a little kick. It was delicioso!

love it

This is really good!! I didn't have a lot of money to buy ingredients so I used the frozen seafood from my freezer that included shrimp, Japanese Scallops and Mahi Mahi. I also added some Cayenne Pepper and Crushed Red Pepper to give it kick. So good!

Made for the first time tonight. Served to guests and they loved it. I modified it slightly based on the ingredients I had on hand, in place of crab I used lobster - it was on sale - and littleneck clams, scrod, and shrimp. I think any combination of shellfish works nicely. The sauce was tasty. Many other recipes call for fish stock or clam juice but I didnt have either and it was just fine without. Served with bread and a dessert of fresh fruit. Was a big hit.

Can't go wrong with all this seafood - yummy! I used mussels instead of clams, omitted crab, used dry italian herbs instead of parsley ( it did have basil in them ) ,added a little tomato juice and totally skipped salt and pepper. Next time I will try to make it as written - I rarely follow recipes exactly;) Beware: there is plenty of salt from tomatoes and seafood ( if you are using frozen ones ), so you might want to add it in the end after trying ready stew first - might be no need for it. Crusty bread is a must with this one as there is plenty of yummy broth!

I made this sticking to the recipe and found there was not nearly enough sauce. Second time around I added about a cup of chicken broth with the seafood and that made it much saucier. Make sure to toast plenty of sour dough to go along with it.

A very good, simplified cioppino. Without taking it overboard, I'd sub a cabernet for the white wine, making a nice loose red sauce, and add some clam juice and twice the parsley, as long as its fresh. And obviously, any combo of seafood works. I like to use mussels, large prawns and giant scallops, and I'll top the dish with a grilled swordfish filet (or other firm white fish) and green onions, sometimes with some bits of fried calamari. Over either pasta or rice, makes for a gorgeous presentation and great eats! Also perfect on its own as the fisherman's stew it is.

Made w all dry ingridients.Made w 4-14 ounces cans off diced tomato,1 bottle of dry wine, 1-lb king crab legs,1-lb large shelled shrimp,24 large neck clams,and 1 loaf of italian bread...

So delicious and very simple! I would suggest less salt (all it needs is a pinch) and fresh basil leaves instead of dried.

We made this recipe for new year's eve and it turned out quite well. We followed the recipe exactly, except we added about a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes for a little kick. We removed the crab meat from the legs before cooking for ease of eating. This definitely reminded me of the Cioppino I had in San Francisco sans the rock fish, mussels, and calamari. Next time we'll probably add mussels and some sturdy white fish. Excellent and easy recipe!

I liked this dish, my girlfriend, not so much. Came out bland and fishy; it is quite possible that it's my fault.

Very good! A wonderful base for most seafood recipes... serve over rice or with a long pasta. I left out the wine and added fresh, red hot pepper to give it a "fra diavolo" sort of kick. Excellent recipe, Beth!

To begin, this recipe is way too salty and too many tomatoes in the broth. I followed the recipe exactly and was so disappointed. What a waste of great seafood. I will never make this again.

best recipe ever! and i don't even like tomato based sauce

This recipe is easy & fast. I followed the recipe exactly & used the Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc and it was delicious. Best of all, the wine was only $3.99 and it went so well with the dinner. I served it with a Pasta e Olio. The cioppino was very flavorful so it went very well with the simple pasta.

YUM! This was good! I served over rice and used the cioppino bag from trader joe's. Thanks for sharing.

I had my parents and my husbands parents over for the first time after we got married and I made this dish. I followed the recipe as is and it was DELIC!!! Everyone loved it! Would definitely make again. Its pricey and takes a while but well worth it! Big hit.

My husband is extremely picky, but he loves seafood. When I started making the dish he said he probably should not look at what I was putting in the pot because he was skeptical. His final opinion, fantastic. I made a couple of changes to the recipe: I added 1 can of chicken broth, 1 can of baby clams w/ their juice, and added some paprika and chili powder. We used snow crab, shrimp, mussels, and the canned clams, but everything else we kept the same. To cut down on mess peel and shell all seafood before putting in the wonderful sauce. Definitely have to have the bread to sop up the juices. Will definitely make this again!

This had very good flavor. You could add pretty much whatever you like. I had no mussels. I used large prawns, scallops and a small tin of boneless skinless sardines. I will make this again with crab for sure and some crusty garlic bread

Best.

