Having caught plenty of croakers on my trip down to Port St. Joe from surf fishing in the Stump Hole. I had plenty of frames and fillets to make another dish out of the croakers. This time I made Croaker Cioppino, an American seafood stew that was originally made in San Francisco by Italian immigrants in the late 1800s. A fishermen’s stew made of the catch of the day, tomatoes, veg, and wine. While I used croakers here, you can use any fresh white-fleshed fish you catch, just make sure to keep the bones to make a fresh fish stock for the stew. Also, make sure to have some nice crusty bread, preferably sourdough, to dip in the stew.
The first step for making the Cioppino is to make a fish stock from the frames of your fish, this is very easy to do. Additionally it does not take too much time compared to other stocks, easily being made in 30 minutes.
Croaker Cioppino – Croaker Fish Stock Ingredients
- 4 Fish Frames
- 1/2 Onion
- 1 Carrot
- 1 Rib of Celery
- 1 tbsp Garlic
- 3 pieces of Lemon Zest
- Parsley
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper Corns
- 1 Bay Leaf
Instructions for Croaker Fish Stock
First, take your fish frames, and make sure to scrub the bloodline/kidney clean from under the spine. The cleaner you clean the frame of any blood like this, the cleaner your final fish stock will be. Once the frames are clean take them and all your aromatics and put them into the pot. Cover with water, then add in the bay leaf, some whole black peppercorns, and just a little bit of salt. You don’t want too much salt in the stock just yet, you can always add more later but never take it out.
Put the pot on the stove on high, until it reaches a rolling boil. Once it does boil bring the heat down to leave the stock at a gentle simmer. Skim the initial foam that forms off the top with a spoon and leave it to simmer for at least 20 minutes but not more than 40. Seafood stocks, especially anything with shellfish can get a little funky after too long of a cook.
Once the stock has simmered for at least 20 minutes strain out all the solids and put the stock to the side to use later.
Croaker Cioppino – Ingredients
- Croaker Fillets
- Sea Scallops
- Peeled Shrimp
- 1 Onion
- 2 Strips Bacon
- 1 Can Crushed Tomatoes
- 3 Slices Lemon
- Tomato Paste
- 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Oregano
- Red Chili Flake
- White Wine
First, dice up your bacon and onions and mince up your garlic, you want things prepped before you start.
Put the diced bacon into your pot and render out the fat. You want to pull out enough bacon fat to cook the onions in the next step.
Once you have enough bacon fat rendered and a nice fond starting to form, add in your diced onions. Saute the onions for a few minutes till they turn translucent, then add in the garlic. Reduce the heat and saute the garlic as well, being careful not to over brown the garlic as it will go bitter.
Once the garlic is almost done, add the tomato paste to the center of the pot. Sauté the tomato paste in the pot till it changes color. Do not skip this step or the metallic taste of the tomato paste won’t cook out.
Now that the tomato paste is cooked, add in a cup of white wine to deglaze that nice fond off the bottom of the pot. You want to pick something you would drink, not some two-buck chuck wine. Then scrap the bottom of the pot to make sure you get all that fond off the bottom. Once you have finished scrapping the bottom, add in your can of crushed tomatoes.
Wash out the can with your fish stock to get all that tomato and pour in your fish stock into the cioppino pot. Add in the oregano, red chili flakes, fresh black pepper, and 2 or 3 slices of lemon now. You want to go with whole slices of lemon for the bit of astringency the pith of the lemon gives. Stir it all together and leave it on medium-low to simmer while you finish prepping the seafood.
Take your skin on croaker fillets and make sure to remove all the pin bones and ribs. Then cut them up into bite-sized pieces. You want to keep the skin on your fish if possible, this will help keep the pieces together better in the stew.
For the other seafood to go with the croaker, I got some gulf shrimp and some sea scallops. You can use any seafood you like though, go for whatever is fresh. I have seen chunks of crab and lobster used before, along with live clams or mussels. As a fishermen stew this started with whatever you caught fresh or could get fresh.
I halved the sea scallops and added all the seafood into the pot, giving them a gentle stir to not break up the chunks of croaker. After a few minutes give the Cioppino to taste and adjust with whatever it needs at this point.
Lastly, as soon as the seafood is just cooked take the pot off the heat and right before serving chop up some parsley and add it to the stew. Right about now would be a good time to toast some crusty bread as well.
Ladle it out into a bowl and serve with the toasted bread and a glass of white wine. Make sure to not serve the lemon slices though, that would be very unpleasant to bite into.
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