Here is the caciucco recipe, exactly as it was prepared and served at Little Joes on Broadway on San Francisco. It is important to note a couple of items.
1) Franco Montarello, AKA "Little Joe" was from Varezze, which is a small town near Genoa. I had previously mentioned that a Genovese knew nothing about cioppino. True. But here we are not talking about cioppino, we are talking about the dish that BECAME cioppino in the New World.
2) There are several sub-recipes involved. Prepare them all, or this will just be another fish stew dish.
3) Cioppino, and for that matter cacciucco, were generally prepared with whatever fresh seafood was available. I suggest you try this recipe verbatim, and then begin to make substitutes at a second attempt.
4) The whole idea of this preparation is to not have one flavor of the seafood overpower another. That is why there are not huge amounts of anything, except crab, which does have a milder flavor.
5) This recipe is for 1 person, but may serve 2 of lesser appetites. If you are going to prepare this dish for several people, it is very important that the seafood be sauteed according to the recipe, then you can transfer it to a larger pot and serve it. In other words, if you are cooking for 12, you must prepare 12 individual recipes and then combine them to serve. This dish gets it's distinctive flavor from the 1 pan preparation. Dump a bunch of ingredients in a pot, boil, then serve, this will give a good stew, si, but it ain't caciucco. Have fun.
CACIUCCO
1 1 1/2# crab, pre-boiled and cracked
3 clams, scrubbed
4 mussels, debearded and scrubbed
7 small prawns
1/3# fillet of rock cod or other white fish
3 tbl olive oil
1 tbl minced garlic
1/3 c dry white wine
1 c broth*
1 c Little Joe's tomato sauce*
Heat the olive oil on high heat, and add the minced garlic. IMMEDIATELY add all the seafood, and sautee quickly over high heat, until the garlic has just begun to become pungent and the rock cod is half way cooked. Keeping the heat high, add the wine, broth and tomato sauce, and simmer on high heat until the liquid had reduced by one cup and the clams and mussels have opened. All i all this preparation should take about 6-8 minutes.
Serve immediately with a generous sprinkling of chopped parsley and if you like, fennel fronds.
SUB RECIPES
BRODO (BROTH)
1 gallon water
5# chicken bones
4 stalks of celery
3 unpeeled carrots
2 unpeeled onions, cut in half
(boiled chicken, beef trimmings, and beef tongue can also be cooked in this broth)
Place all ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a rapid boil. Reduce to a simmer ans simmer for 4 hours. Strain and refrigerate. Remove all congealed fat before using.
LITTLE JOE'S TOMATO SAUCE
2 quarts crushed tomato in heavy puree
2 quarts chicken broth
4 stalks celery, chopped fine
3 white onions, chopped fine
1 tbl ground oregano
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 fresh bay leaves
2 tbl chopped fresh sweet basil
1/4 c minced garlic
2 tbl black pepper
1/4 c salt
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c corn starch dissolved in 1/2 c water
Bring all ingredients to a boil, then reduce to simmer and simmer for 2-4 hours, until sauce is thick. If further thickening is needed then add the cornstarch mixture. Refrigerate overnight.
All this may seem like a tremendous amount of work to some of you. As I said, you can simply throw some chopped tomatoes, broth, seafood and aromatics into a pot and let it cook. Although I will say that once you have developed a method for cioppoino based on this recipe, nothing else will ever do. And you may not say "cioppino" ever again. Maybe you'll even bring some duck hunting.......
Dandy
1) Franco Montarello, AKA "Little Joe" was from Varezze, which is a small town near Genoa. I had previously mentioned that a Genovese knew nothing about cioppino. True. But here we are not talking about cioppino, we are talking about the dish that BECAME cioppino in the New World.
2) There are several sub-recipes involved. Prepare them all, or this will just be another fish stew dish.
3) Cioppino, and for that matter cacciucco, were generally prepared with whatever fresh seafood was available. I suggest you try this recipe verbatim, and then begin to make substitutes at a second attempt.
4) The whole idea of this preparation is to not have one flavor of the seafood overpower another. That is why there are not huge amounts of anything, except crab, which does have a milder flavor.
5) This recipe is for 1 person, but may serve 2 of lesser appetites. If you are going to prepare this dish for several people, it is very important that the seafood be sauteed according to the recipe, then you can transfer it to a larger pot and serve it. In other words, if you are cooking for 12, you must prepare 12 individual recipes and then combine them to serve. This dish gets it's distinctive flavor from the 1 pan preparation. Dump a bunch of ingredients in a pot, boil, then serve, this will give a good stew, si, but it ain't caciucco. Have fun.
CACIUCCO
1 1 1/2# crab, pre-boiled and cracked
3 clams, scrubbed
4 mussels, debearded and scrubbed
7 small prawns
1/3# fillet of rock cod or other white fish
3 tbl olive oil
1 tbl minced garlic
1/3 c dry white wine
1 c broth*
1 c Little Joe's tomato sauce*
Heat the olive oil on high heat, and add the minced garlic. IMMEDIATELY add all the seafood, and sautee quickly over high heat, until the garlic has just begun to become pungent and the rock cod is half way cooked. Keeping the heat high, add the wine, broth and tomato sauce, and simmer on high heat until the liquid had reduced by one cup and the clams and mussels have opened. All i all this preparation should take about 6-8 minutes.
Serve immediately with a generous sprinkling of chopped parsley and if you like, fennel fronds.
SUB RECIPES
BRODO (BROTH)
1 gallon water
5# chicken bones
4 stalks of celery
3 unpeeled carrots
2 unpeeled onions, cut in half
(boiled chicken, beef trimmings, and beef tongue can also be cooked in this broth)
Place all ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a rapid boil. Reduce to a simmer ans simmer for 4 hours. Strain and refrigerate. Remove all congealed fat before using.
LITTLE JOE'S TOMATO SAUCE
2 quarts crushed tomato in heavy puree
2 quarts chicken broth
4 stalks celery, chopped fine
3 white onions, chopped fine
1 tbl ground oregano
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 fresh bay leaves
2 tbl chopped fresh sweet basil
1/4 c minced garlic
2 tbl black pepper
1/4 c salt
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c corn starch dissolved in 1/2 c water
Bring all ingredients to a boil, then reduce to simmer and simmer for 2-4 hours, until sauce is thick. If further thickening is needed then add the cornstarch mixture. Refrigerate overnight.
All this may seem like a tremendous amount of work to some of you. As I said, you can simply throw some chopped tomatoes, broth, seafood and aromatics into a pot and let it cook. Although I will say that once you have developed a method for cioppoino based on this recipe, nothing else will ever do. And you may not say "cioppino" ever again. Maybe you'll even bring some duck hunting.......
Dandy