This was really, really yummy! I am not one for switching things up the first time that I try them, and I do not think that I would change anything next time! This was fantastic just as it is. Husband and all 3 kids ate every bite!!

Outstanding! We just returned from a camping trip to Half Moon Bay CA and bought fresh crab right off the boat at the Princeton pier. My brothers boiled their crab and ate it cold. I made this recipe for my crab. They ended up adding some of their crab to my pot because it was so good. This is definately a favorite.

It was good but not nearly what I was expecting after reading all the reviews. It tasted like it was missing something. My husband liked it but he likes things more on the bland side, while I like things packed with flavor. Wasn't bad, just wasn't great.

My husband and I love this recipe. Great with sourdough and white wine. Makes a huge mess, though...

Fabulous! I substituded shrimp for clams (as I had none on hand) and added a stalk of rosemary. BIG HIT!

We have never had anything like this. it was amazing. Easy to make.

This was great. This is my first makeing Cioppino. And I did not put alot a salt in it I just did a litter..

Wo, first rate!

Great recipe for a simple cioppino! Made some substitutions: blended 6 fresh tomatoes rather than using canned tomatoes; added a bottle of clam juice and some chicken broth to give it more of a broth; and left out the bay leaf because I didn't have any. To the base, I added fresh mussles, littleneck clams, squid and shrimp without peel. We ate it all with some French bread - yum!

Wow. Delicious and healthy. The only changes I made was substituting mussels for clams -- they were on sale -- and adding some bell peppers and hot peppers in danger of being forgotten. Rounded it off with a salad of kale an chard and some home made fettucini Alfredo.

It was my first time making cioppini, and my guests and I loved it. Great receipe!!!!!

Needs less tomato sauce (about 2/3), and 1-2 tbs. tomato puree to thicken it. Tomato sauce base needs only 15-20 minutes, otherwise will be overcooked. Needs half the onion, and when it is done, 1-2 tbs. olive oil. Any combination of seafood works.

Everybody at my house loved it. I'm a vegetarian myself, but got rave reviews.

This is excellent! We did add chicken soup for more soup base. We have made this three additional times

Pretty accurate. I normally buy pre-jarred broth and this recipe would probably need some time in the food processor before adding seafood in order to get the consistency the same. I also had no white wine, but substituted with 1.5 oz of whiskey, and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice :)

This recipe is fabulous. Very easy and the only thing I subbed was mussels for the clams. I did make the base the night before and refrigerated it. Dinner the next night exceptionally easy to put together - heat up the base and add the seafood in stages. I will be making this one again and again!!

This was fantastic, the second time I made it I added 1 can of tomato sauce and substituted half the clams for muscles.

I added some fresh oregano and thyme, which gave a little extra flavor. Also, went to the fish market and got some swordfish and black drum and mussels. I added a few frozen shrimp and scallops and it all went together well! Our friends loved it!

Great dish! Easier than I thought to make.

Perfect

Good recipe, I also added squid and sea bass. I like a little kick so I added some crushed red pepper. I have made many variations of Cioppino from scratch to modifying the pre made store jar type. There are some really good Jar ones out there that will cut down on time but it does take the fun out of it. My only recommendation is which ever way you go clean out the crab meat or buy the crab meat already shelled. If you have never made Cioppino or any sort of shelled crustaceans make sure you look up how to clean and prep them or it will make for a unpleasant experience. I learned the hard way many years ago. Also, skip the bay scallops and go for the large ones. It make a huge difference.

I have tons of home canned tomatoes and was looking for a new way to use them. I used two quarts instead of the 56 oz the recipe called for. It left plenty of broth for dipping. This was delicious!!...we substituted the seafood our store had and used garlic infused olive oil...but made everything else as is. Served with warm crusty bread and lemon wedges to squeeze on top.

Add cayenne pepper you won't be sorry!

This recipe is simply delicious. I added Slipper tail lobster, muscles, scallops, crab, clams, and shrimp to the base and wow! My family was blown away. The kids were smelling the wonderful aroma from the soup base when they got home, and they hovered around the soup pot and drooled as the seafood was added to the pot. The soup was dished up and consumed in silence except for mmm's and crunching crusty bread. this is a fabulous recipe! (I did add red pepper flakes to give it a little kick)

This was fantastic, the second time I made it I added 1 can of tomato sauce and substituted half the clams for muscles.

Followed recipe and my kids loved it!